Delta: ‘More Normalized’ Industrywide Pilot Hiring Anticipated

Airline estimates 5,000 new pilot jobs across the business next year.

Monday, October 14, 2024 at 02:02 PM ET

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A Delta A220 at Paine Field in Washington state. [Credit: AirlineGeeks/Katie Zera]

Key Takeaways:

Delta Air Lines reduced pilot hiring by approximately 50% in 2024 and expects a "normalized" hiring tempo for 2025.
This trend mirrors the broader U.S. airline industry, which also saw record post-pandemic hiring followed by a roughly 40% overall reduction.
Delta aims to restore its regional capacity to pre-pandemic levels by summer 2025, attributing this to an improved pilot supply and normalizing training.
The industry anticipates overall pilot hiring will return to pre-pandemic 2019 levels, estimated at around 5,000 pilots annually.

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After cutting its pilot hiring figures by roughly 50 percent in 2024, Delta Air Lines is forecasting a “more normalized” tempo next year. Most major U.S. carriers hired pilots at record numbers soon after the pandemic but have since throttled back.

The Atlanta-based airline hopes to return its regional capacity to pre-pandemic levels in summer 2025, driven by improvements in pilot supply, company leadership shared during a third-quarter earnings call on Thursday.