For Pilots Only: Oct 20, 2024

Connecting the Dots

The CJO game is changing and it’s time for everyone to adjust. No longer can a pilot leverage a job offer from Company A to force Company B into giving them an interview. In fact, at a recent job conference, I found myself in several conversations with hiring managers at the legacy and regional level who were unequivocally clear that those days are over. The fast-paced, quickly changing nature of the past 3 years has substantially changed the hiring landscape for those who are trying to get hired today.

At the end of the day, whether you agree with pilots playing the hiring game shrewdly or not, it doesn’t matter. Pilots played the cards they were dealt, and they played them hard. For many, that led to rapid advancements in seniority, pay, retirement, and quality of life. For those who played the game well, congratulations, you leveraged a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we may never see again. Those of you who haven’t made it to your destination airline yet will have to leverage different strategies and tactics to achieve the same results. You’re going to have to work harder, and advancement will be slower.

While hiring is down from the post-pandemic highs of 13,000 pilots per year at the 12 largest airlines, they’re maintaining a robust 5,000 per year amongst those same carriers. It’s become a weird market where pilots are a combination of scared, hopeful, and furiously looking for a path out. They are optimistic because they know opportunities are out there and cautious because they know the competition is heating up and factors such as Spirit Airlines or Boeing furloughs could radically shift the competitive nature quite quickly.

If you are a pilot in the market for a new job, here’s what no one’s talking about:

1. Airlines hire for two reasons: Attrition and Growth.
2. Attrition is down throughout the industry because growth at the majors is being constrained by Boeing and Airbus production issues.
3. Less growth at the majors means less hiring industry-wide.
4. Less hiring at the majors means less attrition at regionals, low costs, and corporate.
5. Less attrition at regionals, low costs, and corporate means stagnation, especially for new entrants like flight instructors and transitioning military pilots.
6. Boeing’s recent announcement that they’re walking away from the negotiating table and getting ready to lay off 17,000 workers is already impacting hiring decisions across our industry.
7. If Spirit Airlines declares bankruptcy or furloughs again, expect those pilots to flood the market and grab a meaningful percentage of the airline interview slots.
8. Regionals are leveraging desperation among lower-time pilots by implementing contracts that severely curtail advancement.
9. High-dollar regional training contracts are increasing competition at carriers like NetJets, Avelo, and Allegiant.
10. All of these factors are melding together to create a storm of change in the hiring market.

If you understand the reality of what’s going on, you can play the game by different rules. The key to success in this market is to get smart on where the gaps and weaknesses are in the hiring process, and then target them ruthlessly until you land the job. It’s this mindset that’s leading to the greatest success among our current clients. The hiring landscape has changed, and now it’s time for everyone to start making their course corrections and altitude adjustments to avoid the turbulence.

2024 Job Fair/Industry Expos