Flying Cheap: The Regional Airlines

The pilot shortage that people have been talking about for years is a real thing and will affect the industry in one way or another in the future. We may never know whether or not this shortage is caused by the mandatory retirement age making a lot of major airline pilots retire, or young aviators choosing not to pursue the life of an airline pilot due to a cost deficit with regard to training cost vs regional airline pay. At the same time it is almost irrelevant, the pilot shortage does exist and I personally believe both arguments have truth to them regarding why we have a lack of pilots in America (The U.S Pilot shortage is real). The airline industry is pinnacle for the society that many of us enjoy living, transporting over half the worlds population each year, it is a necessity of our everyday lives. Without air transportation our world would be an un-conceivably different place.

The regional airlines either are concerned or should be concerned for the year future with regard to available pilots that they have to hire. The regionals right now are willing to hire almost anyone, from my personal experience I am not even close to the ATP minimums that the FAA requires pilots to have before they can fly for a scheduled airline yet I already have airline recruiters calling me and keeping tabs on me for the future when I am ready. The reason that the regional industry has gotten to be this way (willing to hire almost anyone) is simple. The raising cost of flight training with a degree attached is estimated to be about $120,000 when its all said and done which in itself is enough to drive away a lot of potential future aviators from the industry, not to mention the upcoming plethora of retiring pilots from the majors. This shortage caused by these two factors is what has drove the regionals to become so desperate. Overseas a lot of major airlines such as Lufthansa and British Airways have airline pathway programs established where they pay for a majority of flight training costs for flight students so long as they pledge an oath to that airline and sign a contract where the carrier gets its use out of the candidate. This system sounds skeptical due to the fact that these pilots are signing multiple year contracts where they are locked in, but in the grand scheme of things this might not be all that bad. These pilots who go through this system with these carriers will eventually be flying the heavy metal they want to be flying at a mighty generous pay scale. I personally think that this method of reimbursement from the airlines could work in the U.S

Professionalism can be defined as taking utmost pride in yourself and in your work and portraying it to the world. I think we can all agree that professionalism was not present in the corporate culture at Colgan Air prior to the crash such as, asking pilots to fly even though they were fatigued and the lack of management positions to adequately manage the rapid growth of the company. The most shocking fact that I gathered from the documentary was that management at Colgan not only disregarded pilots concern for fatigue but furthermore encouraged it with promises of incentives if they would just get the job done. I think that it goes without saying that first year pay and the compensation structure of regional airlines is definitely a contributing factor and demonstrates a lack of professionalism across the board (Salah, Oussama). It is obvious that there is a correlation between pay/rest and regional airline incidents/accidents, by comparison you very rarely see these type of slips occurring from within the major airlines. The corporate culture at these regional airlines is doomed to fail from the moment that the contracts are signed by their bigger major airline brothers. After the contracts are signed the airline whose sole purpose is to make money off a small margin must mitigate this by offering low pay and a pre condition for bad management decisions to be made. It is my goal to be a professional with regard not only to my aviation career but also everything that I do. I plan on doing this by removing myself from situations in which my professionalism factor could be compromised such as working for airlines that are notorious for cutting corners to finish the mission. Another possible way to excel with professionalism would be to join airline organizations such as AOPA and help reform the industry positively which will reflect upon your career extremely positively.


Salah, Oussama. "Opinion: The Pilot Shortage Myth, Maybe Not." The Pilot Shortage Myth, Maybe Not. 14 Sept. 2014. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://aviationweek.com/ideaxchange/opinion-pilot-shortage-myth-maybe-not>.

"The Coming U.S. Pilot Shortage Is Real." The Coming U.S. Pilot Shortage Is Real. 16 Feb. 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/coming-us-pilot-shortage-real>.