US facing serious shortage of airline pilots
Washington, July 17 : The US is currently facing a serious shortage of airline pilots, particularly at the regional airline levels, according to a report.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in the report on Monday that there were about 827,000 pilots in America in 1987. Over the past three decades, that number decreased by 30 per cent, reports CNN.
During this period, there has been a tremendous increase in the demand for air travel, the report said. The International Air Transport Association predicts that, over the next 20 years, air travel will double.
Major US airlines were not yet directly experiencing the pilot shortage, according to the report.
But smaller regional airlines are experiencing this firsthand. Their schedules have been reduced and some, such as Republic, have been forced into bankruptcy as a result of inadequate staffing.
However, the industry has taken a few steps to address this problem. Regional airlines now offer much higher pay and even signing bonuses.
Meanwhile, the number of pilots supplied by the military has also dwindled. Much of this is due to the use of unmanned aerial vehicles.
In the 80s, roughly two thirds of airline pilots were former military. Recently, that percentage has dropped to less than one-third, CNN reported.
The Navy predicts a 10 per cent pilot shortage in 2020, while the Air Force predicts its own 1,000-pilot shortage by 2022.
In 2009, Congress changed the mandatory retirement age for airline pilots from 60 to 65.
A 2016 report by Boeing shows that 42 per cent of the pilots currently flying for the major airlines in the US will reach their mandatory retirement age of 65 in the next 10 years.
Congress also changed the duty time rules in 2010 to mitigate pilot fatigue issues. This change meant airlines had to increase their pilot staffing by 5 to 8 per cent in order to cover the same schedule.
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Mumbai Metro lines 9 and 2B open for commuters
Mumbai (PTI): Commercial operations on the first phases of Mumbai Metro corridors 9 and 2B began on Wednesday morning, a day after Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated the mass-transit routes, officials said.
While the Metro 9 marks the first direct connectivity between a suburb in Mumbai and a part of Thane city in the metropolitan region, the Line 2B will provide the first metro connectivity on the Harbour Line in Mumbai.
The 5.6-km elevated Phase 1 stretch of Metro Line 9 comprises four stations -- Dahisar East, Pandurangwadi, Miragaon and Kashigaon. The 5.53-km Phase 1 of Metro Line 2B has five stations, including Deshbhakt N G Acharya Udyan (Diamond Garden), Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Chowk, Deonar, Mankhurd and Maharashtra Nagar–Mandale.
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According to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), Line 9 is expected to cut travel time between Mira-Bhayandar in Thane district and Mumbai to around 30 minutes from the current one to two hours. Built at Rs 6,607 crore, it will eventually provide seamless connectivity to south Mumbai through interlinking with other lines.
With the addition of the two new lines, Mumbai’s operational Metro network has expanded to six corridors, including Line 1 (Ghatkopar-Andheri-Versova), Line 2A (Andheri West-Dahisar East), Line 7 (Dahisar East-Andheri East) and the underground Line 3 (Colaba-Bandra Kurla Complex-SEEPZ).
As per MMRDA, the revised timetable for Line 2A and Line 7 came into effect on Wednesday, aimed at improving frequency, predictability and overall commuter experience.
It said that with the inauguration of Line 9, Metro Line 2A will now operate as a standalone corridor between Andheri West and Dahisar East, with services from 5.50 am till around 11 pm and a peak frequency of about six minutes.
The integrated Line 7-9 corridor (Gundavali to Kashigaon), spanning 19.79 km, will operate from 5.50 am to 11 pm, with a peak frequency of under six minutes and 276 services on weekdays.
Metro Line 2B (Phase 1) services commenced at 6 am and will run till around 10.30 pm at intervals of approximately nine-and-a-half minutes, operating 209 services daily, according to officials.
MMRDA said the integration of Line 7 with Line 9 enables direct connectivity from Andheri East to Mira-Bhayandar, while Lines 2A and 7 will function as separate corridors.
A seamless interchange facility at Dahisar station will allow passengers to switch between Lines 2A and 7 without exiting the “paid” (ticketed) area.
