Pilots

SAS — Scandinavia’s largest airline — now stares directly in the face of collapse, following disputes over wages with its pilot union on Monday. Talks came to a halt, initiating a strike that is likely to cause havoc in the European skies for the coming months. According to the airline, roughly 50 percent of its […]

Spanish airline Iberia announced on Monday that it will recruit the first batch of pilots since the beginning of the pandemic. In July, it will add 20 first officers who will also become the first pilots coming from the Iberia Cadetes program, which the company launched in 2019. The increase in personnel is aimed at […]

Alaska Airlines’ summer scheduling woes continued as the airline was forced to cancel additional flights due to poor planning and staffing shortages. “Of the 1,200 flights that we operate every day, we’ve been canceling about 50 of them, roughly 4%,” Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Miniucci wrote in a message to employees May 12. “This is […]

As travelers return to the skies, following the suppression of demand from the Covid-19 pandemic, airlines are facing a familiar challenge, a pilot shortage. Before the pandemic, airlines were already facing a wave of pilot retirements in the coming years. More stringent requirements for certification have slowed down the number of pilots qualified to fly […]

The airline industry has been worrying for many years about a possible upcoming shortage of pilots to fly all the aircraft needed to cover the networks of all carriers. With all the “baby boomers” approaching their retirement age, it was feared that there would not be enough new pilots to replace the ones ending their […]

Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air — the Seattle-based carrier’s regional partner — have teamed up to launch their Ascend Pilot Academy (APA), aimed towards providing pilots with a simple, more affordable path to becoming commercial pilots. Participants in the program will eventually land themselves in the right seat at Horizon Air, with the opportunity to […]

Throughout aviation history, the steady advance of technological progress in the cockpit has greatly simplified the job of piloting aircraft. While statistically there’s no disputing the parallel between innovation and improved safety, I fear that this generation of aviators may be among the last to grace the skies with stick-in-hand and rudder pedals at our […]

United officially opened its new Phoenix, Ariz.-area flight school, dubbed the United Aviate Academy (UAA), this week amid an ongoing pilot shortage. The airline becomes the only U.S. carrier to wholly own and operate its own flight school. At 340,000 square feet and valued at $10 million, the newly-leased facility is located at Phoenix Goodyear […]

The U.S. airline industry is currently bracing for the ongoing shortage of pilots, as several carriers race to find their own solutions and incentives to prevent the issue from disrupting daily flight operations and route networks. On Thursday, in its attempt to attract new crewmembers and expand its team,  Avelo Airlines announced a substantial salary […]

Aeromexico canceled more than 260 flights from Jan. 6-10 due to a highly contagious outbreak of Covid-19 that has spread amongst its pilots and flight attendants. According to the Mexican government’s Consumer Protection Office (PROFECO) who provided the statistic, a high number of crew members on the sick list has caused staff shortages for the […]