Several US airlines are now so desperate for staff that they have swapped planes for buses on some shorter routes.
Several airlines, including American Airlines, have hired bus companies to carry passengers when distances are short.
American will transport passengers between Philadelphia and between several other airports that would be a short hop away by plane.
Service will begin June 3 between Philadelphia International and airports in Allentown, Pennsylvania and Atlantic City, New Jersey with bus company Landline.
Meanwhile, United offers one-stop connectivity to both Fort Collins and Breckenridge, with four daily buses from Denver to the former and just one to the latter.
American Airlines will ferry passengers between Philadelphia and several pairs of airports just a stone’s throw away
The bus services come as US airlines face pilot shortages, forcing them to step up training programs and even recruit pilots from overseas.
Breeze Airways, a low-cost airline, and SkyWest are both recruiting foreign pilots from Australia to increase their workforce.
The industry is also increasing salaries in hopes of attracting and retaining pilots.
According to federal labor statistics, an average of 14,500 new pilots per year by 2030.
Fixed Line, based in Fort Collins, Colorado, has similar deals with Sun Country Airlines in seven cities in Minnesota and Wisconsin
“The pilot shortage in the industry is real and most airlines will simply not be able to meet their capacity plans because there simply aren’t enough pilots, at least not for the next five years,” United Airlines chief executive officer Scott Kirby said last week during a conference call. ‘
“It will likely force United to keep 150 regional jets parked despite increased demand for domestic travel,” he said.
Fixed-line and American didn’t mention the pilot shortage, instead pitching the bus service as an “easier route” between Philadelphia Airport and Lehigh International Airport in Allentown, 73 miles away, and Atlantic City International Airport, 56 miles away.
American Airlines vice president of network planning Brian Znotins said it would help customers connect to the airline’s international flights from Philadelphia.
United Airlines in Denver is also planning to transport some of its passengers
American’s regional subsidiary, American Eagle, operates flights from Allentown to Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina. Fort Worth Airline does not serve Atlantic City.
Fixed Line, based in Fort Collins, Colorado, has similar deals with United Airlines in Denver and Sun Country Airlines in seven cities in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The company said it raised $28 million to expand its geographic reach.
Even before the pandemic, airlines were facing pilot shortages.
When Covid struck, the travel downturn saw thousands of pilots placed on furlough or early retirement.
According to Bloomberg, the industry has struggled to recover as travel resumes and it now means airlines are unable to find enough skilled crews to fully restore route maps.
Breeze Airways, a low-cost airline, plans to recruit some of its pilots from Australia
“This will be one of the biggest constraints for the industry going forward,” Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci said during a phone call last week.
Airlines are anticipating a major boon for the travel industry in the summer of 2022.
The number of tickets sold in February for travelers between June and August this year fell by just three percent compared to February 2019, but airlines have reduced their flight schedules compared to pre-pandemic times.
In summer 2021, scheduled flights fell by 16 percent compared to summer 2019.
This year, United says air travel will decline 13% from 2019, while Delta Air Lines forecast a 16% decline. American will decline about 8%, Alaska 9%. JetBlue has cut 10% of its summer flights.
Airlines have been anticipating a major boon for the travel industry in the summer of 2022. In the picture, many planes were parked during the pandemic. American housed some jets in Pittsburgh
JetBlue said that despite hiring 2,500 new employees already this year, it still isn’t able to fill all the positions needed for a busier summer schedule.
“We’ve already reduced May capacity by 8 to 10 percent, and you can expect a similar-sized capacity drop for the rest of the summer,” JetBlue COO and president Joanna Geraghty said in an email to employees , which CNBC received last week .
The problems are worse for the smaller regional airlines, as many pilots have been taken over and hired by larger airlines.
“We don’t have any regional aircraft flying in the summer at the moment [that] we want to,” American chief executive officer Robert Isom told CNBC. “This is a fantastic opportunity for people who want to come in and fly planes. You can make a lot of money.’
“That’s the key point,” Faye Malarkey Black, executive director of the Regional Airline Association, told Bloomberg. “We haven’t seen this level of service loss since 9/11, when that crisis changed the fly-drive equation. I expect this bad situation to get worse before it gets better no matter what we do.’