In the Recent Committee Meetings on Aviation Safety, Multiple Committee Witnesses Have Expressed Concerns of High Pilot Turnover Rate in Their Organizations
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Dear Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities: In the recent committee meetings on Aviation Safety, multiple committee witnesses have expressed concerns of high pilot turnover rate in their organizations. This directly impacts aviation safety due to: 1) Continuous “brain drain”; 2) A lack of specialized knowledge and experience regarding the various hazardous anomalies that exist for a specific aircraft, operation, and region; and, 3) The inability to maintain/improve safe operating procedures, processes and organizational culture. Many Canadian operators blame this high turnover rate on a “pilot shortage”; often with reference to an expanding industry, increasing retirements, and various industry reports (which forecast an increase in the worldwide demand for pilots). However, this perspective does not accurately reflect the circumstances in Canada and is not the view of many Canadian pilots. Rather, this “pilot shortage” can be viewed as a “shortage of operators willing to pay competitive rates to retain long term employees”. This letter will: 1) refute the argument that there is a pilot shortage in Canada and then 2) discuss the reasons behind the high turnover rate of pilots in industry. Reducing the turnover rate, through establishing stable long-term employment at competitive rates of pay, will directly improve aviation safety at operators across Canada. Canada is Not Experiencing a Pilot Shortage Although a lack of qualified pilots may be an issue across much of the developing world (and even in the U.S.), there is no significant evidence to prove that there is (or will be) a pilot shortage in Canada. Evidence of this includes: 1) Historically, there has not been a shortage of pilots in Canada; instead, the past has been painted with oversupply, furloughs, layoffs, and stagnation of position/progression. According to ALPA Canada Board President Dan Adamus, in 2013 there were “more than 90 Canadian ALPA members” furloughed (Appendix 3). Many pilots also work overseas who would like to return to Canada if a suitable position was available. 2) Transport Canada licensing statistics (not easily accessible by the public), if viewed over the past two decades, likely indicate an increase in the number of pilots annually attaining their Airline Transport Pilot’s License (ATPL). In 2003, 451 ATPLs were issued; this number increased 60% by 2007, when there was a total of 724 ATPLs issued. 3) Advertised pilot jobs attain high applicant interest. Pilot job postings on the popular Canadian aviation website: www.avcanada.ca, can attain over 1000 viewings within the first day of posting. 4) Employers can attain a significant number of pilot applications for each advertised pilot position. In many job advertisements there is a line similar to: “due to the high number of applications for this position, only successful applicants will receive a response”. Multiple smaller operators take advantage of such high applicant interest; they hire pilots to work in non-piloting positions for several years until a pilot position becomes available (see Appendix 1 for a sample of such job ads). 5) Prudent operators began taking steps over a decade ago to maintain access to a professional and capable pilot workforce. These operators have proactively engaged with flight schools and smaller operators to ensure a continuous flow of pilots to meet both business and safety requirements. In general: 1) there are less positions available for work than there are pilots, 2) Transport Canada has likely experienced an upward trend in the issuance of the Airline Transport Pilot License, and 3) prudent operators have maintained access to a capable pilot workforce. This evidence indicates that, for prudent operators, there is not and will likely not be a pilot shortage in Canada. High Pilot Turnover Rates Even though pilots enjoy working at certain organizations/locations they often feel mistreated and undervalued. At the first available opportunity, these pilots leave for organizations with better safety and improved working conditions. To gain some insight into why turnover rate is high among Canadian pilots, please view the following cartoon clip (the existence of this clip highlights the prevalence of this issue among Canadian pilots… please ignore the part about the hammer and the expletive at the end): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RQbve5OZO4 High pilot turnover rates are the result of multiple factors: 1) Most operators place a high importance on minimizing labour costs. This has been demonstrated by: a. Gradually lowering salaries. For example, in 2003 a prominent Canadian 705 operator offered a starting