Pilots wanted
Posted on November 7, 2017 by James Careless
You don’t have to tell Canada’s regional airlines that commercial pilots are hard to find these days. They’re experiencing the harsh realities of the shortage every day, and struggling to keep their rosters full and flight schedules maintained in the face of it.
“There’s a shortage of pilots on top, and that shortage is filtering down to the regional carriers as the major airlines hire away pilots at an accelerated pace to fill their schedules,” explained John McKenna, president and CEO of the Air Transport Association of Canada (ATAC). “The resulting pressure on the regional airlines is incredible. Some have had to park planes because they are so short of pilots.”
One regional carrier feeling the pinch is Air Georgian, which flies Beechcraft 1900s and Bombardier CRJ-100/200s under the Air Canada Express banner.
“We have had to cancel flights, simply because pilots have left us for major carriers with a month’s notice or less,” said Julie Mailhot, chief operating officer with Air Georgian. “A month is not enough time to hire and train new pilots to fill these gaps. Recruitment is not a big challenge because of the Pilot Mobility Agreement with Air Canada. But on the flip side, we also have to feed pilots to Air Canada, so it is still challenging.”
Toronto-based Porter Airlines has been proactive about cementing relationships with flight colleges and other pilot training schools. President and CEO Bob Deluce said these connections are starting to pay off by delivering new employees. Porter Airlines Photo
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An unnamed regional carrier told Skies that they lost 10 pilots to the majors in one month alone. In many cases, the departing pilots only gave the airline two weeks’ notice.
The record for regional pilot turnover may well belong to First Air, an Ottawa-based carrier serving Northern Canada with a fleet of ATR 42-300s/500s and Boeing 737-400/400Cs.
“At a time where we’ve seen the employment lifespan of a First Air pilot drop from five years to below two years, the prize belongs to the pilot we trained who finished ground school on July 1, then contacted me on July 4 to say, ‘I quit,’ ” said Aaron Speer, First Air’s vice-president of flight operations. “He didn’t even make it to service. He just went straight to a major carrier and left us hanging.”
Flight crew availability is no better in the Canadian helicopter industry. Helicopter Association of Canada president Fred Jones told Skies there are turbulent times ahead.
“It’s going to be a crisis,” he predicted. “Right now, it’s a challenge. Every summer, I get calls from operators looking for engineers, looking for pilots, and they can’t operate some aircraft because they don’t have the experienced personnel to do it.”
Jones said the recent slowdown in the helicopter industry has resulted in a “stay of execution,” but when the cyclical industry turns around again, the pilot pinch will be strongly felt.
In addition, “changes to fatigue management rules will mean more flight crews will be needed. There are difficult years ahead.”
To put the current pilot shortage into context, ATAC’s McKenna compares it to the collapse of Newfoundland’s cod fishery in the 1990s. Over-fishing in that industry resulted in fewer and smaller fish being caught, until cod stocks ran so low that the federal government ordered an end to all fishing.
“Of course, pilots aren’t cod,” said McKenna. “But considering how the regional airlines are being forced to park planes and lose revenue due to the majors taking more pilots than the regionals can afford to lose, there is something to the analogy.”
One shortage, many causes
There are many reasons why major carriers are “over-fishing” the regionals. (Even flight schools are losing instructor pilots to the majors’ pilot-streaming programs, say the regional airlines who spoke with Skies for this story.)
One widely-cited cause is the retirement of baby boomer pilots.
“As they leave the flight decks of Air Canada and WestJet, someone has to take their place,” said Jason Friesen, chief pilot with Bearskin Airlines, a Thunder Bay, Ont.-based regional carrier that flies Fairchild Metroliners.
Regional carrier Air Georgian has had to cancel flights because pilots have moved on to major carriers with less than a month’s notice. Michael Durning Photo
“But that’s not all that’s happening here: Many major airlines around the world are expanding their flight schedules, as falling ticket prices keep attracting additional passengers to airplanes.”
