Blogging at FL250: About That Pilot Shortage...

The late '70s were fed a very large supply of highly qualified pilots from the winding down of the war, it is evident that despite a few hiring booms in the past few decades there has also been a string of furloughs and failures.
Pilot supply shortage has never been a significant factor-filling the available pilot seats was never a problem.

The real problem was an industry that is subject to cycles of boom and bust, driven into a highly competitive maket with razor thin profit margins and limited ability to adjust to fluctuating demand without going bankrupt. Add a nearly lunatic pricing model and you can see why so many airlines get swept away on the turn of the tide.