American Airlines Stops Hiring Pilots

According to Bloomberg, American Airlines has stopped training and hiring pilots as it struggles with complex industry conditions.

Ultimately, American Airlines isn’t the first airline to have cancelled training and hiring with this suspension slated to run through the end of 2024. American joins several other major companies in the United States have also been forced to do something similar.

The warning signs were present in comments from American Airlines in recent months regarding the training and hiring of pilots. Initial plans expected slowed hiring and training across the summer months, but that has now extended through to the end of the year.

Actions such as these are in response to several factors that make operating an airline far from optimal; however, they can be generalised by uncertainty around day-to-day operations.

American Airlines is facing delivery delays for new aircraft, which has affected the phasing out of older aircraft and planned network expansion to meet high demand levels.

Most notably, it’s Boeing’s aircraft across the 737 MAX and 787 family that are causing American Airlines to struggle. Both of these aircraft types play an important role in the airlines fleet, especially the 787 acting as their next-generation long-haul aircraft. These delays have forced the airline to adjust its growth forecasting for the remainder of the year.

While the company knows that pilots will continue to retire, it hired thousands in recent years in response to the global pandemic, which decimated the aviation industry. Despite this hiring and many changes within the industry that were experienced, American Airlines believes it needs to wait.