Becoming a fighter pilot is a dream for many. Military flying has been around since the world wars, but as technology advanced—and media representation in movies such as Top Gun increased—the general public’s fascination with military pilots, especially fighter pilots, has only increased.

One of the most popular questions many have is how to become a military pilot in the first place. It is possible to become a pilot in nearly every branch: the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Army, Marines, Coast Guard, and National Guard. Each branch completes its own training, but there are common requirements that apply across the board to help applicants start their careers.

Most notably, a four-year degree is usually required to have a chance at becoming a military or fighter pilot. Some applicants complete this prerequisite by attending a university run by a military branch, such as the U.S. Military , Air Force, Naval, or Coast Guard academies. Still, others attend a traditional civilian university and complete additional requirements on campus.

In addition, pilot hopefuls must be officers. Besides attending one of the four military academies, applicants can complete training at the Officer Training School or, especially notable if they attend a four-year university, ROTC. ROTC programs for all branches exist at numerous universities across the country, providing access to practically any interested pilot.

Pilots must also meet a variety of physical criteria and fitness tests. The Air Force stipulates that height requirements vary based on the aircraft a pilot will operate, but fitness is still of paramount importance. Uncorrected 20/20 vision, or better, is critical, as is good heart health and acceptable hearing. Pilots must also be in good mental health so they can remain calm and focused even in the most stressful situations.

Finally, there are many demographic criteria that a prospective candidate must meet. Pilots need to be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident at least 18 years old. Maximum ages vary by branch but are generally in the mid-30s.

All these requirements must be met before a pilot even gets in an aircraft. After becoming eligible, a pilot must complete a ground school course on aerodynamics, aircraft systems, and more. The military uses a series of basic trainer aircraft, many based on civilian aircraft models, to start their pilots’ training before moving them to advanced aircraft and, finally, the pilot’s permanent type.

Military pilots have a variety of roles and responsibilities. From refueling other aircraft and searching for threatening targets to providing aerial support to ground troops and even dogfighting, pilots are expected to carry out each mission with professionalism, expertise, and skill.

After settling into their new job, pilots have opportunities to be promoted or change types. These moves can often be competitive, and new positions are based on performance. However, military pilots are nothing if not motivated to meet each new challenge and opportunity head-on.

The post How to Become a Military Pilot appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Pilots also have favorite and least favorite airports, but for different reasons. In addition to wondering who has the best scenery and food, crewmembers are interested in which airports are busiest, where the arrivals are easiest, and which air traffic controllers generally do the best work. Also included are the scenery of approaches, airport complexity, and workload throughout each turn.

Different pilots have slightly different metrics to determine which airports they like most. However, there is generally a consistent theme as to which airports pilots like to fly into the best.

Favorites

One notable airport is ​​Innsbruck Airport (LOWI) in Austria, with an approach that takes crews over the Austrian Alps. Though that poses a unique challenge, the airport is also relatively close to the city center, allowing crews easier access to hotels and activities on their layovers. The airport’s smaller size also means that it’s easier to navigate than larger global hubs.

London City Airport (EGLC) has a reputation among passengers and crews alike. The relatively short runway poses a welcome challenge for crews that get to feel their aircraft’s performance in real-world conditions. Besides the one-of-a-kind approach through downtown London and along the River Thames, the airport’s small scale equally means that getting through security and out to the city are particularly easy.

In the United States, San Francisco International Airport (KSFO) has a particularly famous approach over the San Francisco Bay and Golden Gate Bridge. The airport also regularly sees parallel approaches over the water, making for picturesque arrivals.

Too Early to Tell

There are a couple brand-new airports around the world where the jury is still out.

Berlin Brandenburg Airport (EDDB) opened in 2020 with the goal of replacing the city’s aging airports with a single, brand-new facility. Though delayed for years thanks to a number of certification problems, the airport does boast new, state-of-the-art facilities designed to make traveling easier for passengers and crews alike.

Beijing Daxing International Airport (ZBAD) is equally brand new, having opened in September 2019. The airport serves as a reliever for Beijing Capital International Airport (ZBAA), which reached its max capacity in the mid 2010s.

