United Airlines makes major move affecting passengers

The pandemic that began early in 2020 had a devastating impact on businesses worldwide.

Particularly disrupted was the airline industry as travel restrictions grounded flights to a halt.

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This reality created an uncertain situation as air travel began to resume to some sense of normalcy late in 2021.

Suddenly, there weren't enough pilots and flight attendants ready to fly. These employee shortages led to increased numbers of canceled and delayed flights.

In 2022, a U.S. hiring boom was then necessary at the airlines to keep up with rapidly increasing demand in the effort to get back to normal operations.

The hiring of pilots remained hot in 2023 and is obviously important for passengers, who rely on airlines being able to staff their aircraft with pilots to avoid delays and cancellations.

But there are signs it is slowing down a bit, except at one major U.S. carrier: United Airlines  (UAL) - Get Free Report.

United airlines hires highest number of pilots for 2023 in October

During October 2023, according to Future and Active Pilot Advisors data, United Airlines hired 270 pilots, the carrier's largest number in one month for the year. 

For comparison, American Airlines  (AAL) - Get Free Report hired 190 pilots in October 2023, off from its high for the year of 284 in May.

Delta Air Lines  (DAL) - Get Free Report hired 205 pilots in October, down from 302 in January.

And Southwest Airlines  (LUV) - Get Free Report checked in with 160 new pilots in October, a drop from its 191 new pilots hired in August.

"Last year, (United) hired 2,500 pilots, making 2022 a record-setting year for new aviators on United's property," wrote Ryan Ewing for the AirlineGeeks website. "The 270 new hires in October bring United's total to 2,296 new pilots so far this year."

In fact, United says October was one of its biggest months for pilot hiring ever.

"In support of our United Next plan, we set out to hire 2,300 pilots this year alone and are on track to exceed that total. We hired over 260 new pilots in October, which is one of (our) highest months ever, and are already working on filling new hire pilot classes in early 2024," a spokesperson for United told the website.

A shortage of captains

Another reality being encountered is that, because more than 1,000 hours as an airline pilot at a major carrier is required to be considered for a captain position, there is a shortage of those specifically.

Two first officers isn't enough to fly. One of the pilots must be a captain.

"In order to fill the captain positions that were vacated by pilots taking early retirement packages, mainline airlines such as American, Delta, and United needed thousands of captain-qualified first officers (FOs) to upgrade to captain as soon as possible," wrote AirlineGeeks. "Many first officers jumped at that chance."

"But not every qualified first officer jumped at the opportunity," it continued. "Some first officers had spent years as second-in-command on a particular fleet type and built up incredible seniority as a first officer. As they neared the end of their careers, these pilots did not want to sacrifice the control they had over their schedules as senior FOs to spend the end of their careers at the bottom of the captain seniority list."

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