Chief executives of US regional airlines warn another pilot shortage could again ‘grow very quickly’ and set out the policy changes that could help head it off.
As the US airline industry emerged from the coronavirus pandemic, aggressive hiring by the Big Three put a strain on smaller regional carriers.
Things have eased, but executives at the largest regional airlines warn the same pilot shortage could quickly return if mainline carriers once again ramp up hiring.
“The pilot shortage is not as acute as it was post-Covid for sure, but it can grow very quickly,” Horizon Air chief executive Andy Schneider said on 23 September at the Regional Airline Association (RAA) Leaders Conference in Washington DC. “I do think majors are getting ready to do quite a bit of hiring.”
Their tone is a significant shift from years past, when RAA leader Faye Malarkey Black warned of a “dramatic pilot shortage” that was holding the industry back from routes it wanted to fly and forcing carriers to keep aircraft in storage.
Data from the Future and Active Pilots Advisors shows hiring by major US airlines slowed to about 4,500 in 2025, down from as high as 13,000 in 2022. United Airlines, for example, said in October 2025 that it expected to hire “over 2,000” pilots in 2026 and overall industry hiring could outpace last year.
Part of the relief has come from outside. Delivery delays at Airbus and Boeing have slowed mainline growth and hiring. And Spirit Airlines’ shutdown in May then put 2,000 experienced pilots back into the job market.
Before Spirit’s liquidation, major carriers were hiring pilots faster than new ones were being certificated, says RAA chief executive Faye Malarkey Black, who moderated the panel.
Schneider, of Alaska’s Horizon, says technicians are an “equal” constraint. RAA data shows a majority of active mechanics are over 50.
Building a better talent pool
GoJet Airlines chief executive Rick Leach says the market of candidates is deeper than it has been in years.
“There’s a lot more talent out there, especially in the pilot areas, than there has been historically,” Leach says, adding that applicants “can’t just get the job anymore with just that resume.”
SkyWest chief executive Chip Childs adds: “I think we’re getting the best professionals we’ve seen in decades coming into the industry today.”
With a steady pipeline of talent – starting as early as high school in some cases – executives say they can avoid a repeat of the hiring swings in recent years.
“We need to eliminate the extremes,” says Republic Airways chief executive Matt Koscal. “When we have these extremes and we shut down hiring, and there’s no place for somebody to go who’s invested in a career, that tells parents, don’t make that investment.”
He says regional airlines must never again reach the point where companies have to hire massive amounts of staff in a single year because of attrition to other carriers.
“Covid I think was a wake-up call,” says Koscal. “We all knew the shortage was coming. We’d been talking about it for years. But what covid did was it accelerated what we thought we would see here in ’26, ’27, ’28 into ’21 and ’22, and that just wasn’t sustainable.”
Potential policy changes
Regional airlines are also pushing for changes to regulations regarding student loans for pilot training and the mandatory retirement age.
Flight training can add tens of thousands of dollars on top of an aviation degree, and federal student loans are capped at standard undergraduate limits. They also can’t cover standalone training or vocational schools.
The RAA backs a bill that would count flight instruction, simulator time and exam fees towards students’ federal cost of attendance, the key figure that determines how much they are allowed to borrow.
“The only thing that should determine whether or not you get into aviation is your skill, your aptitude, your talent, your passion – not your finances,” Malarkey Black says.
CommuteAir chief executive Rick Hoefling credits FAA administrator Bryan Bedford for new FAA guidance on the enhanced qualification programme, which lets airlines use newer training tools. “For the first time, it creates a pathway, not to replace hours, but to give us better outcomes,” Hoefling says.
A proposal to raise mandatory pilot retirement age from 65 to 67 is more controversial.
RAA backs a House bill that would make the change, arguing it could keep experienced captains in the workforce. But the Air Line Pilots Association has opposed such a change, saying international rules would still limit pilots on international routes and could slow career progression of younger pilots.
Endeavor Air chief executive Timothy Wang, who previously ran Delta Air Lines’ regional network, says regional carriers remain the industry’s entry point.
“We’re also the front door for entering aviation,” Wang says. “Most people who work in aviation start at our shops. We’re the ones who recruit them. We’re the ones who train them. We’re the ones who prepare them for whatever they might want to do, whether that’s in our companies or beyond.”
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