Flying Cheap & Professionalism
January 21st, 2018
By - Kalan Foster
Colgan and the state of the Airline Industry
Everyone loves to fly cheap but how much is truly at risk when you decide to purchase less expensive airfares? Everyone knows that newly trained pilots don't make as nearly as much as they should. To remain competitive regional airliners would contract with smaller carriers to meet the growing demands of air travel. Imagine flying southwest and you board the plane and the captains have on the spirit's uniform, how would that make you feel? Regionals airliners believed there was a pilot shortage back in 2009, but students didn't want to invest in an industry in which the starting rate was minimum wage. The training programs were an average of $40,000 to $75,000, in today's that's equivalent to $80,000 to $105,000. They could charge more for airfare but that decision could lead to an uproar from the public and decrease the amount of traffic for the airliner. Customers also want a very safe flight, and they expect the airliners to be on time. I strongly believe that a wage increase would have fixed the "pilot shortage", but airliners found every excuse to dismiss data provided by prominent Think-Tanks within the aviation community. Pilots weren't paid until they boarded the aircraft, many employees were forced to commute to meet the demands of the airlines.
Here are some of the rates from 2009
| Airline | Co-Pilot/Year One | Co-Pilot/Year Five | Pilot/Year Ten | Pilot/Year 15 | Pilot/Year Maximum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Eagle | $26 | $40 | $82 | $94 | $104 |
| Express Jet | $22.05 | $44 | $80 | $91 | $97 |
| Republic | $23 | $37 | $69 | $95 | $119 |
| SkyWest # | $22 | $44 | $61 | $98 | $112 |
| Air Wisconsin | $26 | $42 | $82 | $95 | $101 |
| Go Jet | $25 | $38 | $83 | $97 | $97 |
| Horizon* | $30 | $44 | $90 | $104 | $114 |
| Mesa # | $19 | $35 | $52 | $87 | $104 |
| Pinnacle | $25 | $37 | $77 | $87 | $87 |
| Silver Airways* | $20 | $33 | $53 | $69 | $75 |
| Trans States | $23 | $39 | $78 | $91 | $97 |
| Low | $19 | $33 | $52 | $69 | $75 |
| High | $30 | $44 | $90 | $104 | $119 |
| Average | $23.73 | $39.36 | $73.36 | $91.64 | $100.64 |
1500 Hour Rule
1500 hour rule made the pilot shortage worse, the rate at which pilots are hired into the regionals has decreased exponentially. The hiring pool at 1500 hours is significantly smaller and less competitive. at 1500 hours a pilot is guaranteed a very good job. Pilots in training must take advantages of any additional resources they can if they want to make it to the regionals, taking a job as a flight instructor is generally the best way to build hours.
Professionalism
Professionalism - Having respect for your profession and field of study.
In this documentary, management dismisses factual information regarding the state of the industry which was very unprofessional and lacked the skills required to understand the changes in the industry and how it was impacting the lives of the employees. The pilots knew that management didn't care about the state of the industry which created complacent behavioral types leading to an unsafe work culture for new pilots.
