One of the unintended consequences of that is a real gender and racial disparity amongst pilots вЂ“ only 19.6% of UnitedвЂ™s pilots are women or people of color and that unfortunately makes us a leader amongst peers. Because itвЂ™s always been expensive, most new pilots tend to come from aviation families which means if a man is a pilot, thereвЂ™s a good chance that his son becomes a pilot, but the chances are far smaller for kids in other circumstances or even his daughter. On top of that, major airlines traditionally didnвЂ™t need to recruit and instead relied primarily on the military and people who were passionate about aviation to get training and certification on their own. A commercial pilotвЂ™s journey is technically complex, building hours and obtaining certificates in a process that is difficult to navigate without experienced support.

It is, frankly, one of the most lucrative jobs in aviation.В Lastly, the pilot shortage is not the result of any mass exodus of workers вЂ“ there is an FAA-mandated retirement age of 65 for commercial airline pilots.ДЄt United, weвЂ™re convinced that the root of the problem is that it costs over $100,000 and takes five or more years to obtain all the training to become eligible to fly for a major airline. United widebody captains make over $350,000 a year with incredible benefits like an industry-leading 401(k) match rate of up to 16%. Second, the pilot shortage is not driven by pay or benefits. First, the shortage in pilots predates COVID-19 and our vaccine requirement вЂ“ we identified this problem and started working towards solutions years ago. He said airlines will reduce the number of flights, which Alaska said it plans to do in the short-term through June as a temporary solution.ItвЂ™s important to address some of the myths that surround the worldwide pilot crisis. In the meantime, Anderson doesnвЂ™t believe flight disruptions will continue to be an issue in the long-term. 'At some point, IвЂ™ll hopefully make it the first step Horizon and then work my way through on up to Alaska.' 'The airlines are definitely starting to recognize that with incentives like that, theyвЂ™re able to get a few more people in the pipeline,' said Kephart. After both of those events, we had a whole history of going from three-person crew of an aircraft to two-person crew of an aircraft that created an extra load of pilots that were on the market,' said Anderson, 'and then most recently, the age for mandatory retirement for airline pilots went from 60 to 65 and again that created a whole bunch of extra pilots.'ДЄs for Kephart, heвЂ™s currently enrolled in the Horizon Pilot Development program, which he said will help defray some costs. 'WeвЂ™ve had World War II and the Vietnam War, which created a lot of pilots that didnвЂ™t stay in the military after they were done with their flying education and their military schools. He explains in the past, there were events that made it easier for airlines to pick up the demand for pilots, which we havenвЂ™t seen in more recent years.

'We need to make it easier for people to get their pilots licenses and get through the process so that itвЂ™s not so expensive and time-consuming.'ДЄnderson went to flight school in Eastern Washington and graduated from Central Washington University as a pilot before going on to study aviation law. 'When there is demand for pilots, that demand canвЂ™t get filled instantly,' said Jimmy Anderson, an aviation attorney. 'To bring new pilots into our ranks, we launched a new pilot academy, founded a program to develop and support BIPOC pilots and continue to support the careers of pilots that want to move from our regional carrier Horizon Air to a job at Alaska.' In its release, the airline said it had 63 fewer pilots prepared to fly in April, citing training delays due to the Omicron surge earlier this year:

The company issued an apology on Thursday. In recent days, Alaska canceled dozens of flights which impacted thousands of passengers. OfficialsВ said they are connected to the shortage of pilots. Alaska Airlines continues to see 'significant' flight cancellations as pilots picketДozens of Alaska Airlines flights at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport were canceled Friday and Saturday.

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