The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

American Airlines Raises Pilot Salary at Two Regional Airlines by 50% Due to Staffing Shortages

2022-06-14T12:58:00.049Z


Piedmont and Envoy pilots will receive 50% salary bonuses through August 2024 and will become the highest-paid on US regional airlines.


Leslie Josephs -

CNBC

Two regional carriers owned by American Airlines are raising pilot pay by 50% through the end of August 2024. It's the latest sign that airlines are willing to pay more in hopes of ending a pilot shortage. has left travelers with fewer options to fly.

The raises will make the pilots the highest-paid at US regional airlines, increasing pressure on other carriers to follow suit.

[Two pilots fall asleep mid-intercontinental flight and trigger a terrorism alert]

Including separate permanent pay raises, the temporary raises will raise hourly wages for first officers in their first year of flying at Piedmont Airlines to $90 an hour, up from $51 an hour, according to the company.

For first-year captains, the salary will be $146 an hour, up from $78 an hour.

The airline could extend temporary rises if necessary, Piedmont's CEO announced Monday.

More than 500 flights were canceled over Memorial Day weekend

May 31, 202200:55

Airlines have hired a large number of pilots since last year, when travel demand began to recover from the lows of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But persistent pilot shortages continue to hamper growth at a time of strong demand, prompting airlines to park planes serving smaller cities.

Part of the problem is that airlines encouraged pilots to retire early after the slump in demand in 2020 and were left with very few when travel recovered.

[Airlines cancel hundreds of flights before summer due to staff shortages.

They are looking for 12,000 pilots for this year]

This has intensified competition for drivers.

"Attrition on regional pilots, especially captains, has skyrocketed to the point where we're not able to get our fleet in the air," Piedmont CEO Eric Morgan told CNBC.

The Salisbury, Maryland-based airline has been losing about 25 pilots a month to American's mainline and has missed its goal of hiring about 40 pilots a month.

It flies 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145 planes for American, usually between small cities, but has been unable to operate 10 of its roughly 60 planes.

Air chaos: thousands of flights are canceled or suffer delays on the Memorial Day holiday

May 30, 202203:13

Piedmont approached the union with salary increases that were outside of normal contract negotiations, according to Morgan and Capt. Ryan Miller, president of the Piedmont chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association.

Irving, Texas-based Envoy Air said Saturday that it has reached a similar agreement with its pilots' union to fork out a 50% premium to pilots' hourly rates through the end of August 2024.

[The Boeing 737 nosedived, killing 132 people.

Investigators believe it was intentional: “The plane did what someone told it”]

Envoy, which has about 2,000 pilots, had been losing about 80 pilots a year to other airlines and hiring about 60, including American, according to Capt. Ric Wilson, the company's vice president of flight operations.

He said most of the attrition had been among Envoy captains.

Kit Darby, a driver compensation consultant and retired United captain, said raising regional drivers' pay is a positive step, but the bar was low.

He said airlines have to ask themselves, "What is a living wage and what does it take to attract pilots to the career?"

American Airlines passenger planes prepare to depart, Wednesday, July 21, 2021, near a terminal at Boston Logan International Airport, in Boston. Steven Senne / AP

The pay increases come at a time when some of the largest pilot unions -- representing more than 35,000 aviators from Southwest, Delta, JetBlue and American -- are in contract negotiations with their companies.

American management recently offered its roughly 14,000 pilots a 4% raise on the date of signing and then a 3% raise the following year.

Allied Pilots Association (APA) spokesman Dennis Tajer called it "insulting."

[United Airlines offers its pilots triple salary to curb flight cancellations caused by COVID-19]

"I'm glad pilots are getting these raises, but when you have an airline that's pushing through a pay raise of more than 50%, it's acknowledging with dollars that they have a problem," Tajer said.

APA pilots picketed the New York Stock Exchange earlier this month to ask for a better contract and schedule.

American did not immediately comment on the union spokesman's remarks.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2022-06-14

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-15T17:30:58.523Z
News/Politics 2024-02-16T17:00:56.516Z

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.