Designed to be Beijing’s primary airport, Daxing has been challenged to accommodate a significant number of passengers and flights, though Beijing is generally known as a favored destination for pilots, so the airport still has a chance of becoming a favorite for crews.

Least Favorites

Not every airport has the same great impression among pilots. In fact, some pilots may be quick to voice their concern over their experiences at a variety of these airports.

New York’s LaGuardia Airport (KLGA) is known to be cramped, outdated, and congested, as it is placed right in the middle of the Queens borough of New York City. The airport is undergoing a terminal modernization, which may change some minds, but whether the challenging operations will be alleviated anytime soon remains to be seen.

Ronald Reagan Washington International Airport (KDCA) is equally known for being cramped and overcrowded. The airport’s short runways and outdated terminals make it difficult for aircraft to navigate, and landing requires precise maneuvering along the Potomac River.

Chicago O’Hare International Airport (KORD) is notorious for its long taxi times. The airport has more runways than any other airport in the world, divided into two airfields that can take nearly 30 minutes to navigate. For some regional flights within the midwest, these taxi times can nearly double the length of the flight.

On the bright side, O’Hare’s ATCs do have a good reputation for managing the flow of traffic and staying aware of where each aircraft is.

San Diego International Airport (KSAN) also has a reputation for its challenging operations. The airport is among the busiest single-runway airports in the world, and aircraft are often tightly spaced while attempting to land.

Pilots also report limited navigational facilities, meaning they must be especially proactive about managing the aircraft’s position in dense airspace in what is already a busy phase of flight. There have been a couple notable incidents at the airport over the years as pilots try to approach, touch down, and clear the runway efficiently.

Internationally, the Paro International Airport (VQPR) in Bhutan is known to be especially challenging—so much so that only a handful of pilots in the world are approved to land there. 

The airport is nestled in a valley, and the approach requires pilots navigate through hills at low level without even being able to see the runway. Landings are only approved during the day in good weather, but the approach does provide some incredible views.

Remember, this is not an end-all-be-all assembly of pilots’ favorite and least favorite airports, but it provides a good idea of what the notable features are of each airport: what makes it stand out, what pilots notice, and how crews handle each differently.

Every airport requires its own planning and demands special attention to one thing or another. That means pilots must always be ready for whatever each flight throws their way.

The post Pilots’ Favorite and Least Favorite Airports appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

These communities are what make aviation truly enjoyable and are what bring people together. Ultimately, aviation is a small world where everyone, to some degree, seems to know everyone else.

Continually furthering the aviation community is an important part of growing as one who cares to make the industry more caring and welcoming. Beyond pure enjoyment, maintaining a healthy community helps pilots in particular maintain a strong sense of responsibility and accountability in their flying. Connecting with others is a great way to see other perspectives and continue growing as a pilot.

Volunteering takes these connections to another level. Not only can you meet and bond with other like-minded people, but you can learn a new level of respect and admiration for aviation, its community, and the people you know in the industry. As pilots learn more about others around them on the ground, it becomes easier to navigate the air in a cohesive, respectful manner.

The importance of volunteering is not lost on professional aviation companies. Airlines, for example, often like to hire pilots with volunteer experience. Whether in the aviation world—such as flying Young Eagles interested in learning to be pilots—or not, volunteer experience demonstrates a high level of professionalism, a desire to understand others, and an ability to push your comfort zone in new situations.

Volunteer experience can be beneficial even for people interested in flying only for personal or recreational purposes. The scope of the volunteering need not be large. Rather, small day-to-day actions can be just as beneficial. Things such as preparing donation drives, organizing special interest groups, or hosting fundraisers can foster a sense of community and growth that impacts your decision-making and thoughtfulness as a pilot.

Volunteering would not be so important for professional pilots—not just those who want to get hired but those who have been flying for decades—if it did not have a material impact on how said professional pilots work together, as well as with their larger crews and within the air traffic system. Companies from small flight schools to the world’s largest airlines all agree on the instrumental value of giving back, whether it be on a small personal level or a larger communal level.

No two pilots, of course, are the same. Recognizing your strengths and talents is important for identifying the best opportunities for further growth. However, it is still the case that assisting others in the best way possible can be a major benefit for pilots of all levels and skills in furthering their own love of aviation and their commitment to excellence in the air.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AirlineGeeks.com.

