The Regional Airlines are still a good source of qualified pilots for the Major/Legacy airlines and when they start hiring again they will begin recruiting the most experienced regional pilots. Those pilots, for the most part, will be senior Regional Airline Captains.
Historically, the Legacy Airlines have had a pool of experienced pilots to choose from when they begin to hire pilots. This pool has consisted of formerly furloughed pilots, retired military pilots and Regional Airline Pilots who have built up enough Jet Pilot-in-command experience to be attractive to the Major Airlines.
On December 13th, 2007 then President Bush signed the law that allowed the mandatory retirement age for airline pilots to be raised from 60 to 65. That means that in only two years we will begin to see the impact that pushing all of those retirements back 5 years will have on the airline industry.
Airlines have been releasing April traffic data that indicate a bottoming-out in demand erosion, with improved load factors, or the percentage of available seats filled with passengers. As capacity matches demand, it could put a halt to falling ticket prices.
First-quarter profits at Pinnacle Airlines Corp, owner of Pinnacle Airlines and Colgan Air, soared on the strength of a favorable tax settlement and the steady performance of its regional airlines.
Air Wisconsin Airlines was founded in Appleton, Wisconsin and began operations on August 23, 1965. Originally established to provide service between Appleton and Chicago, IL, the airline quickly grew beyond these borders and began providing service to multiple destinations.
AirTran Airways said on Monday that its April traffic rose compared to the same period a year ago. The airline’s load factor, or the average percentage of seats filled on a flight, also rose 6.5 percentage points to 80.4 percent.
“The revenue environment appears to have bottomed out, but we still expect significant headwinds in the rest of 2009,” Delta Chief Executive Richard Anderson recently said in a conference call.
Frontier Airlines reported its fifth consecutive monthly operating profit April 28 and said it is in the “due diligence” phase with numerous potential investors who might provide financing for the carrier to exit bankruptcy later this year.