Dear Readers,
January was a news-filled month owed to some big headlines. AlaskaAir’s Boeing 737 Max 9 incident and the subsequent groundings of all Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft was big news, as were Southwest pilots’ approval of a new contract, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines posting record profits for 2023 and a judge denying the JetBlue/Spirit Airlines merger.
Some airlines’ current pilot-hiring forecasts are also a little rocky considering Delta Air Lines, Spirt Airlines, AlaskaAir and JetBlue reducing their forecast for pilot hiring in 2024. Delta plans to hire around 1,000 pilots, which is still a great number but down from 2023. Interestingly, neither Spirit Airlines’ nor AlaskaAir’s application sites list pilots among their options. JetBlue still has the option to apply, but we have heard rumors of a hiring slowdown for 2024. United Airlines and American Airlines have made no official announcements about their hiring forecasts, but it appears they will not be slowing down. In 2023, the Big Three hired record numbers of pilots; Delta reported 2,424, United hired 2,349, and American brought in 2,211 new pilots. If you are among those 6,984 (or other new hire), congratulations and we’re glad you’re on the pages of Aero Crew News. Don’t forget to follow us on social media too. We deliver hot news there every day.
As always, we encourage you to email us at [email protected].
Fly safe,
Craig Pieper
