Regional carrier Mesa Airlines has furloughed a dozen pilots and has paused training for 41 incoming pilots.
The moves are a sign that the pilot shortage that has dogged regional carriers since the end of the pandemic has abated as a result of hiring pauses and hiring reductions at mainline carriers, which often poach pilots from the regionals.
In an announcement early this month, Mesa, which operates regional flights for the United Express brand, noted that the furloughs are a result of, "significantly reduced attrition among Mesa's active pilot workforce."
Over the past two years, attrition at Mesa often exceeded 25 pilots per month, CEO Jonathan Ornstein said. Meanwhile, the federal requirement that new pilots have 1,500 hours of flight time has meant that it has taken a long time for aspiring trainees, including those receiving financial assistance in the Mesa Pilot Development program, to achieve certification.
"However, attrition has fallen more precipitously than expected at Mesa in the past few months, in part due to the slowdown or cessation of hiring across most airlines," Ornstein said. "In addition, we believe the industrywide pipeline will continue to improve as pilots previously denied the opportunity to fly commercially due to the lack of 1,500 hours finally achieve requisite flight time."
He said that reduced attrition and a more stable pilot workforce will enable Mesa to increase its flying with United. This month Mesa is scheduled to fly 30% fewer seats for United than it did in July 2019, Cirium flight schedule data shows. The regional carrier also stopped operating flights for American Airlines in April of last year.
According to the pilot advisory firm FAPA, the 10 largest U.S. passenger airlines hired just 122 pilots in June, compared to 885 in January and 868 in June of last year.
Alaska, American, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit and United have all paused pilot hiring.
In FAPA's monthly newsletter, company president Louis Smith noted that the hiring pauses are largely due to Boeing delivery delays and the Pratt & Whitney engine issues that are forcing lengthy groundings of Airbus A320neos for metal fatigue inspections.
But while FAPA said that the hiring pauses are making staffing easier on regional carriers, it suggested that those carriers aren't entirely out of the woods. Over the past year, captains, as opposed to new entry pilots, have been the regionals greatest need. FAPA noted that regional airlines are continuing to advertise hiring bonuses for direct-entry captains.
In a statement submitted to the House Subcommittee on Aviation Wednesday, the Regional Airline Association cautioned against mistaking supply chain disruptions as a resolution to the pilot shortage.
"Just as hiring paused during the Covid-19 pandemic onset but roared back with the return of demand, any amelioration in the pilot shortage we see today will rapidly reverse when larger aircraft deliveries resume," CEO Faye Malarkey Black said in a prepared remark.
In a separate e-mail, Malarkey Black said that though regional airlines have experienced lower attrition, "it's temporary and artificial and caused by disrupted aircraft and engine deliveries."