Congratulations! You’ve decided to soar above the earth in your new career as an airline pilot! Being a pilot is a challenging yet rewarding vocation. If you love the thrill of flight, travel and working as a team it’s a great job to pursue. There’s only one thing stopping you.

With the volatility of the airline industry, you may be discouraged to depart your current position for a life in the airlines. Maybe you made the jump already, only to have that company go under or furlough. Whatever your situation in life, the airlines have always been and will continue to be cyclical. It’s not a question of if the airlines will ever recover but a matter of when. And after it does recover, it will only become a matter of time before another downturn happens again. It is just the nature of the business we love. As a result of this uncertainty, you may have the question arise, “are the airlines still right for me?” The answer is a resounding… maybe. After all, YMMV. 

The Great Pilot Shortage is finally upon us! Stop what you’re doing and start your pilot training yesterday! Did you know that over the next decades there will be 2-3,000 mandatory retirements a year due to pilots reaching the maximum allowable age of 65?! Think about that. That’s 165-250+ pilots a MONTH needed! That doesn’t even include the ones who maxed out their 401Ks and want to retire early or the ones who will lose their medical before hitting 65! And the only way those major airline positions will be available to YOU will be if you start at your regional NOW!

Many pilots that begin at the regional level have aspirations of eventually applying to the majors- American, Alaska, Delta, Fedex, United, UPS, or even Hawaiian Airlines. With higher pay, promises of better schedules, and today’s rapidly rising seniority numbers, the major carriers will be a great place to be for years to come-and they will be needing more pilot than ever over the next decade. Getting into the majors sooner can have a dramatic impact on career earnings-possibly amounting to millions of dollars of additional income over time.