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Significant turbulence events are not particularly uncommon – a Hawaiian Airlines flight made headlines last year, and a Southwest flight was forced to divert due to turbulence earlier this spring – but the Singapore Airlines flight brought the first turbulence-related fatality in years.

• READ MORE: Severe Turbulence Blamed in Death Aboard Singapore Airlines Flight

This flight begs the question of how pilots, dispatchers, air traffic controllers, and other stakeholders can predict turbulence and avoid it. Detecting turbulence can be difficult, and not all turbulence is predictable, but there are ways to identify where it could occur.

Convective Activity

The biggest indicator of turbulence is convective activity. When unstable air is allowed to rise – by a lifting force such as a front or a mountain range – its movement becomes what we call turbulence. Pilots can identify where convective action is occurring to pinpoint areas where they could experience turbulence.

The easiest way to identify areas of convective turbulence is to look at clouds. When clouds become vertically developed – when they extend high into the sky in puffs – it is likely that turbulence is present because air needs to be pushed upwards considerably to allow moisture to condense into towering clouds. The same is true with heavy, showery rain: such comes about when air is forced upwards enough to create rain. In heavy storms, the turbulence is compounded by downdrafts that force rain to the surface, passing through the updrafts that allow the storm to develop in the first place.

Mountain Waves

Another place where turbulence is common is over mountain ranges. Mountains provide a natural lifting mechanism for unstable air, allowing air to rise and move around more strongly. This extra movement is often most noticeable the closer you are to the mountains, which is why mountainous areas often have the bumpiest takeoffs and landings. These are commonly referred to as mountain waves.

Pilots have additional tools to help them predict turbulence. In the United States, the Aviation Weather Center – part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – creates aviation-specific weather reports and forecasts to help crew identify weather patterns conducive to atmospheric instability.

• READ MORE: Treat High-Altitude Turbulence with Knowledge and Respect

Most important are inflight aviation weather advisories called AIRMETs, SIGMETs, and Convective SIGMETs. AIRMETs apply mostly to smaller aircraft; they pertain to activies such as areas of low clouds and visibility and moderate turbulence. SIGMETs and Convective SIGMETs apply to all aircraft regardless of size.

Convective SIGMETs are the most applicable for finding areas of extreme turbulence. They may be issued for things such as lines of severe thunderstorms called squall lines; tornadoes; embedded thunderstorms; surface winds greater than 50 knots; and more. These provide pilots with information on the areas most critical to avoid inflight.

New Tools Available

There are also third-party apps that help crews and even passengers, predict where the smoothest rides will be. They take weather and pilot reports to make assessments and predictions about where the smoothest rides will be, allowing for safer, more comfortable trips. They also use real-time data to cross-check the accuracy of their systems.

In addition, pilots are able to use a reporting system – called PIREPs – to warn others of their observations, including icing and turbulence. Crews use these reports and predictions to make decisions about which routes to take, which altitudes to fly, or even whether to fly at all.

• READ MORE: ForeFlight Introduces Reported Turbulence Map

Not every bit of turbulence is predictable, though. There is another type of turbulence called “clear air turbulence” that can seemingly appear out of nowhere and will not show up on radar. This type of turbulence tends to take pilots by surprise and does not provide any possibility of avoidance. This is a big reason why pilots and cabin crew tell passengers to fasten their seatbelts whenever seated, even if the seatbelt sign is off: if turbulence suddenly takes an aircraft by surprise, passengers reduce their own risk if they are already strapped in.

Severe and extreme turbulence events are still exceedingly rare in the context of how many commercial flights operate each day.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AVweb.

The post How Pilots Predict Severe Turbulence appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The $3.8 billion merger would have resulted in the country’s fifth-largest airline. JetBlue would have entirely absorbed Spirit, rebranding its airplanes and using its slots across the country for rapid expansion.

Judge’s Findings and the Clayton Act

“In light of the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, it is hereby ordered that the Defendant Airlines, their agents, servants, employees, and all persons acting in concert with either of them, are permanently enjoined from executing the proposed merger as agreed on July 28, 2022,” wrote Judge William Young on Tuesday.

