House lawmakers have passed a series of bills targeting the safety records of foreign repair stations in legislation geared toward improving aviation safety standards and developing the aviation workforce.

Some U.S. airlines outsource heavy maintenance work to aeronautical repair stations outside the U.S.—including facilities in El Salvador, Mexico, and China. The problem occurs when standards followed by foreign repair stations don’t match those in the U.S.

For instance, U.S. repair station workers must comply with screenings for substance abuse, and background checks, while foreign repair stations sometimes don’t hold to similar standards. 

The loopholes potentially threaten the safety of passengers, according to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM). “The current lack of uniform regulatory standards and oversight sets an unlevel field with carriers increasingly enticed by the financial incentives to push this work overseas,” IAM International President Robert Martinez, Jr. said in a statement.

Equal Standards

House lawmakers approved the Global Aircraft Maintenance Safety Improvement Act Thursday, which aims to align safety standards and requirements for foreign repair stations with those in the U.S.

The bill aims to create a uniform standard of safety, no matter where the aircraft is repaired and maintained, House Transportation & Infrastructure Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said when introducing the bill in March.

My bill will close the gap between our safety standards and those of foreign repair stations. By ensuring a uniform standard of safety, no matter where the aircraft is repaired and maintained, we will make our skies safer for all. https://t.co/oTbmxc2axB

— Rep. Peter DeFazio (@RepPeterDeFazio) September 30, 2022

The bipartisan bill calls for annual unannounced inspections, mandating the reporting of mechanical issues and problems attributable to foreign repairs, as well as compelling the agency to conduct required background checks of foreign repair station employees.

Creating uniformity makes the skies safer, DeFazio said.

The bill also sets minimum requirements for mechanics and others working on U.S. registered aircraft at foreign repair stations. If passed, the bill would require the stations to implement specific regulations within a year, or it would temporarily suspend FAA certification of new foreign aircraft repair stations until they met the measures.

Investment In an Essential Industry

Last week, House lawmakers also advanced the National Center for the Advancement of Aviation Act of 2022, a piece of legislation targeting ongoing workforce challenges facing the industry through the creation of a national aviation recruitment and retention center.

The new entity would be federally chartered, independent and designed to support and promote the civil aviation workforce, specifically through scholarships, research, education, and outreach. 

A national center would be an “investment in the future of an essential industry for our country,” said Rep. André Carson (D-Ind.), who introduced the bill in May 2021.

The aviation and aerospace industry currently supports over 11 million jobs and contributes more than $1.6 trillion annually to the national economy. Carson said the new National Center would be essential in making the industry safer and more vibrant.

Both bills have now advanced to the Senate, where they must be affirmed by vote before becoming law.

FAA Youth Task Force

Coincidentally, the FAA’s Youth Access to American Jobs in Aviation (YIATF) Task Force—formed in 2020 to outline a strategic path forward for recruiting young professionals into the aviation industry—released its final recommendation last Thursday. The task force outlined 21 recommendations for how the FAA could work with the industry and schools to appeal to more students.

Twenty-one task force members represented major companies, trade groups, and institutions in the U.S., like Boeing (NYSE: BA), Aviation Technicians Education Council (ATEC), the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), and institutions like AeroStar Avion Institute.

In its final meeting on September 22, Task Force members provided their final recommendations on how the FAA can better encourage young people to pursue future aviation jobs.

“We want to convince young people aviation is for them and remove the financial barriers to entry for them to succeed,” said Jo Damato, senior vice president of education, training, and workforce development for the NBAA. “The task force wants the FAA to look at creating stackable aviation maintenance credentials within high school programs to lead students to entry-level aviation positions faster while gaining needed experience.”

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Delta Air Lines’ (NYSE: DAL) Propel College Path Program is adding a new partner as it looks to expand its talent pipeline to recruit more pilots. Wheels Up (NYSE: UP), the private, member-based aircraft operator, will become the first Part 135 partner to join the Propel program, giving its pilots a much easier path to full-time employment with Delta.

Capt. Ashish Naran, a former corporate pilot who is now a captain and lead pilot recruiter for Delta, said in a statement that the corporate-to-airline pathway would help pilot candidates improve their flying skills and build essential customer skills.

“The diverse flying operations and attentive customer service skills associated with Wheels Up’s on-demand charter operation will instill a foundation for Propel candidates to have a successful career ahead at Delta,” Capt. Naran said. “This partnership with Wheels Up will set that strong foundation for this next generation of Delta pilots.”

