An American Airlines Embraer ERJ-145 regional jet aircraft is seen on final approach as it descends at New York JFK International Airport on February 13, 2020 in New York City.
Nicolas Iconomo | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Two American Airlines-Proprietary regional carriers will increase pilot salaries by 50% by the end of August 2024, the latest sign airlines are willing to pay in hopes of ending a pilot shortage that has left some passengers with fewer flying options.
The increase will see pilots paid the most of US regional airlines, increasing pressure on other carriers to follow suit.
The temporary pay increase, including a separate, permanent pay increase, will bring the hourly wage for first officers to $90 an hour, up from $51 an hour, in the first year of flying at Piedmont Airlines, the company said. Salaries for first-year captains will be $146 an hour, which is more than $78 an hour. The airline may extend the temporary hike if needed, its CEO said on Monday.
Airlines Are On Pilot-Hiring round Since last year, when the demand for travel started declining due to the pandemic. But there remains a persistent shortage of pilots hindrance to development Times of strong demand, prompting airlines to park jets serving smaller cities. Part of the problem is that airlines encouraged Pilots were asked to take early retirement after demand plummeted in 2020 and very few were left when travel resumed.
This has intensified competition for pilots.
“The shortage of field pilots, especially captains, has really gotten to the point where we are no longer able to keep our fleet in the air,” Piedmont CEO Eric Morgan told CNBC.
The airline, based in Salisbury, Maryland, is losing about 25 pilots a month to US mainline operations and has fallen short of its goal of hiring about 40 pilots each month. Morgan said it usually flies the 50-seat ERJ-145 between smaller cities for American, but 10 of its roughly 60 planes are not able to fly.
Morgan and Captain Ryan Miller, president of the Piedmont chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association, said Piedmont approached the union with pay increases that were outside of normal contract negotiations.
Envoy Air, based in Irving, Texas, said on Saturday it had reached a similar agreement with the pilots’ union to open 50% premium hourly rates to pilots by the end of August 2024.
Kit Darby, a pilot-salary consultant and a retired Joint Captain, said raising the pay of field pilots was a positive step, but the bar was low. He added that airlines need to ask: “What is a living wage and what will it take to attract pilots to the career?”
The pay hikes come as some of the largest pilot unions – representing more than 35,000 pilots – Southwest, deltaJetBlue and American – in talks with their carriers on contracts.
American Airlines pilots picket outside the New York Stock Exchange on June 2, 2022.
Leslie Josephs | CNBC
American management recently offered its approximately 14,000 pilots a 4% increase on the signing date and then a 3% increase over the next year. Dennis Tajer, a spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, called it “outrageous”.
“Pilots love these increases, but when you have an airline that is pushing for more than a 50% pay increase, it’s identifying with the dollar that they have a problem,” Tajer said. APA pilots staged a sit-in on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this month for a better contract and better schedule.
American did not immediately comment on a union spokesman’s remarks.