Horizon Air is canceling flights due to a lack of pilots. (Image: Jim Glab)
There has been some debate among regional airlines whether their industry is facing a pilot shortage, and if so, how serious it is. But to Alaska Airlines affiliate Horizon Air, it is definitely real – and serious.
Horizon is pre-emptively canceling hundreds of flights from its summer schedule because it doesn’t have enough pilots to fly its Q400 turboprops.
The airline hasn’t dropped any routes from its network, but it has been eliminating frequencies from some routes this summer, mostly between August 4 and September 3, according to press reports. The canceled flights account for 6.2 percent of Horizon’s August schedule.
Routes that have had some frequencies canceled include Seattle-Boise, Seattle-Spokane, Seattle-Portland, Portland-Redmond and Portland-Sacramento, all of which offer multiple daily departures. Some 17,000 affected passengers holding reservations on the canceled flights are being rebooked on other departures on the same day, and will be informed by email.
Horizon Air relies on Q400 turboprops in a number of short-haul markets. (Image: Jim Glab)
The Seattle Times reported that Horizon has been drafting supervisory and qualified management personnel to operate some flights, and has offered Horizon pilots double pay to fly extra departures. It has also increased pilot pay and has started offering bonuses of up to $20,000 for new Q400 pilots.
Regional airlines in recent years have cited a pilot shortage as an ongoing problem in operating their schedules. For instance, Republic Airways cited a pilot shortage when it filed for bankruptcy in 2016.
But pilot organizations have argued that regional airlines created the problem themselves by failing to offer pilots a reasonable wage.
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Salvatore Johnson says
July 1, 2017 at 5:27 pmAre we suppose to feel sorry for Horizon? For years they have paid their pilots, co-pilots, flight attendants and maintenance people very low wages. So this is the whip-lash of being so cheap, people don’t want to work for them. The whole industry has screwed it’s workers and made healthy profits the last five years while employees barely are able to live.
So do I feel sorry for companies like Horizon? Hell no.
Ghostrider5408 says
July 1, 2017 at 3:13 pmNo Tom there is no conspiracy ( geez why does everyone think conspiracy these days) AS is transitioning Q pilots over to their new 175’s and got caught behind the power curve on drivers for the time being, it’s not a crisis just one of those things in planning. I am affected by this but I am ok with it asI love the new 175’s and comfortable AS has great pilot requirements and training.
Tom McNamara says
July 1, 2017 at 1:01 pmCould be a ploy to help increase subsidies for the Essential Air Service program.
I seem to recall that the Feds redesigned the bypass-mail in Alaska recently and that had been a very stable source of revenue for the airline.
Seems hard to believe that for as intentionally as Alaska has used smaller planes for larger routes that this would hve truly caught them off-guard….