Airline Pilot Shortage?

Joseph E. (Jeb) Burnside

Wednesday, April 19, 2023 at 12:03 PM ET

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Key Takeaways:

The path to becoming an airline pilot has changed, with commuter airlines offering improved compensation and flow-throughs, and major airlines removing college degree requirements, thereby reducing training costs, though rapid captain seniority is noted.
Despite acknowledging challenging management-employee relations, the author emphatically describes an airline pilot career as the "best job on the planet," offering unique flying experiences, professional colleagues, significant time off, and high earnings.

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Thanks for your editorial, “Airline Pilot Shortage?” in the February 2023 issue. As a career aviator with over 50 years in the “Wild Blue,” both a corporate and airline kinda guy, I have some insight I’d like to share.

You are right that the road up to the Bigs through the commuters is or was long and often cumbersome, and really didn’t pay so well. But the commuters are giving Covid raises now, along with signing bonuses and sometimes a guaranteed flow-through to the Bigs.