Judge Young found this merger would violate the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914, which prohibits price discrimination and focuses greatly on mergers and acquisitions. Specifically, Judge Young mentions in his 113-page decision a section that prohibits mergers and acquisitions “where in any line of commerce or in any activity affecting commerce in any section of the country, the effect of such acquisition may be substantially to lessen competition” in an effort to prevent a trend towards monopoly “before the customer’s alternatives disappear.”

“The parties need not be each other’s closest competitors to raise a threat to competition; being close competitors is enough for an acquisition to result in upward pricing pressure,” Young wrote in his decision. “The loss of Spirit’s influence on JetBlue as a head-to-head competitor would likely result in less competition to both discipline the prices and spur the innovation of JetBlue as a smaller, maverick -– more competitive — market participant. “

The Importance of Independent Brands

For its own part, Spirit has been flying for decades. Despite having a somewhat volatile reputation with the American public, Spirit has profited greatly by selling rock-bottom base fares and charging extra for bags, drinks, snacks, and even, in some cases, checking in with an agent at the airport. Spirit competes with Frontier Airlines, the other major ultra-low-cost carrier in the United States.

“The loss of Spirit’s innovation, in particular, would be a loss for all consumers in the national scheduled airline passenger market. A reduction in product innovation resulting from an acquisition is a cognizable harm to competition,” Judge Young wrote in his decision.

“In eliminating Spirit from the marketplace, the proposed transaction would, by definition, dampen Spirit’s disruptive force,” Young continued.

It seemed for a moment that there would have been a way for JetBlue to make some concessions – namely giving up lucrative slots on the East Coast – to make the deal happen; those slots would have most likely gone to Frontier. In December, Judge Young said that he would entertain a deal that saw JetBlue making concessions to allow the merger but that he was at the time unsure how much of its current operation JetBlue would need to sacrifice for the merger.

Still, it seems that the major sticking point for Judge Young was the reduction of choice in the American aviation landscape. Young wrote that the elimination of product options that consumers value “is a cognizable harm to competition.”

Ultimately, Young decided, “The Government has demonstrated that consumers value Spirit flights as a unique, economical product option. The removal of Spirit as an option for consumers, therefore, would constitute a cognizable harm.”

JetBlue’s Rebuttal

While Young says that JetBlue can innovate better because of Spirit’s competition, JetBlue says that this deal is necessary for it to have the aircraft and slots to challenge the established big four carriers – American, Delta, United, and Southwest – which collectively control 80% of the US airline market. Without this merger, per JetBlue, customers suffer from a lack of choice more than they would from price increases if the deal goes through.

JetBlue also argued that, though losing Spirit would cause price increases for a time, inevitably another new carrier would replace it and bring costs back to where they once were. JetBlue further argued that the potential entry of new competitors into the market may be considered when a judge determines whether a merger will substantially lessen competition, adding that they need not prove that a competitor will enter the same markets Spirit would leave or when for their argument to be considered.

There is a question, though, whether such an entry would be “timely” enough to offset the impacts of Spirit’s disappearance from the market. It often takes years for new airlines to start up from nothing to a full airline, and most airline startups do not succeed long-term in the U.S.

That does not mean that such is impossible. Avelo Airlines and Breeze Airways, two low-cost airlines that focus on serving underrepresented cities with nonstop routes to popular destinations, launched during the COVID-19 pandemic and are on the verge of turning their first profits.

Still, though, both carriers fill a niche market with no previous competition that allows them an advantage. Any replacement for Spirit would need to compete directly with Frontier, Allegiant, Sun Country, and others before it comes close to being the same size and having the same loyalty that Spirit does, making its path to growth difficult.

Perhaps Spirit’s disappearance would allow innovation from other airlines already in business. Allegiant’s business model and route structure, though close, does not directly match Spirit’s.

JetBlue’s Recent Snubs

This is not the first time that JetBlue has lost out on a potentially lucrative merger. Alaska beat it to buying Virgin America, another carrier that would have solved JetBlue’s inability to get a foothold on the West Coast. Though JetBlue has a handful of routes to the U.S. West Coast and Europe, a large majority of its flights are concentrated on the East Coast, and all outside of that region connect to the East Coast, meaning the airline cannot compete meaningfully with any other company apart from eastern routes.

