FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 12, 2008
Contact: Kit Darby, ext. 103
Corey Mobley, ext. 170

Airline Pilot Hiring
November 2008 Summary

Airline pilot hiring hit an all-time low in November, adding only 133 new pilot jobs for the month. The airline industry hasn’t seen pilot hiring numbers this low since November 2001, two months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Out of the 175 airlines reporting to AIR, Inc., only 54 of them were hiring. The National carriers, who haven’t lead in hiring since July of this year, were back on top adding 62 pilots to their flight decks, followed by the Non-Jet Operators with 20 and the Jet Operators finished in third with 13 new pilot positions for the month. For the second month in a row, there was no hiring activity by any of the 15 Major airlines. The pilot furloughs continue to increase, from 4,052 in October to 4,466 in November.

JetBlue Pilots Seeking Union - JetBlue pilots announced in November that they want to be unionized. Pilots have filed a petition with the National Mediation Board to establish an independent union for their 1,975 staff pilots.

UPS/DHL Deal in Jeopardy - German-owned DHL will close its U.S. domestic operations and cut 9,500 jobs. The move will significantly scale back a planned joint venture between DHL and UPS, and a UPS spokesman said his company will go back into talks and see what develops. DHL plans to continue operating international flights to five U.S. airports, then contract with other cargo companies to deliver the packages to U.S. addresses.

Delta-Northwest Pilots Receive Seniority List Integration Decision - On December 8, Delta (DAL) and Northwest (NWA) pilots, both represented by ALPA, received an arbitration decision regarding seniority list integration. The new list will be constructed based on “ratioed status and category”. Pilots will be ratioed into the list based on a staffing formula, aircraft flown and with a rational treatment for the minor attrition difference that exist between both pilot groups. In June 2008 the DAL and NWA leadership teams agreed to a process for the integration of a single seniority list. The agreement led to a series of arbitration sessions before a three-member arbitration panel. A collective bargaining agreement between the two groups became effective on October 30, one day after the merger was approved by the Department of Justice. DAL MEC Chairman, Captain Lee Moak said, “The DAL pilot group is now the largest pilot group in the world and is operating under one collective bargaining agreement and integrated under a single seniority list”. The total number of combined pilots for both major carriers is approximately 12,434 pilots.

The next AIR, Inc. Airline Pilot Job Fair will be held in Atlanta in or around the month of March 2009. For information on all current and future seminars visit our Web site at www.jet-jobs.com, or call 800 JET-JOBS (538-5627).

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

 

FURLOUGHS AS OF December 12, 2008
Airline Number on Furlough Number Laid-Off Number Active Percent Furloughed Percent Laid-Off
Majors
Airborne Express
17
0
657
2.6%
N/A
AirTran Airways
167
0
1,641
10.2%
N/A
Alaska Airlines
0
0
1,500
N/A
N/A
American Airlines
1,969
0
8,379
23.4%
N/A
ASTAR Air Cargo
0
0
525
N/A
N/A
Continental Airlines
148
0
5,070
2.9%
N/A
Delta Air Lines
0
0
6,500
N/A
N/A
FedEx
0
0
4,780
N/A
N/A
Frontier Airlines
61
0
718
8.5%
N/A
JetBlue
0
0
1,975
N/A
N/A
Northwest Airlines
0
0
5,105
N/A
N/A
Southwest Airlines
0
0
5,692
N/A
N/A
United Airlines
222
0
6,400
3.5%
N/A
United Parcel Service
0
0
2,932
N/A
N/A
US Airways
148
0
5,238
2.8%
N/A
TOTAL
2,732
0
57,112
4.8%
N/A
Airline Number on Furlough Number Laid-Off Number Active Percent Furloughed Percent Laid-Off
Nationals
Air Transport International
0
0
275
N/A
N/A
Air Wisconsin
61
0
817
7.5%
N/A
AirNet Express
39
0
160
24.3%
N/A
Allegiant Air
0
0
242
N/A
N/A
*Aloha Airline
0
273
0
N/A
100%
American Eagle
0
0
3,000
N/A
N/A
Amerijet Int’l
5
0
71
7%
N/A
*ATA
0
315
0
N/A
100%
Atlantic Southeast
0
0
1,584
N/A
N/A
Atlas Air
18
0
650
2.8%
N/A
*Champion Air
0
130
0
N/A
100%
Comair
202
0
1,385
14.6%
N/A
Evergreen Int’l Airlines
0
0
245
N/A
N/A
ExpresssJet
347
0
2,600
13.3%
N/A
Florida West Int'l Airways
0
0
12
N/A
N/A
*Gemini Air Cargo
0
246
0
N/A
100%
Hawaiian Airlines
0
0
324
N/A
N/A
Horizon Air
0
0
725
N/A
N/A
Kalitta Air
0
0
330
N/A
N/A
Mesa Airlines
67
0
1,542
4.3%
N/A
Mesaba Airlines
0
0
1,052
N/A
N/A
Miami Air Int'l
0
0
95
N/A
N/A
Midwest Express Airlines
200
0
375
53.3%
N/A
North American Airlines
0
0
194
N/A
N/A
Omni Air Int'l
0
0
245
N/A
N/A
Pinnacle Airlines
0
0
1,400
N/A
N/A
Polar Air Cargo
49
51 (PFE's)
230
21.3%
17%
Republic Airways
135
0
1,800
7.5%
N/A
Ryan Int'l Airlines
60
0
135
44.4%
N/A
SkyWest Airlines
0
0
2,854
N/A
N/A
Spirit Airlines
135
0
356
37.2%
N/A
Sun Country Airlines
0
0
100
N/A
N/A
Trans States Airlines
76
0
652
11.7%
N/A
US Airways/Piedmont
0
0
515
N/A
N/A
US Airways/PSA
80
0
359
22.3%
N/A
USA 3000
0
0
152
N/A
N/A
USA Jet Airlines
36
0
75
48%
N/A
World Airways
0
0
425
N/A
N/A
TOTAL
1,548
1,015
25,166
6.2%
4%
Total Jet Operators
47
565
2,345
2%
24.1%
Total Non-Jet Operators
39
250
2,664
1.5%
9.4%
Total Fractionals
100
0
4,548
2.2
N/A
Total Crew Leasing/Foreign/Training
0
0
N/A
N/A
N/A
Total Training and Very Light Jets
0
85
490
N/A
17.3%
Total Startups
0
0
13
N/A
N/A
AIRLINE TOTAL
4,466
1,915
92,348
4.8%
2.1%
Notes: * Carrier Ceased Operations

www.jet-jobs.com
800 JET-JOBS (538-5627)

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