With their promise of cheaper fares and no unnecessary frills, a wave of so-called “discount airlines” have burst onto the Canadian scene in recent years.
But experts say the low-cost airline model is exacerbating a pilot shortage that already exists and could become an even bigger problem for Canada’s aviation industry in years to come.
Startup discount airlines, like Edmonton-based Flair Airlines, Calgary-based Lynx, and WestJet subsidiary Swoop, have grown rapidly across Canada since the COVID-19 pandemic, playing on the fact that ‘there is enough demand to support additional capacity.
Although each entity operates slightly differently, the basic premise of a low-cost airline is that travelers receive reduced service in exchange for low base fares. Carry-on and checked baggage, snacks and beverages, and cancellation protection are all considered extras and must be paid for separately.
However, experts say the rapid proliferation of new flights and routes is putting pressure on the aviation job market, including for pilots.
“If I have a new airline starting with 10 planes, theoretically I need about 200 pilots,” said Mike Doiron, president of Doiron Aviation Consulting in Moncton, New Brunswick.
“And training new pilots doesn’t happen overnight, even though the demand for pilots has exploded,” he said.
A pilot shortage has been brewing in Canada for years, due to a variety of factors, including an aging workforce, pandemic-related layoffs, early retirements and escalating training costs. Becoming an airline pilot can now cost upwards of $100,000, discouraging some young people from entering the profession, experts say.
Last week, holiday airline Sunwing attributed its spate of flight disruptions and cancellations over the holiday season in part to a shortage of pilots, telling the Federal Transport Committee that the government’s decision to deny the request The airline’s recent hiring of 63 temporary foreign workers for pilot positions has impacted its ability to provide service.
Tim Perry — president of the Canadian division of the Air Line Pilots Association, the union that represents pilots at several Canadian airlines, including WestJet and Transat (but not Sunwing) — called that argument “absurd.” He does not believe that a Canadian airline that adequately compensates its pilots should need to hire temporary foreign workers.
However, Mr. Perry acknowledges that there are real labor challenges in the aviation industry. He argues that flight schools, particularly northern and regional airlines, are having difficulty recruiting certified pilots, in part because new carriers are hiring pilots who otherwise would have gone to work with some of these smaller airlines. operators. He also points out that discount carriers don’t pay as well as Air Canada or WestJet, and that low-cost airlines also have difficulty retaining customers.
“These entry-level jobs (with discount carriers) were never career destinations. These airlines therefore end up with a higher training burden per unit of productive flight,” he explained.
None of the airlines contacted by The Canadian Press was willing to talk about the current state of the pilot job market, nor was the National Airlines Council of Canada.
A 2018 report by the Canadian Council for Aviation and Aerospace found that a third of air operators in the country at the time cited pilots as their biggest labor shortage. The report says the need for experienced pilots is beginning to outstrip the available national supply and predicts the industry will need an additional 7,300 pilots by 2025.
“There are only maybe 15,000 to 20,000 pilots in the whole system right now, so that’s a pretty big number,” Doiron said.
He added that some smaller airlines are lowering their hiring standards — reducing the number of flight hours they would normally require a pilot, or considering candidates who don’t have a college degree — in order to be competitive in the labor market.
While pilots will still need to meet the minimum training requirements set by Transport Canada, Mike Doiron believes a worsening pilot shortage in the future will mean less cockpit experience. It could also lead to a long-term increase in the number of flight disruptions and flight cancellations experienced by travelers as airlines grapple with scheduling and labor issues.
“The shortage of qualified and experienced personnel is really going to put the whole industry upside down for a while,” said the president of Doiron Aviation Consulting in Moncton, New Brunswick.
“I’m glad I’m not running an airline right now because I would say it’s going to be a tough five to ten years. »
Flair Airlines, which has expanded to serve more than 30 destinations in Canada, the United States and Mexico, is among the start-ups that have added capacity since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lynx says it will offer 292 seats per week to and from the United States from Toronto and Calgary in February; and Canada Jetlines launched two weekly flights between Toronto and Calgary in September.
Toronto-based Porter Airlines is also launching new routes and says it has ordered up to 100 new aircraft, which will give it the ability to operate in Canada, the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean.