United Airlines has severe pilot shortage problem

Wednesday, 03 Jul, 2006 0

Reports from the US confirm that United Airlines is recalling additional pilots after service diasters last weekend when the airline was forced to cancel 186 flights across the U.S. because it had insufficient pilots, a situation that United pilots union had warned could happen if the airline didn’t increase staffing.

The combination of a number of factors created the pilot, including poor weather across the Atlantic seaboard, too few reserve pilots, an over ambitious schedule and contractual and safety measures that limit the number of hours pilots can fly per day and per month.

United says that it is addressing the problem and doesn’t expect the same situation to arise over the July 4 holiday weekend, having accelerated its recall of laid off pilots, while also rehiring another 125 pilots before the end of 2006, bringing the total number of pilots United will have recalled this year to 400.

The flight cancellations over the last weekend creates a new worry for US and international summer travellers buying tickets on an airline system carrying record numbers of passengers on sold-out aircraft with fewer staff at most airlines.

United passengers affected by cancelled flights were stranded for hours and some days, because there simply weren’t seats available on other planes flying to their destinations.

One passenger stranded in Seattle on Sunday along with several hundred passengers whose flights had been cancelled were told to return to the airport on Wednesday, but he decided to stay a the airport and after waiting in a queue for about seven hours, managed to find him a seat on a flight to Chicago that day.

The core of the problems is that United and other U.S. carriers are trying to squeeze more flying time out of their aircraft, while using fewer pilots, so when weather delays occur the situation becomes compounded, in particular towards the end of the month due to staffing issues as pilots reach the maximum number of hours the FAA allows them to spend in cockpits and because there are insufficient reserve pilots available to manage the demand.

Report by The Mole