Union: ‘There Was Never a Pilot Shortage’

ALPA leader argues low wages and pandemic disruptions—not a lack of interest—reduced pilot supply.

Ryan Ewing

Wednesday, December 10, 2025 at 01:00 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Zach Vasile

Flight deck of an Airbus aircraft [Credit: Shutterstock]

Key Takeaways:

ALPA (Air Line Pilots Association) asserts there was never a true pilot shortage, but rather a "pipeline problem" affecting hiring.
This "pipeline problem" was attributed to historically low regional airline wages, high training costs, and repeated disruptions to the aviation labor market, such as the post-9/11 downturn and the COVID-19 pandemic.
While some industry forecasts still project a future pilot supply-and-demand gap, ALPA believes current conditions are significantly improved and attractive for pilots, a view echoed by some airline executives who report stabilized hiring.

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Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) first vice president Wendy Morse said the airline industry did not experience a true pilot shortage in recent years, instead attributing hiring challenges to what she called a prolonged “pipeline problem” caused by low regional airline wages, high training costs, and repeated shocks to the aviation labor market.

“There is no pilot shortage. There was never a pilot shortage,” Morse said during Skift’s Aviation Forum last week.