Stevens Sainte-Rose, the chief people officer at Wheels Up, was also ecstatic about the link the partnership would create for pilots. Sainte-Rose called Delta a “preeminent brand” and described the carrier as an innovative recruiter of pilots. Delta was the first mainline carrier to launch a pathway program when it established its Propel Program in 2018 to increase its workforce. So far, more than a dozen pilots have completed the Propel pathway and are employed at Delta, the airline said in a statement.

Wheels Up Makes Strategic Moves To Support Its Workforce

Propel partners with colleges, the military, and Delta Connection carriers to make it easier for it to hire aspiring pilots. This new partnership with Wheels Up gives pilots who want to work in business aviation and at an airline the opportunity to do so.

“We believe that working together, we can provide meaningful and exciting assignments for pilots at every stage of their careers,” Sainte-Rose said.

Aside from choosing flying jobs at regional carriers, pilots who want to explore a career in business aviation can opt to work for Part 135 operators, like Wheels Up, which also have similar hiring requirements as the regional airlines. It also gives companies, like Wheels Up, additional recruiting incentives for young-in-their-career pilots. Having a clear path to a major airline, like Delta, might encourage new pilots to choose business aviation over working for a regional airline. 

Wheels Up operates a fleet consisting of King Air 350i, Citation Excel, and Citation X as part of a marketplace of over 1,500 private aircraft that it either owns, leases, or manages.

Wheels Up and Delta are also partnering on a program for retiring Delta line pilots looking for the next chapter in their aviation careers. According to FAA regulations, airline pilots must retire by age 65. Certain members of Congress have proposed raising the forced retirement age to 67 but  push back from the largest pilot union, ALPA, seems to have squashed their efforts for now.

Meanwhile, there is no FAA-mandated retirement age for Part 135 operations, which means that retired airline pilots could extend their flying careers working for business aviation companies, like Wheels Up, as long as they have a current medical.

As for pilot retention, Wheels Up has deployed its AirCrew 360 program, a suite of benefits and perks for its pilots. On the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call in March, Vinayak Hegde, the company’s president, said Wheels Up had revised the program to be more competitive.

“Through this initiative, we revamp pilot compensation, including equity grants and industry first, as well as improved benefits, career progression plans, and lifestyle enhancements to our pilots,” Hedge said.

That program has proven successful for the company so much that it has launched Maintenance 360 for its support teams. Hedge mentioned, as an aside, that the company plans to hire more than 100 technicians this year. 

Delta’s Ongoing Push for Pilots

Delta plans to hire and train more than 2,400 pilots this year alone, as it still grapples with replacing the pilots that took an early retirement deal offered by the airline at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. On its earnings call last week, Delta’s CEO Ed Bastian told investors that the airline overestimated how much it needed to downsize the workforce at the time. That move hurt the airline’s ability to cope with the ongoing travel rebound.

Though Bastian said his airline didn’t have a problem recruiting pilots, he projected that it could take until the latter part of 2027 for the airline to overcome its staffing issues. Moreover, analysts have projected that the U.S. airline industry will be short 26,000 pilots in 2030 but said Delta was in the best position of all the major airlines. 

The post Delta Air Lines and Wheels Up Partner to Expand Pilot Pipeline Program appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

There is a growing tension between two prominent airline industry stakeholders, and based on events this week, it could be a while before things simmer down. 

The Air Line Pilots Association International (ALPA) is the largest airline pilot union in the world and represents more than 64,000 pilots at 39 U.S. and Canadian airlines. It has proven to be a powerful advocate for benefits for its pilots, from rest rules to compensation. Separately, the Regional Airlines Association (RAA) represents 17 North American regional airlines and 280 associate and non-airline members. This includes manufacturers of products and services supporting the regional airline industry. Considering that more than 41 percent of all scheduled flights in the U.S. are operated by regional airlines, the people that ALPA and the RAA represent overlap. 

In a perfect world, these two organizations should be able to work collectively, but a recent dust-up between the presidents of the two associations shows that a deal could be far off.

ALPA to RAA: ‘Reject This Dangerous Flight Path.’

On Wednesday, ALPA president Joseph DePete fired off a scathing letter to Faye Malarkey Black, president and CEO of RAA, scolding the RAA for some of its recent efforts to address the pilot shortage, and sharing the letter publicly via Twitter.

@ALPAPresident Capt. Joe DePete sent a letter to @RAATweets urging an end to their lobbying efforts to weaken #aviation safety rules for #pilot training & experience. Read the letter: https://t.co/U0JwxN9fsc (1/2) pic.twitter.com/CdTpqigNda

— Air Line Pilots Association (@ALPAPilots) June 15, 2022

“I am writing to urge you to turn your attention away from lobbying to weaken critically important, lifesaving pilot training and experience rules,” DePete wrote in the letter. “Instead, focus on helping your member airlines attract and retain the best and brightest aviators.”

