US: Pilot shortage prompts regional airlines to boost starting wages

Regional airlines that feed the nation’s biggest carriers are boosting starting wages to fight a pilot shortage, hoping to encourage aspiring aviators to endure what has become lengthier training. Regional carriers are vital to the US travel network, operating 44% of passenger flights in 2015 and providing the only flights to 65% of US airports with scheduled service. They typically supply their own crews and planes, while big airlines set schedules, sell tickets and buy the fuel. New wage scales introduced in recent months increase pay for some of their first-year aviators from around $20,000 to upward of $50,000 including bonuses, per-diem payments and training stipends. “The marketplace for pilots is pretty tight right now,” said Capt. Tim Canoll, president of the largest pilot union, ALPA. “What we’re seeing is the operation of supply and demand economics.” Pilots have long accepted what they call “food-stamp wages” for a foothold in a passion-driven industry and a shot at six-figure salaries at major carriers later in their careers. Often loaded with debt, new pilots make do while they wait to ascend the pay scale, hoping to quickly upgrade to captain, a rank that confers higher wages, even at regional carriers. Congress put a kink in the supply chain in 2013 with a law mandating that most aspiring pilots fly 1,500 hours before being hired by a regional carrier, up from as few as 250 hours. That added years and tens of thousands of dollars to the investment pilots must make in training and working as flight instructors before moving up to fly commercial airliners.<br/>