This is also not the first time in recent months that the Justice Department has come for JetBlue. The carrier’s codeshare with American Airlines, dubbed the Northeast Alliance, was struck down in late 2023 because, once again, the Biden administration claimed it was anticompetitive. JetBlue decided not to appeal the decision to focus on its deal with Spirit, meaning the airline is now out of two lucrative deals within months.

The Merger’s Legal Future

At the time of writing, neither JetBlue nor Spirit has commented on Tuesday’s decision. What impact the loss of both of these deals will have on JetBlue’s future is unclear.

JetBlue does have an additional incentive to appeal: it will owe Spirit $400 million if the deal cannot clear regulatory hurdles. Such a payment would constitute a big break for the ultra-low-cost carrier, which in recent months has been hit hard by economic slowdown.

The Justice Department has focused greatly on antitrust cases under President Joe Biden, taking aim at other companies such as Amazon and Google. This prioritization of taking down big brands is likely the fundamental reason why the Justice Department wanted this case to go to trial instead of settling out of court, which both JetBlue and Spirit were ready to do.

“JetBlue’s plan would eliminate the unique competition that Spirit provides—and about half of all ultra-low-cost airline seats in the industry—and leave tens of millions of travelers to face higher fares and fewer options,” the Justice Department alleged in its lawsuit last March.

Past and Future Airline Mergers

The Justice Department does not have much precedent in the 21st century for taking airline merger cases to trial; in fact the federal government has not rejected an airline merger in 20 years. The merger between American Airlines and US Airways in 2013 narrowly avoided trial. Southwest and AirTran also merged in 2013 without one, as did United and Continental in 2010 and Delta and Northwest in 2008.

This decision calls into question whether the original merger Spirit had with Frontier would have gone through either. In both cases, there would have only been one major ultra-low-cost airline remaining in the U.S. market. Spirit would have disappeared from some key destinations, and its competition would have disappeared in other markets where it was the only challenger to mainline companies, thus increasing prices.

Equally in question now is the future of a proposed merger between Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines. The Justice Department would most likely argue for price increases caused by that deal, but the fact that the two brands would remain separate – and that their route networks are largely complimentary of each other – means that the number of airlines in the U.S. would not change, at least publicly.

That allows Alaska to make a stronger case against any anticompetitive argument that the Justice Department could make based on brand loyalty, which Judge Young specifically mentioned in the JetBlue/Spirit case. With independent brands still in operation, Alaska would allow passengers to continue having at least the illusion of choice, not to mention many in the traveling public might not notice any difference once Hawaiian was purchased and would continue flying as normal.

A stronger example is the international market – Hawaiian would continue competing with international and domestic brands alike, and it would maintain brand loyalty from both Hawaiian natives who have known the brand for decades as well as international vacationers who are either already familiar or who will make the correlation between the name of the state and the airline.

Hawaiian said immediately after its proposed deal with Alaska that it is open to other offers. JetBlue has yet to make any statement about Hawaiian, and it is unlikely that it will. A merger with Spirit makes sense for JetBlue because the two airlines have nearly identical fleet commonality. Spirit also has the exact slots that would allow JetBlue to expand in a way that makes sense.

However, adding widebody Airbus A330s, aging Boeing 717s, and a trans-Pacific route network does not match the way that JetBlue has been expanding in recent years. Hawaiian also does not have the number of airport slots on the West Coast that would be beneficial to JetBlue.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AirlineGeeks.com.

The post Judge Blocks JetBlue, Spirit Merger appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Original estimates predicted that it would take years for travel demand to rebound to pre-pandemic levels. In fact, in the first months of the pandemic, the most ambitious estimates indicated that demand would start in 2023. Others projected it might take an additional year or two on top of that.

Airlines responded promptly. Hundreds of airplanes were grounded per airline, amounting to thousands in the United States alone. If American Airlines, the largest airline in the world by fleet size, had grounded a number of airplanes proportional to the drop in demand, they alone would have grounded somewhere between 800 and 900 airplanes; arguably the only thing preventing such a unilateral drop was passenger airlines’ shift to operating cargo flights with their planes to meet the high demand for shipments of medical equipment.

