Northern airlines losing fight for pilots
As Canada faces a serious pilot shortage, northern airlines are losing out to national companies in the competition for staff, forcing some to cut back service.
“In the old days, used to be people would get their licence and go up north somewhere to fly for a few years, get their hours up, and go to a regional airline and then a major airline after that,” said bush pilot Dan Wettlaufer.
“But that is not the case anymore because with the major airlines you can go right away.”
According to a report put out earlier this year by the Canadian Council for Aviation and Aerospace, pilots and maintenance engineers are in demand. The industry will need 7,300 additional pilots by 2025, and less than 1,200 new pilot licences are issued every year.
Since 2001, Wettlaufer has been the owner and operator of Reliance Airways out of Fort Smith, N.W.T., a town right on the border of northeastern Alberta.
As the years have passed, the pilot shortage has hit his company hard and he had to remodel his business.
“Instead of owning and operating the planes year-round, and having enough pilots for it, a lot of our work is seasonal, so I just do a charter arrangement with another charter airline and utilize their pilots and aircraft just for the peak of our busy season,” he said.
He said that big airlines like Air Canada are facing the same shortage and scoop up talent right away.
Joel Fournier, UNIFOR director of transportation, says airline companies go so far as to request that flight schools send their graduates straight to them.
It’s not ideal to put a new graduate at the helm of one of the big jets right away, said Fournier, but “they’re somewhat desperate.”
Another issue is pilots continuing to fly past the age of 65, he said.
“Most pilots have to retire at 65,” he said, referring to other countries. “Here in Canada, the charter protects them from doing that, they can keep flying.”
While “it’s not the best situation,” said Fournier, he doesn’t blame pilots. Many have worked for companies that have gone bankrupt and may not have pensions. It’s a complex situation, he said.