This has resulted in the strange situation where it is cheaper to fly across Canada than travelling by train or even bus, said Friesen, even as airlines go begging for pilots to crew those cheap flights.
These factors are creating a tremendous demand for pilots in Canada, which is why ATAC’s McKenna estimates that the commercial airline industry could now be short up to 600 pilots annually.
But according to Robert Deluce, the president and CEO of Toronto-based Porter Airlines, the situation could get worse as a result of proposed new pilot fatigue regulations issued by Transport Canada.
“The new regulations to reduce flying hours for pilots are designed for long-haul flights, but the implication for regional airlines would be significant,” he explained.
“There will be a need for all airlines to have approximately 10 per cent more pilots in a very short amount of time. This will put great stress on the pilot supply pipeline at a time when it is already a sensitive issue for airlines around the world.”
Hard to compete
In the world of commercial aviation, major carriers such as Air Canada and WestJet offer the highest salaries, best benefits, and most modern equipment, such as cutting-edge aircraft like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. As a result, the regionals find it hard to compete when the majors come trawling for new pilots.
Consider the case of Air Inuit, which covers Northern Canada out of Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport using a mix of Boeing 737-200, Bombardier Dash 8 100/300, British Aerospace Hawker Siddeley 748, de Havilland Canada Twin Otter 300, and Beechcraft King Air 100/350 series aircraft.
“It is pretty hard for Nunavut’s Resolute Bay to compete with Paris [France] for winning a pilot’s affections; especially when they have to overnight in Resolute Bay in January,” said David Minty, Air Inuit’s manager of training standards. “Paris is definitely nicer.”
Then there’s the reality that the majority of new Canadian pilots are southern urbanites. Many of the young pilots who join Air Inuit and other regionals are itching to get back home as soon as they can–and back home isn’t likely in Resolute Bay, but somewhere warmer like Calgary, Montreal or Toronto; all bases for major carriers.
The millennial generation is not as passionate about flying as their predecessors. The aviation industry must do more to attract young people who now have a wealth of career options available. Air Inuit Photo
Posted on November 7, 2017 by James Careless
You don’t have to tell Canada’s regional airlines that commercial pilots are hard to find these days. They’re experiencing the harsh realities of the shortage every day, and struggling to keep their rosters full and flight schedules maintained in the face of it.
“There’s a shortage of pilots on top, and that shortage is filtering down to the regional carriers as the major airlines hire away pilots at an accelerated pace to fill their schedules,” explained John McKenna, president and CEO of the Air Transport Association of Canada (ATAC). “The resulting pressure on the regional airlines is incredible. Some have had to park planes because they are so short of pilots.”
One regional carrier feeling the pinch is Air Georgian, which flies Beechcraft 1900s and Bombardier CRJ-100/200s under the Air Canada Express banner.
“We have had to cancel flights, simply because pilots have left us for major carriers with a month’s notice or less,” said Julie Mailhot, chief operating officer with Air Georgian. “A month is not enough time to hire and train new pilots to fill these gaps. Recruitment is not a big challenge because of the Pilot Mobility Agreement with Air Canada. But on the flip side, we also have to feed pilots to Air Canada, so it is still challenging.”
Toronto-based Porter Airlines has been proactive about cementing relationships with flight colleges and other pilot training schools. President and CEO Bob Deluce said these connections are starting to pay off by delivering new employees. Porter Airlines Photo
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An unnamed regional carrier told Skies that they lost 10 pilots to the majors in one month alone. In many cases, the departing pilots only gave the airline two weeks’ notice.
The record for regional pilot turnover may well belong to First Air, an Ottawa-based carrier serving Northern Canada with a fleet of ATR 42-300s/500s and Boeing 737-400/400Cs.
“At a time where we’ve seen the employment lifespan of a First Air pilot drop from five years to below two years, the prize belongs to the pilot we trained who finished ground school on July 1, then contacted me on July 4 to say, ‘I quit,’ ” said Aaron Speer, First Air’s vice-president of flight operations. “He didn’t even make it to service. He just went straight to a major carrier and left us hanging.”