Pictures soon arose of airports where dozens of planes were parked in orderly rows on what would have otherwise been active runways and taxiways, not to be used for over a year. Stories arose of commercial flights with half a dozen people flying on planes built and configured for nearly 200, and some airlines made up the difference by flying fewer flights and blocking middle seats for passenger comfort.

Flight crews also faced challenges. Pilots, flight attendants, and ground service personnel were initially furloughed en masse, eventually able to receive a paycheck because of multiple government bailouts through the CARES Acts.

Still, airlines did not stop trying to find ways to cut their personnel costs, and the cheapest solution they found, considering how long experts estimated the travel downturn would last, was to offer older pilots within a few years of retirement age early retirement packages. After all, some of these pilots would retire before travel would (as estimated) return, so it was beneficial for them to take extra compensation immediately and for the airlines, who would have fewer senior pilots at the top of the pay scale.

That staffing solution was a reasonable idea at the time; all things considered, it was the best thing airlines could do to protect their bottom lines as they prepared for what had all the indications of being a years-long hibernation. For a while, it worked, and, in time, airlines managed to stabilize their situations as best as possible.

Post-Pandemic Travel Rebound

However, in late 2021, something remarkable happened. About two years after the COVID-19 virus was first identified in China, passenger throughput data started trending upward. At first, it was a slow trend. In October 2021, TSA screened 1 million passengers in a day—still a far cry from the 2.5 to 3 million they’d screen every day in 2019, but also the first time more than 1 million passengers flew since U.S. lockdowns began in March 2020.

Data fluctuated up and down around the magical seven-figure mark, but the overall upward trend was undeniable. As time progressed, the industry passed other milestones: airlines arose from financial challenges, airplanes returned to service, routes were reintroduced, and even international travel started to show signs of life again.

And, before anyone could blink, those positive trends started to snowball, and flying returned more rapidly. Soon, every parked airplane was brought back into service. More airplanes were brought out of storage in desert boneyards. But as much as the capacity for travel increased, it still felt one step behind the demand. People wanted to travel so much that airlines even brought back the jumbo jets—the Airbus A380s and Boeing 747s—that they had so recently planned to retire for good.

Airlines have been able to handle aircraft returns to service just fine. What they haven’t been able to plan for quite as well is their staffing.

The Source of Captain Shortages

Remember that the first types of pilots to receive voluntary retirement packages were older pilots. An overwhelming majority of those pilots were captains; they were people who had spent decades building their skills and had reached the epitome of seniority and experience.

Fairly obviously, flights cannot operate without captains. These captains legally serve as the “pilot in command” (PIC), responsible for and the ultimate authority on the safe operation of a particular aircraft. It is their job to oversee the flight to make sure that everything is in order. They make countless decisions to determine that the airplane is airworthy and is capable of making a particular flight safely; that any mechanical discrepancies identified on the ground or in flight are appropriately dealt with; that the routing received from air traffic control is acceptable; and so many other things to make sure that the flight is completed safely and any necessary actions are taken to ensure that safety.

Captain Eligibility

The problem for airlines is that not just anyone can be an airline captain at a major air carrier. Even after a pilot becomes eligible for the license that permits them to fly for these major airlines (which itself requires 1,500 hours and a splattering of other requirements regarding cross country, night, and instrument flight), they need over 1,000 hours as an airline pilot at a major carrier before they can even be considered for a captain position.

“You can’t fly with two first officers,” aviation consultant Robert Mann told Reuters. “You have to have a captain.”

In order to fill the captain positions that were vacated by pilots taking early retirement packages, mainline airlines such as American, Delta, and United needed thousands of captain-qualified first officers (FOs) to upgrade to captain as soon as possible. Many first officers jumped at that chance.

But not every qualified first officer jumped at the opportunity. Some first officers had spent years as second-in-command on a particular fleet type and built up incredible seniority as a first officer. As they neared the end of their careers, these pilots did not want to sacrifice the control they had over their schedules as senior FOs to spend the end of their careers at the bottom of the captain seniority list.

“If I did that, I would’ve ended up divorced and seeing my kids every other weekend,” one United pilot told Reuters, referring to upgrading to the left seat.

