Market Intelligence: -Airline Hiring

Airlines in Australia Seeing Signs of Pilot Shortage

Smaller Regional Airlines are staring to experience shortages and are ramping up hiring from the General Aviation Industry as well as re-activating their ab-initio programs.

The larger Australian Airlines in the country are in a good position and have a sustainable pilot pipeline, but the problem comes in when speaking with smaller regional airlines where they are at a disadvantage. Even major US airlines are increasing recruitment of Australian pilots by offering higher salaries and good amount of sign-on bonuses.

Global Aviation Media Publication, Simple Flying, in its recently published Analysis Article entitled “Is The Global Pilot Shortage Impacting Australian Aviation?” answers whether or not the Australian Aviation is impacted by the global pilot shortage. Check out their full article here – partial extract below:

“Like elsewhere, the Australian aviation industry is experiencing pilot shortages but it’s not necessarily the biggest airlines feeling the most pain.

The global pilot shortage is having repercussions everywhere, including in Australia. Airlines worldwide let their pilot numbers drop during the pandemic. The Australian Federation of Air Pilots, the country’s peak pilot body, says around 23% of its members were made redundant during COVID-19. As the airlines get back on track faster than anticipated, pilot shortages are causing some complications.

Australia’s two biggest passenger airlines, the Qantas Group (which includes Jetstar) and Virgin Australia, are both boosting their pilot numbers. Qantas runs its own pilot academies, and Virgin Australia is recruiting as it plans to increase its fleet numbers. Recently complicating matters in Australia were COVID close contact rules, which temporarily ground working pilots (and other airline workers). In one well-publicized case, Qantas sent out an urgent plea for pilots to put some overtime in to keep three long-haul international flights and several domestic flights flying the following day.

Like airlines elsewhere, Australia’s big airlines have enough pilots to operate their scheduled flights, but their reserve pilot ranks are thin, and when things go wrong, that thinness can become a problem.”

Source: Simple Flying

Check our Terms and Conditions for our Content Policy.

Related Posts

Phoenix East Aviation Celebrates 50 Years by Joining United Airlines’ Aviate Program

Florida, United States based Flight School Phoenix East Aviation (“PEA”) announces it is teaming with Aviate to ensure students who have started their flight training career with PEA have a direct route to the United Airlines flight deck.

“We are proud to provide this excellent opportunity for the flight students and instructors attending PEA,” says Kristoffer Johnson, CEO & President at Phoenix East Aviation. “Matching the high-quality professional pilot training we provide with the most well-defined pathway program in the industry, together we can provide students with the support of Aviate during training and the benefit of a clear career progression into the cockpit at United Airlines.”

Aviate’s signature career pathways offer pilots at all stages of their journey the most direct path to flying for United. Aviate also provides coaching and development for pilots to develop into leaders whom exemplify the professionalism, level of excellence and commitment to providing safe, caring, dependable and efficient service that United expects from its pilots.

“We are excited about our partnership with PEA. The Aviate program depends on outstanding partners to train the highest quality aviators in becoming the next generation of United pilots,” said Bryan Quigley, United’s senior vice president of flight operations. We look forward to delivering Aviate’s mission with continued and meaningful engagement with PEA.”

The benefits include

  • Phoenix East Aviation professional flight training
  • Single interview with United
  • Mentorship, coaching, and travel privileges while enrolled
  • Opportunity to fly with United Express partners
  • Transition to United Airlines

About Phoenix East Aviation
International Pilot Training Academy since 1972. In its 50th year of operation, PEA continues to provide students with the highest quality of training, standards, and pilot preparation to join the aviation industry. PEA offers traditional and accelerated pace training with its main campuses located in the greater Daytona Beach Florida area.

For more information, kindly contact Phoenix East Aviation.

You may also check our Terms and Conditions for our Content Policy.

Related Posts

Skyborne Airline Academy Signs MoU to Supply First Officers to JSX (Part 135 Air Carrier)

Skyborne Airline Academy and JSX, an award-winning U.S.-based Part 135 air carrier, are announcing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to supply First Officers for its Embraer ERJ fleet.

The MOU allows Skyborne to provide experienced former flight instructors the opportunity to fill First Officer positions at JSX, once they meet JSX’s strict hiring standards, including having achieved at least 1,000 total flight hours and 50 hours of multi-engine time. This agreement helps JSX source qualified pilots while giving Skyborne CFIs the opportunity to enrich their professional experience with a US Part 135 air carrier.

