The U.S. regional airlines are facing a pilot shortage once more. They have renewed their appeal for relief from the 1,500 hour flight-training requirement, which they claim is ineffective and creates unnecessary barriers to entry to the profession.
The carriers were not encouraged by the comments of one prominent congressman.
"Having been there when the rule was written, I feel very obliged to it," Rick Larsen, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Aviation (D-Wash.), said in a question-and answer session held at Tuesday's Regional Airlines Association Leadership Conference.
Regional carriers claim they are already feeling the pinch due to a re-emerging shortage of pilots. This was a situation that, prior to the pandemic, had caused many to cut their schedules and contributed to industry bankruptcy and closures.
Linda Markham, president of Cape Air, stated that she is hearing "a huge sucking sound" at the conference.
Oliver Wyman, a consulting firm, has calculated that the U.S. pilot demand will outstrip supply by more that 9,000 in January. This number will rise to more than 12,500 by 2023 according to the estimate.
There are many reasons why the re-emergence shortage is occurring. These include a large number pilots reaching mandatory retirement age 65, a decrease in the number military-trained pilots who can be quickly hired, and industry growth expectations.
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The shortage will be fuelled by the roughly 5,000 pilots who accepted early retirement offer from U.S. mainline carriers in the initial months of the pandemic.
Regional operators will be the most affected by the recovery of the airline industry, as they are the ones that hire many regional pilots.
The sharp decline in the number expected to obtain the Airline Transport Pilot (ATP), certification required to fly for a commercial airline, will also hurt their situation. Drew Jacoby Lemos (RAA's senior director for government affairs), estimates that the FAA will issue 3,800 new ATP certificates this year, which is 42% less than the 2019 number.
Regional airline executives criticised the 1,500-hour rule at the conference. This was in response to the Feb 2009 Colgan Air crash near Buffalo, which resulted in 49 deaths.
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Dion Flannery, president of PSA Airlines, stated that "we all know that you can get very qualified pilots in much less time than it takes today." Critics of the 1,500 hour rule claim that pilots can be more trained with fewer, but more targeted flight hours.
To obtain an ATP certificate, you needed to fly 250 hours before 2013.
Bryan Bedford, Republic Airlines CEO, stated that he would like to see a route for ATP certification with 300 hours of flight school flying and 300 hours of highly structured flying.
Bedford said that regional carriers aren’t asking Congress to eliminate the 1,500-hour rule. Carriers are calling for the rule's liberalization through the creation new training paths that would have lower flight-hour requirements.
Bedford asked Larsen whether he believed the FAA had the authority to create alternative routes without Congress' approval.
"No. Larsen stated that he doesn't believe the FAA has such authority. Larsen said, "But I'm also not an attorney." However, I think that the FAA would be smart to talk to Congress about these paths if they were to consider them.
