A pilot shortage is aggravating airline delays. Congress has two ideas how to fix it.
In the middle of another summer likely to be remembered for travel delays, Congress is set to begin debate this week about how to ease a lingering lack of pilots.
The industry has struggled with a cockpit shortage since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ongoing issue is a key aggravator for this summer’s travel problems. Experts say both airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) simply don't have enough bodies to react as weather increasingly upends flight plans and travel reaches pre-pandemic levels.
The delays were most acute in early June when smoky conditions on the eastern seaboard caused delays and ripple effects that reverberated for weeks. This past weekend saw even more delays due to storms.
The stage for the coming debate is must-pass legislation to reauthorize the FAA by this fall. An 841-page bill is set for consideration in the House of Representatives beginning on Wednesday.
The sprawling bill includes two ideas for how to get more pilots in the air in the years ahead alongside a host of other concerns like baggage fees and a closely watched proposal to expand the number of flights coming into Washington, D.C.’s main airport.
How lawmakers end up responding to the pilot shortage could be consequential for flyers across the country, with over 18,000 open positions expected in the years ahead.
The House’s aviation subcommittee held a hearing focused on these issues in April in preparation for this week's debate. Faye Malarkey Black of the Regional Airlines Association was among the experts testifying that day about this “devastating” shortage which she noted was most acute among smaller carriers.
“This shortage has been growing for decades, driven by the inability to create a sustainable pipeline of new pilots,” she testified.
A shortage of pilots
Most sides agree that the lack of a pilot pipeline made the system less resilient this year. But there is disagreement about what to do about it.
The current rules require a commercial airline pilot to have completed at least 1,500 hours in the air.
In April, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves, a Republican from Missouri, noted that the training process usually provides the first 250 hours, leaving aspiring commercial pilots to make up the difference before they can move passengers.
“I’m not convinced that taking kids out of flight school and telling them to tow banners, train students, or bore holes in the sky while racking up debt produces the best pilots,” Graves said.
One controversial idea to lessen this problem would change the rules and allow flight simulations — which can be done more quickly and cheaply — to count towards the total.
But that idea could be a nonstarter in the Senate, with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and others worried that it could jeopardize safety.
The idea is also opposed by some in the industry. Captain Jason Ambrosi is the president of the largest airline pilot union in the world and told Congress earlier this year that “responding to temporary post-COVID industry problems with permanent changes to pilot training and qualification requirements is ill-considered and dangerous.”
An alternative proposal floated by Sens. Schumer and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) would raise the retirement age for pilots from 65 to 67, but that idea also has its detractors who question how effective the idea would be, with international flight regulations still set to mandate that a pilot retire at age 65.
The current House proposal takes both approaches, with provisions making changes on both fronts. But what remains unclear is what will survive by the end of the week in what could be a contentious amendment process.
An issue that must be resolved by September
Like the airlines, the FAA itself has struggled to handle air traffic’s return to pre-pandemic levels. This week's bill also takes aim at those workforce problems with provisions that lawmakers hope will make the agency more efficient and also cut some regulatory red tape.
Another closely watched issue that also needs to be resolved in the weeks ahead is a tentative Senate deal to add four additional long-distance flights at Reagan National Airport.
Reagan Airport is the closest one to Capitol Hill and of keen interest to lawmakers. But opponents of the idea say it could cause additional gridlock and noise pollution. Some carriers who service nearby airports also oppose the idea.
This week’s vote will kick off a debate likely to stretch into the fall. Congress faces a deadline of September 30 before the current law that authorizes the Federal Aviation Administration expires.
Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
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