Captain Ed Davidson, Managing Director, Skyborne Airline Academy, says: “Our agreement with JSX marks the first time Skyborne has partnered with a charter operator, and we’re delighted to be supporting the business aviation industry. With more people flying privately in the US than ever before, relationships like this help address the demand for well-trained pilots.

“JSX is well-known in the industry for delivering exceptional service, so we are very pleased our CFIs will have another avenue of employment with a trusted partner that shares our drive for excellence.”

Captain Mike Anderson, Vice President of Flight Operations, JSX, says: “Skyborne’s thorough trainee selection process and impressive standard of training stand apart as concrete measures for producing professional and highly skilled pilots. With this partnership, we will further our mutual training and hiring objectives for future pilots in the aviation industry to cultivate First Officers who are well-prepared for the flight deck.”

JSX owns a fleet of 77 Embraer ERJ jets and provides public charter service to a growing network of popular destinations across the United States. The agreement between JSX and Skyborne was effective from April 22, 2022.

For more information, kindly contact Skyborne.

You may also check our Terms and Conditions for our Content Policy.

Related Posts

US Airline Pilot Union Opposes Attempts to Increase Retirement Age for Professional Airline Pilots

During the 130th Regular Executive Board of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), on May 19, pilot leaders adopted a resolution opposing any attempts to increase the retirement age for professional airline pilots. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), at the direction of Congress with the 2007 Fair Treatment for Experienced Pilots Act (P.L. 110-135), and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) currently mandate that airline pilots in multi-crew operations must retire at age 65.

“This discussion is yet another attempt to distract the conversation from the real issue which is the failure of airlines to deliver on a key goal of the multibillion-dollar relief plan Congress provided them during the pandemic which was to effectively manage air-service operations as travel resumes,” said Capt. Joe DePete, ALPA president. “ALPA strongly opposes this proposed legislation as there is no reason to change the retirement age today and doing so would only increase costs for airlines as well as introduce unnecessary risks to passengers and crew alike.”

Increasing the retirement age will have significant unintended consequences and will displace pilots. Those airline pilots over 65 will be forced to leave the most desirable international routes to bid for domestic ones because the international age limit set by ICAO is 65. When age 65+ airline pilots return to domestic-only flying, they will then displace more junior pilots and both cohorts may require training on different aircraft, adding to the training costs of air carriers. Furthermore, most regional airline pilots leave the regional industry long before age 65 for more lucrative jobs at mainline or low-cost carriers or other opportunities. Therefore, the pool of domestic-service pilots will not increase appreciably without additional training costs or disruptions.

“ALPA is prepared to collaborate with anyone who comes to the table, in good faith, and work together to help our industry navigate this challenging period. However, we will not allow anyone to exploit this current moment to divert attention away from their mismanagement of the pandemic relief, while attempting to weaken aviation safety,” added DePete.

Currently, many U.S. airlines are claiming they cannot hire pilots fast enough as the aviation industry recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and air travel demand rebounds. In a recent letter to the lobbying organizations for most U.S. carriers, ALPA highlighted the significant rise in recent flight delays and cancelations plaguing U.S. carriers despite receiving $63 billion in taxpayer subsidies. While a few airlines have rightly admitted that their failure to plan has resulted in pilot training backlogs and operational meltdowns, others are trying to use this crisis of their own making to weaken safety regulations that make certain pilots are properly qualified and trained.

For more information on pilot supply in the U.S., click here.

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the largest airline pilot union in the world and represents more than 64,000 pilots at 39 U.S. and Canadian airlines.

Source: ALPA Press Release

For more information, kindly contact ALPA.

You may also check our Terms and Conditions for our Content Policy.

Related Posts

“Pilot Shortage Crisis will Become Bigger and Bigger,” Says Travel Expert

The Points Guy Founder and CEO Brian Kelly, during an interview with “Mornings with Maria,” referring to pilot shortage crisis, deems that the worst is yet to come.

“I think we should all be keeping an eye on the pilot shortage. I think this crisis will become bigger and bigger. We don’t have the same amount of recruits coming out of the air force, joining commercial airlines like we used to. It’s really expensive to become a pilot. So there, you know, the airlines are scrambling and tons and tons of pilots are retiring. So this could be, you know, another kink to add to it. When they don’t have enough pilots, there’s less flights, and less flights means more expensive flights,” said Brian Kelly.

Check our Terms and Conditions for our Content Policy.