The RAA has recently campaigned for more inclusive solutions to improve the pilot shortage. One of its claims is that  when regional airlines have to cancel routes to small cities because they can’t find pilots to fly their airplanes, it weakens local economies.  In alignment with RAA’s proposals, Republic Airways recently petitioned Congress for an exception to the 1,500-hour rule related to the recruitment and hiring of pilots. At the time, it drew the ire of some industry groups, including ALPA, that leveled several charges against Republic, including that the proposal, if approved, would be detrimental to safety. 

As then and now, in this letter, DePete maintains that the regional airlines mismanaged resources and federal funding. He said the RAA and its “affiliates squandered the opportunity to ready their operations and training programs for the post-pandemic surge in travel,” but instead of owning up to that, they wanted to compromise safety.

“Rather than address the pay, career progression, and work-rule issues faced by many regional pilots,” DePete said, “Republic has asked the federal government for permission to cut safety training requirements in half as a way to attract and retain pilots. They want to do this rather than addressing the underlying economic deficiencies of how the airline treats its workers.”

It seemed the impetus for DePete’s letter came from the recent announcement that ALPA and two regional airlines that operate as American Airlines partners, Piedmont and Envoy, negotiated 50 percent pay increases for their first officers and captains. That pay bump would make those pilots the highest paid at the regional level.

Indeed, while seemingly chest-thumping this news to the RAA, he said, “the recent deals ALPA helped negotiate with two of your members—Envoy and Piedmont—offer a great starting point to seriously address the pilot supply challenges you say your members face.”

DePete’s closing message to Black was, “I respectfully urge you to reject this dangerous flight path.” Instead, for the sake of good business and safety, he said the organization should focus on “coming to the bargaining table ready to negotiate contracts that provide pilots with competitive compensation packages, career progression enhancements, and strengthened work rules.”

From one perspective, ALPA’s approach has been beneficial to pilots. Its collective bargaining power has ensured pilots’ wages have increased while providing other benefits such as rest rules, mental health programs, and other perks. At the same time, its safety claims related to the 1,500 hour don’t tell the whole story.

RAA Responds: ‘ALPA Has Lost Its Way’

Not to be outgunned, Black fired back the next day on the RAA’s behalf, saying that ALPA had “lost its way.”

Black said in her letter to DePete, “This disgraceful attack represents the latest in ALPA’s consistent battle against reality and marks a new low in your war against the regional airlines that employ many of your members and provide the only source of air service for most of the country.”

ALPA has maintained that the 1,500-hour rule that Congress enacted after the Colgan Flight 3407 accident has made the skies safer. Black begged to differ, adding nuance to ALPA’s claims, especially regarding the legitimacy that the shift in hiring requirements for pilots from 250 hours to 1,500 hours has actually reduced the accident rate.

“ALPA conflates time building with training,” Black said, adding that even ALPA previously held the same position.

“ALPA once agreed with us on the inappropriateness of relying on hours as a proxy for experience,” Black explained, referring to a 2010 letter by the union that pointed out that a “high-time” pilot sitting in an airliner could still be “low-experience,” especially if most of their time came from flight instructing.

Black went on, surgically, to rebuff other claims ALPA has made in its apparent about-face since its 2010 letter. For instance, she pointed out that ALPA has campaigned on “distorted data” that selectively paints a safety narrative while saying that “every airline CEO who has addressed the pilot shortage is lying…because they want to make aviation less safe.”

Moreover, Black took the opportunity to state that ALPA wasn’t living up to its stated ideals, which include increasing the supply of diverse pilots into the pipeline. She said every effort to do so has gotten the union’s cold shoulder, or as Black puts it, “on Capitol Hill, ALPA has become the party of ‘no.’”

While there is a litany of other concerns she addressed, such as ALPA’s position on better financing for students, expanding the retirement age, or even hiring qualified international workers, the most contentious remains ALPA’s changing position on the 1,500-hour rule. Black pointed out ALPA’s 2010 comment, in which the union said, “We concur with the recent statement by the Flight Safety Foundation that the public deserves ‘a more sophisticated solution’ than a blanket move to 1,500 hours. We believe that the law’s flight-hour credit provision is entirely justified based on the quality of experience and not merely quantity of experience.”

Nearly a decade after the FAA rule was enacted, there is no consensus that the increase of total time required for pilots, aside from generally being more experienced, directly correlated to safety.

On a more conciliatory note, in her letter’s conclusion, Black called for ALPA and RAA to work together and regroup for the sake of the industry.

