Airline pilot hiring continued strong in November adding 1,092 new jobs, which brings the year-to-date total to 12,231 - almost doubling the year-to-date total from this time last year of 7,653.  The National carriers once again led in hiring adding 571 jobs to their sector, followed by the Majors with 228. The Non-Jet Operators, Jet Operators, and Fractionals were neck-and-neck hiring 75, 62, and 58 pilots respectively.  Furlough numbers continue to drop from 2,891 in October to 2,715 in November.

American Airlines (AMR) announced plans to sell wholly-owned subsidiary American Eagle, which consists of a collection of regional carriers owned by the nation's largest airline. AMR said it plans to spin off American Eagle, saying it would be "in the best interests of AMR and its shareholders and will be beneficial to American, American Eagle, their employees and other stakeholders." American Eagle operates approximately 300 aircraft on approximately 1,700 daily flights to more than 150 cities throughout the US, Canada, the Bahamas, the Caribbean and Mexico.

On Wednesday, December 11th the House voted unanimously to raise the mandatory age of pilot retirement from 60 to 65 (H.R. 4343). On December 12th the Senate passed its version of the same bill (S.65). The bill would require pilots who reach age 60 to have a medical certificate renewed every six months, to be administered a line check every six months, and to continue to participate in FAA pilot training and qualification programs. The bill moved onto the White House where President Bush signed it into law on December 14. The new mandatory regulation now states that "a pilot may serve in a multi-crew covered operations until attaining 65 years of age.” AIR, Inc. estimates that 2,000 pilots per year at the majors would have reached retirement each year and they account for about 2/3 of the 90,000 total airline pilots. The smaller airlines will add another 1,000 pilots per year.

US Airways pilots have filed a petition with the National Mediation Board to form a new union, the US Airline Pilots Association (USAPA) to replace ALPA for representation. USAPA President Stephen Bradford said, We provided more than 3,000 signed election requests to the NMB today, a powerful sign that our pilots intend to upgrade to first-class union representation.” ALPA president John Prater said that “we will help you fight for a new contract, but we will not stand idly by and watch you fight each other while others are actively to destroy our union”.

Source: AIR, Inc. • Atlanta, GA • www.jet-jobs.com • 800-JET-JOBS