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American Airlines just became the latest carrier to join a trend sweeping the airline industry.
Bloomberg reports that the company is suspending pilot training through the rest of the year. The aviation magazine Flying notes that American is joining a list of carriers that include United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and Spirit Airlines for reasons that are both sector-wide and particular to the company.
Broadly speaking, the surge in pilot hiring that accompanied the airline industry’s recovery from its early COVID-19-era slowdown is over. Whereas that labor market was so tight that Canadian pilots were rushing to the U.S. to take advantage of all the demand, things have since cooled down. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that the number of employed pilots and “flight engineers” rose more than 50% between 2020 and 2023 to 173,000 people.
Just last year, American’s pilots’ union negotiated a new contract that will see their pay increase by 46% by 2027. But as airlines try to capture more and more of forecasted record revenues for themselves this year (both both because companies always want higher returns and because a collective streak of first-quarter losses suggest there are costs that need to be cut), a larger pool of labor means it’s easier to forgo payroll additions without fearing worrying about losing out on talent. Not to mention that Boeing jetliner delivery delays means there are fewer seats for those pilots to be in.
But American Airlines is also dealing with some constraints of its own making. Until recently, the company had been trying out a new sales strategy that involved selling directly to business-class frequent flyers instead of routing their business through travel agents. But that only upset the business travelers, whose pique was so intense that American showed chief commercial officer Vasu Raja the door. Now, the company is in a hole and trying to turn things around.