Flight crew availability is no better in the Canadian helicopter industry. Helicopter Association of Canada president Fred Jones told Skies there are turbulent times ahead.
“It’s going to be a crisis,” he predicted. “Right now, it’s a challenge. Every summer, I get calls from operators looking for engineers, looking for pilots, and they can’t operate some aircraft because they don’t have the experienced personnel to do it.”
Jones said the recent slowdown in the helicopter industry has resulted in a “stay of execution,” but when the cyclical industry turns around again, the pilot pinch will be strongly felt.
In addition, “changes to fatigue management rules will mean more flight crews will be needed. There are difficult years ahead.”
To put the current pilot shortage into context, ATAC’s McKenna compares it to the collapse of Newfoundland’s cod fishery in the 1990s. Over-fishing in that industry resulted in fewer and smaller fish being caught, until cod stocks ran so low that the federal government ordered an end to all fishing.
“Of course, pilots aren’t cod,” said McKenna. “But considering how the regional airlines are being forced to park planes and lose revenue due to the majors taking more pilots than the regionals can afford to lose, there is something to the analogy.”
One shortage, many causes
There are many reasons why major carriers are “over-fishing” the regionals. (Even flight schools are losing instructor pilots to the majors’ pilot-streaming programs, say the regional airlines who spoke with Skies for this story.)
One widely-cited cause is the retirement of baby boomer pilots.
“As they leave the flight decks of Air Canada and WestJet, someone has to take their place,” said Jason Friesen, chief pilot with Bearskin Airlines, a Thunder Bay, Ont.-based regional carrier that flies Fairchild Metroliners.
Regional carrier Air Georgian has had to cancel flights because pilots have moved on to major carriers with less than a month’s notice. Michael Durning Photo
“But that’s not all that’s happening here: Many major airlines around the world are expanding their flight schedules, as falling ticket prices keep attracting additional passengers to airplanes.”
This has resulted in the strange situation where it is cheaper to fly across Canada than travelling by train or even bus, said Friesen, even as airlines go begging for pilots to crew those cheap flights.
These factors are creating a tremendous demand for pilots in Canada, which is why ATAC’s McKenna estimates that the commercial airline industry could now be short up to 600 pilots annually.
But according to Robert Deluce, the president and CEO of Toronto-based Porter Airlines, the situation could get worse as a result of proposed new pilot fatigue regulations issued by Transport Canada.
“The new regulations to reduce flying hours for pilots are designed for long-haul flights, but the implication for regional airlines would be significant,” he explained.
“There will be a need for all airlines to have approximately 10 per cent more pilots in a very short amount of time. This will put great stress on the pilot supply pipeline at a time when it is already a sensitive issue for airlines around the world.”
Hard to compete
In the world of commercial aviation, major carriers such as Air Canada and WestJet offer the highest salaries, best benefits, and most modern equipment, such as cutting-edge aircraft like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. As a result, the regionals find it hard to compete when the majors come trawling for new pilots.
Consider the case of Air Inuit, which covers Northern Canada out of Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport using a mix of Boeing 737-200, Bombardier Dash 8 100/300, British Aerospace Hawker Siddeley 748, de Havilland Canada Twin Otter 300, and Beechcraft King Air 100/350 series aircraft.
“It is pretty hard for Nunavut’s Resolute Bay to compete with Paris [France] for winning a pilot’s affections; especially when they have to overnight in Resolute Bay in January,” said David Minty, Air Inuit’s manager of training standards. “Paris is definitely nicer.”
Then there’s the reality that the majority of new Canadian pilots are southern urbanites. Many of the young pilots who join Air Inuit and other regionals are itching to get back home as soon as they can–and back home isn’t likely in Resolute Bay, but somewhere warmer like Calgary, Montreal or Toronto; all bases for major carriers.
The millennial generation is not as passionate about flying as their predecessors. The aviation industry must do more to attract young people who now have a wealth of career options available. Air Inuit Photo