MEMPHIS, Tenn. — With weeks still ahead of summer travel, delays in connecting flights into and out of Memphis are becoming more of a hassle for travelers.
One pilot said it’s up to airlines to recruit without basic benefits, to avoid a bare-bones crew.
"Things happen," said flyer Sharon Fuani. "We know that, we know that our economy is in a transition stage. This is not the first time we’ve been here."
Fuani said she doubts it's the last time either. She had a 4-hour layover out of Destin into Memphis.
Frequent flyer Eternanda Fudge has been steadily booking domestic and international flights 10 times a month for the last three years transporting puppies from breeder to owner.
“I would say within the last seven months, there’s been a delay after delay," she said. "You almost have to get ready bring some extra clothes.”
Pilots are frustrated too.
Alaska, American, and Delta Airlines are or will be picketing at various locations throughout the summer over long hours.
Pilot Josh Hjemvick has been flying for 14 years and said airlines across the country reduced flight schedules during the pandemic.
“So that was putting pilots kind of on the shelf," said the aviation consultant. "When the demand finally did start to increase, there was a backlog having to meet training requirements to get pilot recurrent.”
On top of that, he said there were also fleet changes.
“This was the largest impact felt to the airline industry, dare I say since 9/11,” said the longtime pilot.
The Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) said the airline industry has produced nearly 8,000 pilots, producing more pilots than before COVID-19 struck.
“There are enough ATP-rated pilots out there in the United States, there’s actually a surplus of them available to go and work at the airlines,” he said.
He said boils down to if pilots are wooed with enough compensation and benefits.
As far as the question of a pilot shortage, he said it depends on who you ask.
“The ones who say that there is a pilot shortage out there, they’re probably not doing a good enough job recruiting,” explained Hjemvick.
How long do we all need to prepare for a possible night at the airport?
“We could be out of this in a matter of a year or two years," said the pilot.
"There is a mandatory retirement age, this does happen every few decades and a half, there are these tranches of pilots who retire," Hjemvick added. "This isn’t a surprise these airlines know when these pilots will retire.”
He added the U.S. airline industry has the expertise to man the aircrafts, but it’s a matter of getting that pilot to x airline to operate, stressing it’s up to that airline to make it happen.
In the meantime, play it safe, and try to fly direct and look for hotel with a same-day cancellation option.
Below is a statement from ALPA:
“What we are currently experiencing is a failure by the airlines to adequately plan for the increased travel demand, and to add insult to injury, they are trying to blame frontline aviation workers for their missteps. It is unfortunate that some continue to hide behind a made up ‘pilot shortage’ slogan to cover for their mismanagement and ongoing efforts to undermine safety. We cannot allow the airlines to mislead the public about their summer travel planning mistakes, nor can we allow them to mislead the public about the supply of pilots. This is important because this false narrative about pilot supply is being used to lobby dangerous changes to aviation safety regulations, while at the same justifying service reductions to smaller communities. This is not a labor-created problem; it’s an airline mismanagement issue," said Capt. Joe DePete, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA).