Pilot hiring USA

Airlines increase pilot hiring, threaten AF retention

When commercial airlines look at Air Force pilots, they see aviators with upward of 1,500 flying hours and 10 years or more of flying experience.

And they want to hire them. As airlines continue to grow and Vietnam-era pilots retire, the airlines will hire about 20,000 pilots over the next 10 years. United, American, Delta and the rest of the world's aviation companies see the Air Force's 13,000 veteran pilots as a ready way to staff their cockpits.

Maintainers and drone pilots are also in demand. Airlines want experienced airplane mechanics, and a growing number of companies are wooing experienced remotely piloted aircraft pilots with promises of big paychecks.

Tiffany Harvey, who oversees recruiting for Southwest Airlines, said airlines are facing a labor shortage from the impending retirement of the Baby Boomer generation, making it more important to recruit from the military.

"This is sort of low-hanging fruit," Harvey said. "We've got amazing individuals coming out of the military, that are ready and excited and passionate about starting a career, or continuing a career, that we can utilize and capitalize on their experience. We have to look at every pipeline available."

The airlines hope to lure pilots away by offering hefty salaries, extensive benefits and job security without having to deploy, a Rand Corp. study found.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh recognizes the threat. And he's doing his best to counter it.

"You're going to find that military pilots will be a focal point of this recruiting. Every time the airlines have recruited heavily in the past, we've lost more people," he told Air Force Times. "They've been deploying, and deploying, and deploying. After a while your family gets a little tired of that."