Writer

Amy Laboda

The Careers Fair at last week’s Sun ’n’ Fun show in Florida drew a dozen airlines and training organization FlightSafety International—apparently eager to tap the general aviation community as a recruitment base for prospective commercial pilots. The event drew hundreds of people, and the Florida Air Museum venue for the fair could barely accommodate them all. Among the carriers participating were Delta Air Lines’s Minnesota-based subsidiary Endeavor Air, SkyWest Airlines, PSA Airlines and JetBlue affiliate Expressjet, and several of them went so far as to pay to exhibit in the main show site as well.

 


Explaining how first officer earnings can amount to at least $50,000 per annum, Endeavor Air came to the event offering first officers starting pay of $30 per flight hour with a 75-hour monthly minimum guarantee—plus the chance to earn a retention bonus each year through the end of 2018 of up to $23,000.

 


SkyWest was touting its pilot cadet program as one method of “growing its own.” The program partners with no fewer than 22 flight schools and universities with aviation-related courses.&nbsp;Cadets enrolled in these schools who apply and who meet the program’s requirements receive a conditional offer of employment with SkyWest. They are assigned a date of hire and company ID, and their seniority starts at their the first day of ground school. They also have the benefit of being paired with current SkyWest line pilots through a mentorship program designed to help with retention rates throughout the long and expensive training process.

 


PSA Airlines recently announced its own pilot cadet program that appears more attractive in that it includes tuition reimbursement and employment opportunities (as a flight instructor) along the way to the right seat in one of its aircraft. The carrier currently partners with 13 training institutions in the U.S.

 


Ab&nbsp;initio training programs such as these were once only offered by airlines outside the U.S., but the recent shortage in regional airline pilots has made American carriers as a whole rethink their recruiting processes.&nbsp;

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