salary of approximately $41 000 (2017 CAD), whereas in 2017 that same position has a starting salary of approximately $35 000 (2017 CAD). b. Freezing salaries. c. Offering buyout packages to senior, knowledge wealthy, employees. d. Lowering hiring requirements to recruit individuals willing to work for lower salaries. For example, in 2010 the advertised minimum flight hours to be hired with a major Canadian 705 operator was double the flight time that is presently advertised as the minimum requirement in 2017. e. Hiring temporary contract employees who operate without standard benefits (ex. health plans, pensions, professional development, etc…). (Appendix 2 has samples of such job ads). f. Requiring pilots to work in low skill, low pay, non-flying positions prior to offering them the opportunity to work as a pilot. Such non-flying positions include: customer service, call centers, stores management, shipping, administrative clerk/receptionist, baggage loader, cleaner, aircraft fuelling agent, flight attendant, etc… (Appendix 1 has samples of such job ads). g. Hiring foreign pilots who are willing to work for lower wages and with less job security (see Appendix 3 for more information). 2) Pilots are generally paid very low for the value they offer to the operator and client. This is summarized in Table 1 below: Table 1: Pilot Salaries and those of a Comparable Occupation Estimated Estimated Comparable Average Average Occupation Annual Annual (based on Starting Starting required Salary (2017 Salary education CAD) of Typical Job (2017 and Comparable Position Company Stability Location CAD) experience) Occupation Certified Trade Worker (ex. Flight Local Flight Plumber, Instructor School Uncertain Anywhere 18 000 Carpenter) 55 000 Air Taxi First Oil Field Officer Charter Isolated Worker (in Greater than (703) Service Uncertain Community 30 000 isolated area) 120 000 Medical Air Taxi Evacuation/ Captain Air Isolated Nurse (in Greater than (703) Ambulance Uncertain Community 50 000 isolated area) 100 000 Commuter Airline EVAS, First Bearskin, Engineer in Officer Pacific Training, (704) Coastal Uncertain Major City 35 000 Teacher 65 000 Air Commuter Georgian, Airline Central Captain Mountain Junior (704) Air Moderate Major City 55 000 Lawyer 80 000 Regional Airline First Jazz, Porter, Chartered Officer Sky Professional (705) Regional Moderate Major City 40 000 Accountant 85 000 Westjet Experienced Regional Encore, Engineer, Airline First Air, Lawyer, Captain Canadian Project (705) North Satisfactory Major City 85 000 Manager 100 000 Major Airline First Air Transat, Junior Officer Sunwing, University (705) Air Canada Satisfactory Major City 55 000 Professor 115 000 Major Flair Air, Airline Westjet, Captain Cargojet, Experienced Greater than (705) Morningstar Excellent Major City 115 000 Physician 180 000 3) When a pilot attains a promotion they may also attain a lower salary. For example, an experienced Air Taxi Captain will typically take a large ($30 000 or greater) pay cut to transition to a first officer position on a commuter or regional aircraft. This remains the case even though the position upgrade requires greater experience and education. 4) Pilots can be required to participate in low skill tasks and extra work often without supplemental pay. 5) Many owners/managers wield significant proportions of the operational power, resulting in an uphill battle to implement change or address operational/safety concerns. In many companies, the pilots either have to accept minimum (borderline-illegal) operating standards or not retain employment. 6) Many Canadian pilots are not unionized and are not represented by a professional body or a trade group; their ability to vocalize their concerns is limited. To summarize: pilots are frequently looking to leave their position and move to an operator where they attain improved salary, greater safety, respectful treatment, and improved job security; historically, this is only experienced at a select few of the major airlines. If operators enabled satisfactory, well salaried, long term, and stable employment it is highly probable that a large number of pilots would remain with these operators instead of moving to other employers. Conclusion Evidence indicates that there will likely not be a pilot shortage in Canada. Instead, there is a shortage of operators willing to retain pilots through long term stable employment at competitive pay rates; this directly leads to a high pilot turnover rate. Minimizing turnover improves the retention of knowledge and the experience required to safely operate an air carrier; further, it enhances the ability of pilots to develop an adequate safety culture and build the power required to effect safety based changes in the workplace. The government should encourage operators to abandon the concept of using disposable low pay pilots, which erodes aviation safety,