A discussion about the airline industry, airline employees, and all things related

Looking to recover from the problematic cancellations and delays in the last two months, Northwest Airlines (NWA) has called back 400 furloughed pilots and is looking to hire between 250 and 350 in the next year. 

The airline is facing a pilot shortage.  They were forced to cancel hundreds of flights at the end of the month after pilots reached their monthly flying hour quotas. 

In conjunction of the hiring of more pilots the airline also cut their August schedule in hopes of easing some of the delays near the end of the month. 

"We are making a concerted effort to expand our operational capacity in order to better serve our customers," President and Chief Executive Doug Steenland. 

The pilots union has said that NWA made too many cuts in bankruptcy and has pushed pilots too hard.  The airline and the pilot’s union recently approved a new agreement to ease those concerns slightly. 

Mesaba pilots will have the option of moving up more quickly to mainline operations because of the pilot shortage. 

Both Mesaba and Compass are hiring as well, receiving 2,700 combined applications.