Mesa Airlines says 5% of its pilots jumped ship to larger carriers in April (updated)
13/05/2022 20:47
(Adds more from hearing, quotes and background)
By David Shepardson and Rajesh Kumar Singh
WASHINGTON/CHICAGO May 13 (Reuters) - Mesa Air Group
MESA.O Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Ornstein told a U.S.
Senate panel on Friday that the airline lost nearly 5% of its
pilots in April to larger carriers, underscoring a staffing
shortage the industry is grappling with as travel demand surges.
"The pilot shortage is the single greatest threat to the
industry I have witnessed since 9/11," Ornstein told the Senate
Commerce aviation subcommittee at a hearing in Arizona Friday.
He said Mesa Airlines "lost almost 5% of our pilot workforce in
one month as major airlines and operators of larger jets hired
our pilots."
Pilot shortages have dogged carriers for years. Despite $54
billion in U.S. government COVID-19 airline payroll funding,
many airlines paused hiring and offered buyouts and retirement
packages to thousands of aviators.
A snap back in travel demand, however, has left them
scrambling to ramp up staffing. Delta Air Lines DAL.N and
United Airlines UAL.O are looking to hire 200 pilots each a
month.
Staffing woes have marred operations in recent weeks at
carriers such as Alaska Air Group Inc ALK.N and JetBlue
Airways Corp JBLU.O , resulting in mass flight cancellations.
To prevent further disruption, airlines have cut summer
schedules.
Shortages are even more acute at regional airlines, which
are facing a soaring attrition rate because of poaching by
higher-paying national carriers.
In March, SkyWest SKYW.O said it planned to end service to
29 communities under the government's subsidy program to provide
air service to smaller communities, blaming insufficient pilots.
Mesa noted regional airlines provide service to 65% of the
nation's commercially served airports.
"Unless significant action is taken soon, I believe this
critical lifeline is in jeopardy," Ornstein said, adding the U.S
could also make it easier to allow qualified foreign pilots to
join the U.S. pilot workforce.
Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who chairs the panel holding the
hearing, noted just 5% of U.S. pilots are women and about 6% are
people of color and said Congress plans to look at ways to
"strengthen the pipeline, support opportunities to diversify the
workorce" and consider changes to aviation workforce development
grant programs.
Some airlines have called on U.S. regulators to revise pilot
training requirements, allowing them to hire pilots with less
experience. But the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the
world's largest pilot union, is opposed to the proposal.
"Some argue that we must lower standards to open the doors
of opportunity — we flatly reject that," ALPA official Paul
Ryder told the committee.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Rajesh Kumar
Singh in Chicago, Editing by Chris Reese, Bernard Orr)
((David.Shepardson@thomsonreuters.com; 2028988324;))