RAA’s Foose Warns of More Pilot Supply Pain for Regionals
Looming retirements at the major airlines stand to aggravate the regional airlines’ pilot supply predicament.

The shortage of qualified entry-level pilots at the regional airlines hasn’t come as some unexpected phenomenon to the Regional Airline Association. The group has warned for years now that the change in first-officer pilot requirements that mandates an ATP certificate and what it terms an “arbitrary” 1,500 hours of flying time would result in loss of air service to small communities in particular. But when United Airlines a few months ago said it would strip Cleveland of its hub status it became clear to many more “stakeholders” the extent of the predicament in which they would ultimately find themselves.