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Originally Posted by VATechPilot  What does that mean though, will the shortage of pilots be reversed in general, or just in the regionals? And if it's just the regionals, what will that mean for people trying to get into the airlines? A better chance of getting into the mainline carriers off the gun, or just a harder time getting hired by the airlines in general? |
There is still a shortage and that probably wont change that quickly but hiring will slow down because the regionals are going to see less growth or will stagnate. There will probably be little movement in the industry as oil continues to climb. A lot of this can be changed if airlines would be able to charge what it costs them to fly the flight. AirTran offering $69 walk up fares from ATL to TPA forces Delta to do the same...the result, neither company makes money. If that ticket was $400, the industry would probably do alright.
Economics is finally starting to take over. Since the airlines can not just raise fares, they need to do it in other ways. To accomplish that, if there is a reduction in supply for the same quantity demanded, those seats become a scarce resource and prices will naturally climb. Where is the capacity being cut? Those little jets. A CRJ-700 only needs 3 more people onboard compared to a CRJ-200 to break-even. 50 seat flying is just not economical in most cases anymore. By reducing capacity by a few percent, that can have an enormous benifit to the airlines. The problem though then comes from the fact that someone else will always undercut and provide extra capacity into the market (ahem...Skybus, Virgin America, jetBlue...). Its a hard battle to win.