Mainline Captain Shortages

This created an issue for major airlines. As quickly as they could upgrade qualified and willing FOs, they still struggled to fill all of the captain vacancies they had. Not only had many captains retired during the pandemic, still more were reaching the mandatory retirement age of 65 and were forced to retire during the travel bounceback. A vicious cycle had begun to make it highly difficult for airlines to fly.

In 2022, for example, United Airlines was unable to fill 50 percent of its captain vacancies because of the FOs’ reluctance to upgrade, amounting to nearly 1,000 captain positions that need to be filled. The same is true in 2023, as in June, the carrier reported that 96 of 198 captain vacancies were still vacant.

“It’s the first time that I’ve ever known it to happen in the airline industry. It is going to impact capacity in the fourth quarter,” CEO Scott Kirby said on an earnings call over the summer.

The airline has 5,900 captains and 7,500 first officers, per its union.

7,000 American Airlines pilots have declined upgrades, per union data obtained by Reuters. American’s union represents over 15,000 pilots.

Mainline vs. Regional Airlines

However, major airlines have one big advantage. To understand it, it’s important to understand the difference between a “mainline” airline and a regional carrier. If a route does not have enough demand to support regular flights from 150- to 200-seat jets, or if it’s worth it to an airline to fly smaller jets more often on a route to maintain competitively flexible schedules, a carrier will outsource to a regional airline to operate those smaller jets.

Only a certain selection of airlines in the U.S. rely on regional carriers. American, Delta, and United are the most visible. Any flight that is branded as “American Eagle,” “Delta Connection,” or “United Express” is operated by a third-party regional operator instead of the main airline. Alaska Airlines also uses regional carriers, though with slightly different brandings: its regional partners fly aircraft that bear both Alaska’s name and the regional’s, such as “Alaska Skywest” for the independent, national regional brand or “Alaska Horizon” for flights operated by wholly-owned subsidiary Horizon Airlines.

Using these regional operators allows major airlines to remain competitive without needing to pay for hundreds of extra planes. Instead, they pay regionals a certain fee per departure, and the regionals handle their own staffing and buy or lease their own aircraft.

Notably, during the pandemic, major airlines reduced the number of regional partners they worked with for this reason; for instance, ExpressJet stopped operating for months after United Airlines cut its contract in favor of another regional partner.

For many reasons, regional airlines are a fascinating case study in airline flying. How pilots view these regional carriers is one of those. With the exception of SkyWest, which operates in all but a handful of U.S. states, regional carriers are called such because they operate within a specific region of the country. With limited exception, Republic Airways operates almost exclusively east of the Mississippi River; CommuteAir, which beat out ExpressJet for United’s business, operates a few routes in the Midwest, Texas, eastern Canada, and the western U.S.; Horizon Air operates only on the West Coast.

This regionality makes these carriers a great option for pilots who want to be able to stay closer to home throughout their careers. However, many more pilots use regional airlines as a stepping stone to make them attractive applicants for major airlines. With time flying multiengine jets at big, busy airports in an airline environment, they can make themselves viable for further career opportunities at the mainline carriers.

The regionals faced the same challenges with more senior captains retiring early during the pandemic and needed first officers to upgrade to the captain position as soon as they were qualified to maintain smooth operations.

“And from a regional perspective, it’s really not a pilot supply issue at this point. It’s more of an issue of having first officers with the amount of time, the thousand hours that they need to graduate from the right seat to the left seat,” American Airlines Group CEO Robert Isom said during a Q3 2023 earnings call last week. He added that American itself isn’t seeing issues with filling captain vacancies, but noted struggles on the regional side. Unlike its competitors, American has three wholly-owned regional subsidiaries, including PSA, Piedmont, and Envoy.

The Captain Shortage at Regional Airlines

However, the regional airlines had an additional pressure. While mainline companies mainly worried about losing pilots to retirement, regionals also had to worry about losing pilots who got jobs at the mainline airlines. And these new hires were not limited only to the big three; regional pilots also leave for low-cost airlines like Southwest, Spirit, and Frontier.

As mainline companies lost first officers to captain upgrades, they suddenly found themselves in desperate need of new first officers to fill the second seat in the cockpit. These new first officers came overwhelmingly from the regional airlines, whether or not they were captains themselves.

