Originally Posted by eaglefly

Yup, the author of that article doesn't get it. He's got the same disease as the rest of the industry. A plane isn't going to solve this problem and "higher salaries" is a subjective term. The fact is, it's clear the number of 18-22 year olds going to college and starting their adult professional journey simply can't negotiate the extra cost involved to get to a regional airline and that's not the 1500 hour issue as the majority of that final 1200 or so hours are usually not part of the financial output and are actually paying positions, albeit feebly. The parents of potential future airline pilots cannot justify an extra $50-60,000 ABOVE college tuition for the first 300 hours of training especially for the pathetic compensation and even worse treatment by unsympathetic aerial sweatshop operations which encompasses most, if not virtually all the regional carriers. The word is out and reality is here. Band-aids are a waste of time and at this point the "crisis" is more like 18 months at most.

Expect service to start to contract to smaller cities and medium cities will see a reduction in service. If they aggressively addressed the problem today, it would still take several years to BEGIN to correct the problem. They're screwed. They f-ed up and many in these managements STILL underestimate the severity of this impending disaster. The tsunami is getting closer to the beach and volleyball and beer drinking are still in play. When the wave truly hits, there will be screaming and panic just like a real tsunami. At this point, the wave will just have to hit and then the reaction will occur. A proactive approach would have been FAR cheaper in the long run. I've counseled several aspiring airline pilots away from this industry and all have been successful in other areas, some non-aviation. They've all got Private licenses (some with instrument ratings), but are financially viable in their mid-20's to early 30's minus another $50K in debt. Their salaries allow for actual fairly rapid payment of what education debt a few of them have, instead of spinning your wheels in perpetuity, a slave to something you're really not gaining on.

Originally Posted by bedrock

The airlines' ace in the hole is the govt. The govt. will not allow air service to collapse. All it takes is an "executive order"--and these are growing more and more common, to adopt MPL, allow govt. loans, or delegate training to someone like Boeing (who is already getting in the business.) Reagan fired all the Air Traffic Controllers and replaced with military, govt. could do same. There will be pain, undoubtedly, but the airlines aren't going to suffer. So they will just wait it out to see who will cry uncle. The travelling public will scream bloody murder when that wave hits, the govt. will be paying the cost of clean-up, the airlines will profit.

Originally Posted by MrObvious

Nailed it! As soon as they have nowhere else to go but increase wages the government will swoop in and bail them out somehow, not sure how but they will find a way.

Originally Posted by CBreezy

An executive order addressing pilot certification would be in direct contradiction of a law. It would not stand up in court.

Air Traffic Controllers are government employees. The government can fire whoever they want. Several states have followed suit by eliminating collective bargaining for government employees.