Should the airline industry be re-regulated?

[GoldenRivet]

October, 1978. Jimmy Carter signs the Airline Deregulation Act removing government regulation from the Airline Industry.

The intention of the act was to remove government controls on ticket prices, routes and various restrictions to upstart air carriers.

Overnight, the United States Airline Industry became arguably the most heavily regulated, "deregulated" industry in the world.

The question i pose to you:

Should the United States Government Repeal the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, thereby Re-Regulating the Airline Industry?

Virtually the only good thing to come from De-Regulation has been the drastic reduction in ticket price for the consumer as a result of increased competetion... but at what cost?

Since deregulation, aviation professionals have seen their salaries shrink to rock bottom, slashed time and time again.

The Industry has been flooded with small, regional upstart airlines which employee under qualified, inexperienced aviators which are payed a rate comparable to the national minimum wage for their services.

Meanwhile, management and other exectuives routinely see 6 and 7 fuigure salaries with 6 and 7 figure bonuses.

We have seen numerous safety violations and fleet groundings as recently as 2007-2008 with major carriers like American and Southwest who have failed to comply with important maintenance requirements critical to flight safety.

Congress has taken steps in the right direction with the house passage of the "Airline Safety and Pilot Training Improvement Act of 2009".

The act would regulate flight time minimums, licensing requirements and and experience requirements for newly hired pilots working on the airline level. Bumping the flight time minimums up to 1,500 hours as a starting point for hiring instead of a high point... and raising licensing requirements to an "Airline Transport Pilot Certificate" instead of the regular "Commercial Pilot Certificate" for any applicant to be considered for a position.

Many of the "airline pilots" newly hired into the large, coast to coast regional airline i once worked for had less than 400 hours total flight experience, and had only entered the aviation industry 18-24 months prior to their date of employment! One applicant even had just 260 total flight hours! 10 hours more than the FAA minimum to obtain a commercial pilot's license!




Should airline salaries be standardized and regulated by the government? If so, this would make the airline industry attractive again to more experienced pilots working in the private sector. It would drive managment and executive salaries and bonuses down to more reasonable figures.

Should Airline Hiring Minimums be standardized and regulated? No more "hundred hour wonder pilots" being hired by bridge programs from aviation universities... many of todays new hire pilots have never flown any aircraft larger than a Beechcraft Baron, many of todays new hires have never experienced severe turbulence or icing conditions... many of them lack the overall experience to be contributing cockpit crew members.

Should the Government regulate airline ticket prices? No more flexing rates or fares, no more hidden baggage fees... no more reason to chose one carrier over another due to anything other than customer service and safety record.

I had to vote no.
The effects of Regulation followed by "Deregulation" had exactly the same effects on the trucking industry.

Contrary to the way it sounds the government has increased regulation of the trucking industry following "deregulation". More and more old-timers are being frustrated out of the industry to be replaced by, for all intensive purposes, amateurs. I don't think USA's driving public has any problem seeing that. It's a sad state of affairs.

Regulation forces companies to buy Rights to certain routes. It has nothing to do with safety. The damage is already done. Further action by the government can only cause further damage. So many of the original union carriers that were protected from competition by regulation are gone. Re-regulation is not going to bring them back.

[GoldenRivet]

I think that in the very least, salary, compensation, benefits and the minimum required experience to enter the airline flight deck should be regulated.

When i worked on the Regional Airline level i made $18,000 my first year there... by the close of my 3rd year there i was barely making $23,000... another 3 years i would have met my salary cap for seat and equipment at under $30,000.

When you consider that a pilot (in this example) is only being paid while actually flying... and you compare that annual figure to the number of hours i was actually on duty (ie. physically required to be on the job) you will find that my annual salary equated to a little over $7.xx per hour.

ad into the mix that you have thousands of 20 something year old men and women out there who say

1. i could be a doctor... but thats 8 years of medical school i cant afford

2. I could be a lawyer... but that means expensive law school

3. I can be an airline pilot in 24 months for about $40,000 worth of education

they generally go with option 3

this floods the market with individuals - some of whom i know personally - that are quite grossly unqualified for the job... some of them... down right incompetent!

[Sailor Steve]

I don't know, GR. I'm normally against government interference of any kind, but you make a very good case.

I always thought pilots were highly paid. Minimum wage? That's what I made in the bookstore. Sounds weird to me.

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I always thought pilots were highly paid. Minimum wage? That's what I made in the bookstore. Sounds weird to me.

many of the most senior captains are paid very well.

However, for the first 10-15 years of your airline career - near minimum wage is the standard.

I worked for a regional airline for 3 years, and my advertised pay scale was about $21 $22.50 and $23.50 per flight hour.

the key word of course is "per flight hour" - you are only being paid for flight time.

so given a 14 hour duty day, you may only fly 5 hours.

Consider the following statistics which i dont mind sharing with you

Year One Earnings: $18,500 ($21 x 881 flight hours)

average days / month on duty: 16 days

average hours on duty per day: 13 hours

average hours on duty per month: 208 hours

average hours on duty per year one: 2496 hours

Hourly wage based upon number of hours actually on duty:

$18.500 divided by 2496 = $7.41/hr

using this formula... year 2 and year 3 were about a $1 hourly rate increase each year

[nikimcbee]

yeah, but you're not taking into consideration the 1 big perk: hot stewardess'

[MothBalls]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

many of the most senior captains are paid very well.

However, for the first 10-15 years of your airline career - near minimum wage is the standard.

A little off topic but a question for GR.

Is it the same all over the world? (I always wondered about that after watching Air America.) There was a pilot in SoCal who lost his ticket after "filming himself in a compromising situation with his female co-pilot" recently, and I wondered if his only choice is to go fly for drug dealers.



Back OT

I think getting the government involved in pricing is always a bad idea. However, certifications for all crews, from pilot, flight crew, mechanic and anyone else in the operation of aircraft should be (much like it is now) strictly controlled. About salaries, if anything, they should be higher for that same group of people.


I don't know if it would be a good thing or not. Doesn't matter what the government does (especially now). You're going to piss off half the country either way.

[nikimcbee]

GR, are you feeling ok? The next thing I know, you'll be telling me what a good idea centralized healthcare is.

Command economy good; capitalism baaaaad.

Let me think about your question first.

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by nikimcbee

GR, are you feeling ok? The next thing I know, you'll be telling me what a good idea centralized healthcare is.

Command economy good; capitalism baaaaad.

Let me think about your question first.

hahahaha

im ok Niki thanks for the concern.

You know it isnt like me to support Government intervention

However in this case... Airline travel is an essential part of our national infrastructure, in many ways it is directly tied to national security even.

safety / quality of the personnel is paramount.

If a wee smidge of government regulation (and by all means i dont mean pre-1978 regulation) but a wee smidge of regulation in the department of Salaries, Training and Hiring requirments were to be made... i personally think it would do the industry some good.

EDIT:

under the current rules and regs... Billy Bob's Discount Airline can hire any pilot they want without regard to his experience level. In many cases... seeking to take full advantage of cheap labor, the airlines will hire 23 and 24 year old pilots, FRESH out of school - and in many cases airline work is the individuals FIRST taste of an aviation related job.

personally- i want my airline pilot to be the guy who spent 4 years as an instructor, and 2 years hauling cargo in the dead of night before upgrading to hauling my arse around.

[nikimcbee]

GR, I think you're working for the wrong company: