Some U.S. Carriers Tip Pilot-Recruiting Efforts to Australia
- Breeze, SkyWest look elsewhere amid competition for aviators
- Visa rules, similar certification make Australia fertile turf
A Breeze Airways airplane on the tarmac at Tampa International Airport (TPA) in Tampa, Florida.
Photographer: Matt May/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Some U.S. airlines confronting heated competition to hire pilots have shifted their recruiting efforts to foreign shores and begun employing aviators from Australia.
Breeze Airways, the upstart carrier founded by aviation entrepreneur David Neeleman, hired eight pilots after having received 275 applications from Australia since January, and the first should be flying by mid-June. SkyWest Inc.’s airline unit has restarted a recruiting effort in the country that was closed during the pandemic.