Strongly affected by the labor shortage, the regional air carrier Pascan has just increased the salaries of its pilots by… 20%.
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“We have raised our salaries by 20% in the last month”, confides to the Log the chief financial officer of the Longueuil company, Yani Gagnon.
Staff shortage
It must be said that the situation is difficult for Pascan: since the beginning of the year, around twenty pilots have left the carrier, ie 30% of its workforce.
“The shortage of pilots is the biggest challenge we currently have,” says Mr. Gagnon. With the resumption of international flights, the big carriers are recruiting a lot of pilots and the first place they are recruiting is with the smaller carriers. »
Difficult to add flights
The scarcity of pilots is rife just as the program set up by Quebec has just come into force to offer round-trip tickets at a maximum of $500, taxes included.
Therefore, even if the demand increases, Pascan will not necessarily be able to add flights, due to a lack of pilots.
“We can’t just open the floodgates,” says Yani Gagnon. “A pilot who leaves will give two weeks notice in the best of worlds, but after that, I have to find another one and it’s three months of training”, he specifies.
Under the circumstances, the company had “no choice” to raise its wages. “We know it’s not going to solve all the problems, but we’re crossing our fingers that it will slow down [les départs de pilotes] says Mr. Gagnon.
“All carriers have increased their wages, even the small ones,” he adds.
The leader does not want to reveal the salary that the pilots earn at Pascan, but he specifies that it is more than $50,000 per year.
At Jazz Aviation, which operates regional flights for Air Canada, pilot salaries range from $39,000 to $129,000 a year, but a co-pilot can expect to earn $60,000 in their first year, the company says. on its website.