how have airline pilots been affected by the slumping airline industry

they been gettin canned. many more on the way.

You will probably be surprised to hear this, but airlines r still hiring. The issue is finding the right companies. Some airlines r laying off pilots (called furloughing), but a lot of pilots have what is called reserve time. Most of the regional airlines pay each pilot for 75 hours per month, & their pay is based on seniority. The majors usually pay around 85 hours of flight time per month, so even though they're not actually flying the whole time, they're still being paid.

A lot of airlines r getting bigger & acquiring other airlines, which is actually making things less bleak - overall, a bunch of pilots r retiring in 5-10 years leaving it wide open for new hires. Get ur training, because it is a fun job & there is a lot of opportunity for advancement in the airlines!

Do Not worry about the ups and downs
Get yourself ready for the gates to open again
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As such, the qualified commercial pilots have not been affected to any great extent. They are, perhaps, losing out a bit on their out station allowances due to curtailed flights, but nothing is putting their careers in jeopardy. Aviation industry still has the safest job security status since type qualified & experienced pilots r hard to come by.
During the current slump, the airlines with holding power r looking for bargains in the aircraft market with hopes of picking up more aircraft. These would be operational once the industry would pick up thereby further creating openings in the command levels. Finally, even if there is a feeling of despondency currently, this would clear up in the coming days. The slump has to bottom out, & if anything, the industry will rebound once again as history has proved.

They've been loosing their jobs, of course. Many pilots had dreams of flying a 747 one day, only now to realize they will spend the rest of their career flying a regional jet, if they're lucky. Pay has been going down as well since there r so many people out there who want to fly a plane for a living. Still, many others give up on this career & move on to better careers. This career is never going to be what it used to be. l hate to say it, but as time goes on, airline pilots will be more & more like bus drivers.

Sure, it is still possible to have a long successful airline pilot career, but only if u r lucky & have great contacts.

''qualified commercial pilots have not been affected by any great extent'' l guess those 10,000 guys that lost their jobs will be happy to learn that.. anyone seen ATA lately? Kittyhawk? Champion? & those r the most recent in the last 90 days. Every legacy airline in America today has pilots on furlough. SouthWest continues to outshine them all & AirTran has done a good job of keeping up. Several hundred United pilots that were called back this year, have already been boosted out into the jobless ranks AGAIN.

Before u get too excited about SWA though.. they r giving preferential treatment to their over 60 guys that got out.. but not because they wanted to.. they r being brought back under a special hiring proceedure that will fill almost if not all of their hiring for some time to come.

The industry goes through these cycles. but l honestly do not believe that it will ever be the same again. Too much has changed, & it will morph into something completely different over the next few years. All u can do is bait ur hook & hope u land a big one. It is a very good idea to have an alternative plan if u r hoping for a family & things such as that. If u r a free spirit. u will find plenty of opportunity out there for someone willing to be very flexible in pay, aircraft, geography & work conditions, but the old work ur way up through the ranks to majors is shot for a good 10 years.