Southwest: Pilots use job to boost resume

Pilots from smaller carriers are applying for jobs at Southwest Airlines Co. only to leave months later to work for bigger rivals, the latest salvo in the U.S. aviation industry’s war for talent.

The process, which Southwest Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson called “resume washing,” is a way for ambitious pilots to sidestep policies he said large U.S. carriers put in place to protect staffing for their associated regional airlines. Pilots normally take jobs at those smaller airlines to build enough flying hours to apply at bigger ones through agreements between the carriers. But some aviators can see their careers stalled if the larger rivals slow or stem that hiring process.

Pilots stuck at these airlines have been frustrated to see major carriers reportedly use six-figure bonuses to lure pilots from cargo carriers like United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp. So they are increasingly looking to be hired at a lowcost carrier like Southwest, then leaving within a year to secure a job at Delta Air Lines Inc. or United Airlines Holdings Inc.

Of all pilots who leave jobs at Southwest or deep discounters Spirit Airlines Inc. or Frontier Group Holdings Inc., the share who had joined less than 12 months earlier has more than doubled compared with pre-pandemic levels, according to labor market data tracker Revelio Labs.

Regional pilots “know that if I get Southwest or another airline on my resume, I can get to where I want to go,” Watterson, the Southwest COO, said in a Dec. 13 interview in New York. “So they use us as a premeditated way station. They come to Southwest, get hired, trained, spend six months and then they flip their resume and apply somewhere else.”

Spokespeople for Delta and United pushed back by saying they still hire directly from regional carriers, though United said it does pace the number of those recruits. American Airlines Group Inc. said it hires from regional carriers and has long-standing agreements to accept a certain number of pilots from those that are wholly owned.

Pilots who aim to fly widebody aircraft on international routes at the industry’s best salaries can’t do that at Southwest. The Dallas-based carrier flies only single-aisle Boeing Co. 737s domestically and to nearby countries like Mexico, Costa Rica and Aruba.

All that coming and going led to a temporary uptick in Southwest’s pilot attrition rate, particularly for younger first officers, Chief Executive Officer Bob Jordan said during the December interview. This was an “anomaly” for the nation’s fourth-largest airline and hasn’t held up hiring efforts, he said. Southwest prides itself on its employee-friendly culture and claims to have never involuntarily furloughed a single worker in its 52-year history.

Kit Darby, who runs an aviation consulting firm, said that job-hopping can pay off in the long run for pilots with low seniority. A 40-year career as a pilot at United or American is worth about $22 million in pay, benefits and retirement packages, Darby has found, compared with $16.3 million at Southwest.

“It’s great for pilots to have a choice,” Darby said in a phone interview. “In the old days you were lucky to get a single job.”