“Industry capacity aspirations for 2023 and beyond are simply unachievable.” These were the words of United Airlines CEO, Scott Kirby, at the airline’s annual results presentation on January 17.
It’s true that the start of 2023 has been less than auspicious for US carriers. The January 11 FAA grounding of all airlines across the US for several hours due to a problem in the ATNS system followed a raft of cancellations due to bad winter weather.
And all of this happened in an industry already weakened by personnel shortages.
Now, the head of United has sounded a sombre note amid the celebratory atmosphere generated by that carrier’s re-entry into profit.
He pointed out that airlines had to deal with outdated technology, saying that during the pandemic, the airline industry did not invest in its future so that it could be assured of its capacity to handle recovery.
“That means the system simply can’t handle the volume today, much less the anticipated growth,” said Kirby. “Like it or not, that’s just the new reality and the new math for all airlines.”
He highlighted the shortage of pilots and other staff as a serious barrier to growth. During the pandemic, when travel fell off, many US airlines offered pilots early retirement as they grounded flights and slashed routes to cut costs.
There is a shortfall of 8 000 pilots across US carriers for the year. Kirby noted a raised concern over health issues and new legislation in certain states, which made it easier to call in sick, and said because of this, more employees would be needed than were employed in 2019. United said it had already added more than 2 000 pilots in 2022.
