Pilot shortage is real in the US - Curt Lewis

Pilot shortage the reason for recent Cape Air flight cancellations

Passengers board a filled to capacity Cape Air Cessna 402 in Sidney in April 2014. A pilot shortage has grounded 16 Cape Air flights in recent days in and out of the Billings Logan International Airport.

Cape Air officials said Tuesday that a pilot shortage is the cause of a spate of recent flight cancellations at Billings Logan International Airport.

Hyannis, Mass.-based Cape Air provides $52 flights between Billings and five other Montana communities - Sidney, Glasgow, Glendive, Wolf Point and Havre. According to its online schedule, five daily flights are offered from Billings to Sidney, and two each to the other four destinations.

Trish Lorino, Cape Air's vice president for marketing and public relations, said 16 flights have been cancelled in recent days due to the pilot shortage. The airline has brought in pilots from other markets it serves and is teaming with Jet Blue and seven universities to get pilots the hours they need to receive certification aboard Cape Air Cessna aircraft.

"We are sorry for the impact this has had on the community," she said. "We have had some challenges here. The pilot shortage is truly a significant one - not only for Cape Air, but for all carriers. It is definitely something that has affected our completion rates."

Lorino said she'd just completed a conference call with the company's pilot group and others to discuss the continuing ramifications of higher co-pilot qualification standards implemented by the Federal Aviation Administration following a 2009 crash near Buffalo, N.Y., that killed 50 people.

Ensuing rule changes designed to boost safety have increased the qualification requirements for first officers, also known as co-pilots, who now must earn an Airline Transport Pilot certificate and have logged 1,500 hours total time as a pilot.

Before the rule, announced in 2013, first officers were required to have a commercial pilot certificate, which requires 250 hours of flight time.