Emerging Crisis

The regional airline industry has an emerging crisis and reputational issue.  It’s called crappy pay for pilots. The carriers pay so little that pilots won’t or can’t afford to work for them. This, of course, means those who do are flying either out of love for the craft or out of desperation.  Let one plane plunge to the ground as a result of inept pilot error and the industry is going to be held accountable.  The airlines plead poverty for themselves.  They say they can’t afford to pay better because they need to hold down costs in order to win contracts from major carriers.  Something is fundamentally wrong with the business if that is the case.  A pilot’s skill and responsibility demands better pay than that of a janitor.  Local airlines are gambling with the lives of passengers.  One wonders why pilots and passengers haven’t rebelled yet.