At AA? FAPA data says 1999 - 1082, 2000 - 1171 new hires. Seems right. Recollection was it was 1000+. That was back when AA had about 9,000 - 10,000 pilots. So about 10-12% growth minus retirements (2%??). So perhaps a net increase of 8-10%?

Today's hiring of 2,200 is about 15%. Subtract 6%+ to retirements and the net gain is approx. 9%?

Mid 1980's AA was hiring 900+ and had a total pilot corps of 4,100 (?) starting 1985. I might be off by a year. Roughly a 20% *NET* increase in manning. To do that today would require hiring 3,800 to net 3,000 additional pilots. It puts the mid 1980's in perspective.