As president of regional aircraft operator PSA Airlines, an American Airlines subsidiary that operates a portion of American Eagle-branded flights, Dion Flannery has faced a wild ride over the past few years.
The pandemic, and then a dogged pilot shortage, led American to slash PSA's flight activity. But Flannery says that for 2024, he has been given a straightforward goal from American: get airplanes back in the sky.
Dion Flannery
"As part of the American Eagle portfolio, our business plan is very, very clear to us, which is go have the success needed on the recruiting trail and the training side of things to activate all your aircraft and fly all of them," Flannery said.
As of December, 20 of PSA's 141 aircraft were grounded, a product of the U.S. pilot shortage that evolved more specifically into a captain shortage at regional carriers. PSA operates 65-seat and 76-seat Bombardier CRJ aircraft on American Eagle routes, mostly east of the Mississippi.
Data provided by PSA shows that its flight count during the third Friday of December was 576, down from 895 during the equivalent Friday in 2019. But the trajectory was positive last year as the pilot shortage began to ease. On the equivalent Friday in 2022, PSA operated just 483 American Eagle flights.
That trend is echoed more broadly across American's regional network, on which American also partners with its subsidiaries Envoy and Piedmont as well as with SkyWest, Republic Airways and Air Wisconsin.
American Eagle-branded planes flew 103,000 flights in December 2019. The number was down to 65,000 in December 2022, but it climbed to 73,000 last month, according to Cirium flight schedule data.
The American Eagle regional brand was serving 230 destinations in December, compared with 257 in December 2019. American pulled out of a net total of 10 regional destinations during that time and upsized to only mainline flying in 16 airports. In addition, service in Acapulco is suspended through the winter because of the damage caused by Hurricane Otis to the Mexican city.
As at American, the pilot shortage, which the consulting firm Oliver Wyman estimates to be approximately 14,000 for North American carriers, contributed to rapid cutbacks in regional operations by Delta and United through the pandemic. But American is more focused on rebuilding its small-city network than its more long-haul-oriented legacy competitors.
Year over year in December, American Eagle flight operations were up 11.7%, compared with 4.9% for United Express and 3.1% for Delta Connection, Cirium data shows.
"We serve 300 cities in North America. In 200 of them, we have a network advantage," chief commercial officer Vasu Raja said during American's third-quarter earnings call in October.
Bringing back more regional jets, Raja said, will enable the carrier to have a bigger presence in many markets where competition is limited.
In total, American had 75 regional planes grounded at the end of the third quarter, with a goal of getting them all in the air as pilot shortfalls are resolved.
The search for more captains
At PSA, it's the job of Flannery and his executive team to get those cockpit seats filled. For each new aircraft that PSA flies, he said, it requires a net increase of six captains and six first officers.
Captains, though, are the true constraint. During the peak of the pilot shortage last year, mainline carriers were hiring captains out of the regional airlines at a rate that was unsustainable for regional operations. For example, said Flannery, PSA lost 62 captains in April 2022 alone.
The good news is that the attrition rate stabilized after the mainline carriers replenished their crews. Last April, PSA lost just six captains.
Still, finding the 120 captains PSA needs this year to activate its 20 grounded aircraft will take diligence. The airline can get a newly certified pilot into the first officer seat within 15 weeks of hiring, but it will take more than two years for that pilot to accrue the requisite 1,000 hours of PSA flying to move to the captain's chair, Flannery said.
PSA is offering a $200,000 hiring bonus for direct-entry captains who sign on by the end of this month. The airline also partners on pilot pathway programs with approximately 50 universities, colleges and flight training schools. Currently, approximately 500 PSA cadets are enrolled in those programs nationwide.
"It appears we have plenty of first officer demand in terms of applications. That is fairly healthy," Flannery said. "We're just in a constraint world of captains."