Thus, regional airlines found themselves in the same predicament that mainline airlines did: in desperate need of captains and trying as hard as possible to convince first officers to make the switch. There is an additional challenge for them, though. Because of their experience at regionals, new pilots at mainline airlines often meet the legal experience requirements to be captains. As they build experience in a new airplane type with their new employer, they are legally eligible for a captain upgrade as soon as they are senior enough as first officers for the new airline to make the option available.

Regional airlines do not have that benefit. Many of their new hires are eligible to be airline pilots after spending years as flight instructors, aerial survey pilots, or flying for private aircraft owners. These new airline pilots need to fly 1,000 hours at their airline before the company can even think about upgrading them. As captains disappeared to new, better-paying airlines and new pilots came in with no captain-qualifying experience, regional airlines found themselves in a bit of a catch-22: they can’t fill their captain vacancies without qualified first officers, but they can’t get their first officers to be qualified because there are not enough captains to operate the flights that will get those first officers their experience.

Regional Airlines’ Response

While it is easy for mainline carriers to hire first officers that will be ready to upgrade soon—they are, after all, career-destination companies with thousands of applicants from a wide variety of regional, low-cost, and charter airlines—regionals do not have that benefit. They have such an imbalance of captains to first officers that they have been forced to cut upwards of 20 percent of their schedules to prevent mass flight cancellations. This has brought service losses at a significant number of smaller airports.

Regional carriers have offered signing bonuses worth tens of thousands of dollars to pilots who get hired directly as captains. This might be attractive to charter pilots looking to switch to airline flying. Certain types of charter experience meets the 1,000-hour captain experience requirement, and pilots might be attracted to an opportunity where they can build PIC time—such experience is itself very valuable—in multiengine jet aircraft, making them all the more qualified for management jobs (as a line check airman or chief pilot) or a position at a mainline carrier.

Industry-Wide Response

Steps have been taken, of course, to try to remedy these problems. Delta Air Lines announced a major update to its pilot contract in the spring, forcing United Airlines to follow suit over the summer. American Airlines introduced their own contract soon after. Officials say these deals will go a long way toward ensuring the mainline carriers are sufficiently staffed with captains moving forward, though it has yet to be seen how effective the new deals will really be.

Particularly, airlines hope that updates to work/life balance in these new contracts will be strong incentives for pilots to move to the left seat. As previously mentioned, the loss of seniority after a captain upgrade can be a significant turnoff for senior first officers who want to spend time with their families and avoid forced assignments.

“Junior captains are faced with amplified uncertainties in their flight schedules, on-call commitments, and sudden assignments, translating to reduced stability,” says Jainita Hogervorst, director of Aerviva Aviation Consultancy, a Dubai-based aviation recruitment consultancy.

“Such uncertainty in scheduling might trickle down to other issues, such as unsatisfactory work-life balance,” Hogervorst continued. “The evolving work-life balance landscape and societal attitudes towards career encourage a shift in working people’s attitude, pilots included.”

There have also been attempts to lower the minimum experience requirements for new airline pilots and raise the pilot retirement age, both by the federal government and individual airlines themselves. These calls have brought an outcry from flight crews, but their fates have yet to be determined.

“We can hire first officers. I think almost every regional airline right now has a stack of first officers,” CommuteAir CEO Rick Hoefling told AirlineGeeks at the unveiling of the regional carrier’s first Embraer E170 jet last week. “The problem is building their time at the same time you’re attriting out captains at a pretty high rate in the industry.”

“We went from a pilot shortage to a captain shortage now in the industry. So the pendulum is starting to move,” Hoefling added.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) estimates a need for over 350,000 pilots by 2026 to sustain operations and fill captain slots around the world; consultancy firm Oliver Wyman estimates global aviation will be short 80,000 pilots by 2032. This comes after U.S. airlines are on track for record hiring numbers in 2023.

The massive shortage has been a benefit for aspiring pilots, and there has been a significant uptick in new student pilots as well as pilot certificates issued in recent years. The FAA issued thousands of commercial pilot certificates in 2022, and while some of those pilots will return to foreign markets for jobs, the additional pilots will be able to ease some of the burdens that airlines are facing.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AirlineGeeks.com.

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