$10,000 offers to get off a plane, CEO apologies and free pizza: Here’s how a massive labor shortage and pent-up demand helped create a chaotic summer for airlines
Each holiday weekend this summer has ended in chaos for many travelers facing huge numbers of flight cancellations and delays. July Fourth weekend could likely be more of the same.
More than two years into the COVID pandemic, people have started to travel again, and as demand rebounds, experts say that airlines are struggling to accommodate with a labor pool of pilots that shrunk two years ago and has yet to recover.
“The pilot shortage for the industry is real, said United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby on a quarterly investor call in April. “And most airlines are simply not going to be able to realize their capacity plans because there simply aren’t enough pilots, at least not for the next five-plus years.”
The airline industry took an enormous hit in early 2020 when the pandemic halted the majority of air travel, and lockdowns kept millions of Americans and international fliers at home.
To keep airlines afloat, Congress provided a total of $54 billion to the industry in three rounds of support over the course of 18 months. The funding was designed to keep payrolls intact so that there would be enough pilots, maintenance staff, and flight attendants once restrictions lifted and people began to fly again.
“All of it was to ensure two things,” says Capt. Dennis Tajer, who flies for American Airlines and serves as communications chair for the airline’s union, the Allied Pilots Association (APA). “One, the airline industry does not collapse. Two, that the airline industry is ready for the recovery.”
The first, he says, was a success, but the second a failure.
As a result, thousands of pilots likely left the workforce early, according to Tajer. At American alone, 715 pilots volunteered for early retirement in 2020, the APA told the Dallas Morning News.
That smaller supply of pilots, combined with this summer’s high demand for flights, has resulted in the current strain on the pilot labor pool, with airlines competing with each other for workers. Other major airlines have begun to recruit pilots from American’s regional affiliates to join their mainline staff, says Tajer.
This year, poaching pilots is “unlike anything we’ve ever seen,” he says.
And while staffing shortages are impacting the industry acutely today, it’s possible they’ll persist for years to come.
“Meeting projected pilot, aircraft mechanic and flight attendant demand is wholly dependent on industry’s investment in a steady pipeline of newly qualified personnel to replace those who have left or will soon exit the industry,” wrote Boeing in its report.
That investment could take many forms, according to the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the largest pilot union in the world with over 65,000 members, including helping potential pilots finance expensive flight training and education and focusing on recruiting a more diverse workforce.
A plight of cancellations and delays
When demand for travel began to bounce back early last year, Tajer hoped the summer would be a trial season for a more robust recovery this year.
“How are things looking right now?” he asks. “They’re looking horrid, and there’s no break in the action.”
If one of his flights gets canceled, others downstream are impacted as well, he says. “That airplane doesn’t have a pilot because I didn’t make it,” he says, outlining the ripple effect that every flight delay and cancellation represents.
A spokesperson for American Airlines told Fortune that in response to the labor issues, it has cut down on the number of flights it offers.
“Like many network carriers, American has reduced our regional flying in recent months in response to the regional pilot shortage,” wrote a company spokesperson in a statement. “That shortage could loom for some time.”
Delta Air Lines told Fortune that staff shortages have been compounded by other factors, like weather and air traffic control constraints, contributing to current flight disruptions.
“Canceling a flight is always our last resort, and we sincerely apologize to our customers for any disruption to their travel plans,” said a company spokesperson.
United Airlines did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Airlines have begun to take drastic action—like offering thousands of dollars to passengers to take a different flight—to ease the impact that cancellations and delays have had on consumers.
Company leadership has also stepped up to apologize for the current series of delays and cancellations.
“By the time we caught this error, April and May schedules were bid on by our pilots and flight attendants, making it impossible to sufficiently adjust schedules to avoid cancellations,” he said.
