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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IPL mega auction to be held in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia on November 24, 25: BCCI
New Delhi, Nov 5: The mega auction ahead of the Indian Premier League 2025 will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on November 24 and 25, the BCCI announced on Tuesday.
This is the second successive year the auction is being held overseas as Dubai hosted the previous one ahead of the IPL 2024.
The player registration officially closed on Monday and a total of 1,574 cricketers (1,165 Indian and 409 overseas) have been signed up for the auction, which will clash with the third and fourth day’s play of the first Test between India and Australia in Perth, which begins on November 22.
Each franchise will be able to form a maximum squad of 25 players (including respective retained players), and a total of 204 slots will be up for grabs from the auction.
The list includes 320 capped players, 1,224 uncapped players and 30 players from the Associate Nations.
Among capped players, 48 are from India. Moreover, 965 uncapped players of the country will also be part of the auction.
This year’s auction will feature some high-profile India stars such as Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Arshdeep Singh.
The 10 franchises will collectively have around Rs 641.5 crore to spend for the available 204 slots.
Out of those 204 slots, 70 are earmarked for overseas players.
As of now, 46 players have been retained by the 10 franchises with cumulative expenditure of Rs 558.5 crore.
Each franchise was allocated Rs 120 crore to build their squads but after the retention process, which was announced on October 31, Punjab Kings have the biggest purse -- Rs 110.5 crore.
The Punjab outfit retained just two uncapped players -- Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh for Rs 9.5 crore.
Rajasthan Royals, under Sanju Samson, have the smallest purse of Rs 41 crore after retaining six players.
The Kolkata Knight Riders have also retained six players but they have a remaining purse of Rs 51 crore.
