USA Pilot Shortage Solutions

Most of the airlines in the US are fishing in the same pond regarding pilot recruitment. Currently, the main pilot resource still relies on American citizens and green cardholders. Very few airlines have the permission to hire Australian pilots and/or have cadets coming from their flight schools, which enrich their pilot’s resources.

Airlines have increased compensation, offered a signing-on bonus, and lowered the entry requirement to increase their attractiveness to pilots. Pilots, on the other hand, have various options to choose from. Many pilots are moving around to join airlines which suit better for their personal circumstances.

This combination creates a significant challenge for airlines to find new pilots and retain their existing ones. Moreover, the cost of hiring one pilot has been increasing significantly, and the airlines might not be able to get a return on the investment for the period pilots to work for them.

Small and regional airlines might not have the financial capability to keep up with the raise of increasing benefits and salaries up until the threshold, which doesn’t make it commercially viable for them to continue.

Solutions from Brookfield to Airlines in the USA.

Foresee what is happening. Our position is to help airlines to anticipate the market and create different streams for hiring pilots and increase the pilot resources as follows.

· Constantly updating our airline clients to stay up to date with the market conditions, which helps them make the necessary changes to stay competitive in the workforce place. At the same time, develop a flexible system to minimise the financial risk of the pilot leaving.

· Hiring experienced foreign Pilots via EB2-NIW (National interest Waiver). This program is designed for foreign pilots who meet the criteria to obtain a Green Card and enable those pilots to work legally in the USA. We have developed different ways for airlines to have access to foreign pilots via this channel. More details can be found here.

· Hiring Cadet Pilots. Brookfield partners with Flight Schools in the USA to train future pilots and link the cadets to the airlines. By having access to the cadets, airlines could hire them to offer positions to work as trainees or second/ first officers, while providing the opportunity to upgrade their senior first officers to captain positions. We create various ways, where airlines can contribute and participate in the cadet hiring selection.

We have offices in the UK, Colombia, Turkey, and Vietnam to provide 24 hours’ time-zone support to the airline and pilots to fast track the recruitment process. Our team has solid experience in helping airlines in the US in recruiting and accommodating logistics to support airlines + pilots through the entire recruitment journey.

If you are interested in how can we support your airline to build pilot resources for a stable operation, please contact Anna Tran at anna@brookfieldav.com to discuss this in more detail.