Originally Posted by
tprangner
Pilot jobs are in high demand over the next 8 years. The industry is going to need 33,000 more pilots, or a 17% increase. With the big shortage on the way, desperate times call for desperate measures. Besides if you don't want the job, I'll take. I'm used to living poor already, at least I'll live poor doing something I love to do.
We've been following this phenomenon of pilot hiring for the past several years and don't agree with your assumption of a 17% growth in required pilot labor. Based on age 65 stopping attrition at the top of the labor food chain, energy costs curbing route expansion, and proposed mergers creating labor redundancy - we don't anticipate growth for pilot jobs in the US any time soon.
There will be some hiring in niche markets, FedEx and Delta for example, but nothing on the order of 33,000 pilots. In fact, we feel that $100/barrel oil has the very real potential to cause network carriers to significantly pare pay for departure relationships with small narrowbody operators.
I hope you're right about the hiring, but it's completely at odds with what we expect. What are your sources? Pardon me for saying it, but it sounds like a flight academy brochure.