“We miss our once strong safety partnership and encourage you to abandon your misleading discourse and ad hominem attacks, roll up your sleeves, and join us in protecting the future of our industry.”

The post Presidents of Regional Airline and Air Line Pilots Associations Argue Over Hours-Reduction Proposal appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Regional pilots at two of American Airlines’ (NASDAQ: AAL) wholly owned subsidiaries, Piedmont and Envoy, are getting a 50 percent pay raise from now until the end of August 2024.

This latest move by American’s subsidiaries comes after the CEO of the mainline carrier, Robert Isom, told investors at a conference that its regional partners had to park up to 100 airplanes this summer because there weren’t enough pilots to fly them. The pay raise will make these pilots the highest paid at the regional level, and the airline hopes it will help the company stave off pilot attrition and recruit new hires as demand continues to ramp up.

Piedmont’s Raise

Piedmont first officers will now see first-year pay begin at $90 an hour, up from $51, while first-year captains will earn $146 an hour, up from $78. 

When the company announced the pay hike, it said it worked with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) last weekend to secure the deal. Envoy and ALPA could extend the agreement later if demand persists. 

Piedmont operates the Embraer ERJ145, which seats up to 50 passengers for American’s routes between small cities. When the company had to park some of its fleet, that hurt its revenue, and some small towns lost airline service.

In a statement, Piedmont’s CEO Eric Morgan said, “This deal will attract new first officers and the experienced captains we need for future opportunities while also taking really good care of the pilots already flying for Piedmont.” 

The airline plans to hire more than 400 pilots this year and said it would prioritize experienced direct-entry captains. Because of a pilot flow-through agreement with the American mainline carrier and a recent uptick in demand, Piedmont is losing as many as 25 pilots a month, which means it would lose three of every four pilots it hired. So, it needs to hire more pilots faster than it can replace them or continue to lose business.

“With more pilots, we can get more of our aircraft back in the air,” Morgan said. “That benefits the communities we serve and all of our team members.”

Piedmont pilot wages will be 50 to 70 percent higher (57 percent on average) than the next highest paid regional carrier, Endeavor, the wholly owned regional carrier for Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL). With bonuses, Piedmont says its new hires would make as much as 31 percent more than an Endeavor pilot and even 10 percent more than pilots at leading ultra low-cost carriers (ULCCs) during the first five years. 

Line check airmen who train other new hires and pilots will get the highest raise, up to $427.50 an hour under the new contract.

To sweeten the deal, Piedmont also said one of the terms of the agreement would allow pilots from other airlines to credit their seniority from other airlines toward increased pay at Piedmont. It’s one of the first indications of a national seniority list that has been argued for on some pilot messaging boards but has proven to be a contentious issue.

At the time of the announcement, Piedmont’s vice president of flight operations, Steve Keefer, said he hoped the deal would put “the competition on notice.”

#ICYMI: Envoy pilots are now officially 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙙 in the regional airline industry. https://t.co/xEt2KNEXdC#breakingnews #envoypilots #teamenvoy #pilotlife #pilot

— Envoy Air Careers (@envoyaircareers) June 14, 2022

Envoy’s Raise

Similarly, Envoy, American’s largest regional carrier that also operates a fleet of Embraer jets,  announced its version of its contract with ALPA with similar increases.

“With this agreement,” Envoy said in a statement, “pilot pay rates increase to be higher than other non-American Airlines Group regional carriers, by 6 percent for Envoy first officers and 10 percent for Envoy captains.”

Additionally, Envoy pilots will receive a Pilot Supply Premium of 50 percent added to their hourly rate for all compensable hours from the effective date of the contract through the end of August 2024. Envoy will also enact a “1:1 longevity match” program, which will credit pilots with previous Part 121-airline experience to match compensation closely. 

Furthermore, with its flow-through agreement to American’s mainline also in place, Envoy promised that it would pay the 20-year captain’s rate to any pilot who hadn’t been offered a position at American Airlines by the end of their fifth year of service.

With two out of three of American’s regionals increasing pay, it is expected that PSA Airlines, the third wholly owned regional in the consortium, could soon follow suit.

Pilot pay increases at the regional level aren’t really a surprise. A few weeks ago, JetBlue’s (NASDAQ: JBLU) CEO told investors that pilots could expect wage inflation over the next few years, as airlines would have to compete for pilots as they grew their operations to meet demand. The U.S. airline industry plans to hire as many as 30,000 pilots by 2030.

Across the board, airlines are on a hiring spree. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. scheduled passenger airlines added 5,137 full-time equivalents for the 12th consecutive month of job growth. Passenger airlines added 5,448 employees in April for a 12th consecutive month of job growth dating back to May 2021.

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