We’ve sure gone from a pilot shortage to too many pilots pretty quickly…
United pilots have option of voluntary unpaid leave
United Airlines is offering its pilots a voluntary unpaid leave program, as delayed deliveries of new Boeing aircraft is causing the airline to be overstaffed.
United is currently growing the fastest among the major US airlines, though due to production issues at Boeing, the airline has cut its delivery forecast for the year. United expects 15 fewer Boeing 737 MAX 9s and six fewer Boeing 737 MAX 8s than initially planned, leaving the airline with an excess of pilots.
The program United is offering is strictly voluntary, and pilots can take off for a month at a time without pay. So this program currently applies for pilots bidding on schedules for May 2024, though it’s expected that this will continue into the summer, and maybe even into the fall.
Pilots can either take the entire month off, can take specific days off, or can opt for a blank schedule, so that they can then pick up and trade trips as they’d like. Those who take advantage of this still receive their basic benefits (health insurance, travel benefits, etc.), but just won’t get the hourly pay they’d usually get for flying.
Just recently, United announced plans to pause pilot hiring, largely for similar reasons. United isn’t the only airline in that situation, as Southwest Airlines has also paused pilot hiring, given the issues the airline is experiencing with the Boeing 737 MAX.
Pilots negotiated contracts at the perfect time
They say timing is everything, and that’s especially true when you look at the amazing new contracts that pilots at the major US carriers have ratified. The unions at all the major US airlines negotiated new contracts in the past couple of years, collectively worth tens of billions of dollars.
They had little leverage at the start of the pandemic, when there was limited demand for air travel. But as demand quickly recovered, airlines couldn’t hire pilots fast enough. This put pilots in very high demand, and gave them the ability to negotiate the best contracts the industry has ever seen.
This insatiable demand for more pilots didn’t last long, though. Now we’re seeing Boeing delivery delays, Pratt & Whitney engine issues on some Airbus aircraft, etc. Even at regional airlines, the situation has improved. Just recently, Mesa Airlines’ CEO said that the supply of pilots has stabilized, and there are now lots of qualified first officer applications:
“There was a time when none of us could find first officers. Now I mean, I think we have close to 2,000 applicants for qualified first officers.”
This sentiment was echoed by CommuteAir’s CEO, who stated that there’s no longer a pilot shortage, but rather a captain shortage (at least at regional airlines):
“We can hire first officers. I think almost every regional airline right now has a stack of first officers. 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.”
Of course pilots are in a great position, because these newly negotiated contracts are valid for several years. Furthermore, once the contracts are up for renewal, they almost never get a pay cut, short of bankruptcy at an airline. So they managed to set a new benchmark for pilot pay, and they’ll be benefiting from that for years to come. Hey, good for them, I don’t blame them, it’s just interesting to consider how quickly the demand for more pilots has decreased.
Bottom line
United Airlines is offering its pilots unpaid leave, as new aircraft delivery delays are causing the airline to be overstaffed. This comes just shortly after the airline announced plans to freeze pilot hiring. United isn’t the first airline to introduce a program like this, and I also suspect it won’t be the last…
What do you make of United offering pilots unpaid leave?
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