USA: Delta To Recruit 8,000 Pilots In The Next Decade

Delta is clearing a path for its current employees and a diverse swath of young aviators to become pilots through a new program aimed at filling thousands of future voids inside the cockpit.

Delta Air Lines Inc. launched its Delta Propel Pilot Career Path Program, which includes a three-pronged approach at developing the next generation of flyers.

With many pilots approaching mandatory retirement age Delta said it expects to hire more than 8,000 pilots over the next decade.

The Propel program supplements the airline’s current recruiting structure, which includes recruiting and hiring pilots currently flying in the airline, military and corporate sectors.

Delta conducted several years of research to create a pilot outreach and pathway program that will inspire and attract the next generations of high-quality talent, said Steve Dickson, Senior Vice President – Flight Operations, in a news release.

As a global industry leader, we are taking a holistic approach to expanding the opportunities available to aspiring pilots.

We listened to feedback from students, parents, faculty, administrators and Delta employees to help overcome barriers for potential pilot candidates such as career path uncertainty and the Certificated Flight Instructor shortage.

Delta is initially partnering with eight universities with accredited aviation programs, including Middle Georgia State to interview collegiate aviation students.

The internal career path is a highly selective program that provides current Delta employees an unpaid leave of absence opportunity to attend flight school.

Applications for the program will start being accepted in August. Delta detailed an estimated 42-month timeline that would direct students and employees to piloting mainline aircraft.

Delta is also looking for aspiring pilots, including engagement with kindergarten through high school students.

Among Delta's partnerships are: Conyers Middle School – Center for Technology and Engineering, National Gay Pilots Association, National Flight Academy, Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals and Women in Aviation International.

Delta's more than 13,000 pilots are thinning because of the federally mandated retirement age of 65, or leaving for other companies.

Meanwhile, The Boeing Co. estimates a global need for 637,000 new pilots by 2036, 18 percent of which are in North America. The Bureau of Labor of Statistics listed the median pilot salary in May at $78,740.

Delta Air Lines is asking flight attendants, ticket agents and other employees to consider taking a seat at the cockpit controls.

Concerned about a shortage of pilots, the second-largest U.S. airline is offering its workers the chance to take an unpaid leave of absence to attend flight school. On the other end a job flying a Delta jet.

Delta estimates it will need to hire more than 8,000 pilots over the next decade, as its ranks of more than 13,000 pilots thin due to the federally mandated retirement age of 65, or leave for other companies.

The initiative is part of a broader program Delta unveiled on Tuesday that also includes conditional job offers for certain college students.

Pilots are aging while air travel demand grows globally. The high cost of training and low starting salaries are hurdles to the field. Boeing, the world's largest airplane manufacturer, estimates a global need for 637,000 new pilots by 2036, 18 percent of them in North America.

Fight school doesn't come cheap. ATP Flight School, one of the schools Delta is encouraging its internal applicants to attend, costs about $80,000 for someone with zero flying experience. Students also have to train longer than they used to.

After the 2009 crash of a Colgan Air plane due to pilot error, the Federal Aviation Administration five years ago raised the minimum number of hours of flight experience to become a passenger airline pilot to 1,500 from 250.

Delta declined to disclose pilot pay, but the median pilot salary in May was $78,740, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Air Line Pilots Association, the union that represents Delta, United and several other airlines' pilots, said pay at regional carriers, which offer a hiring pool for big commercial airlines, can be less than half that amount. Captains at major airlines can make more than $100,000.

If you pay them, they will come, Roger Phillips, an ALPA spokesman, said about hiring new pilots.

Other airlines are pursuing their own programs to recruit pilots. American Airlines earlier this year started offering loans for student pilots.

The Delta Propel Pilot Career Path Program, which works with both students and employees who have an interest in flying, aims to make that path more attractive, the company said in announcing the program.

The airline is accepting applications in August from students at eight universities with an accredited aviation program, including Auburn University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and the University of North Dakota.

Students can continue their benefits with Delta as long as they pay a share of the costs. The company declined to detail the costs.

Delta estimates they can get a job with the airline within 42 months after flying for the airline's private jet arm, instructing other students, flying for Delta's regional partners or flying military aircraft.

For its employees in the program, Delta said they would work for up to 42 months at a Delta regional airline, which pays less and flies shorter routes, before coming back to work for the mainline operation.

Both employees and students will be paired with an active Delta pilot as a mentor.

The airline, which said it developed the recruiting program over several years, is also working with professional associations such as the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals, Women in Aviation International, the National Intercollegiate Flying Association and the National Gay Pilots Association to encourage students through high school age to pursue a career in aviation.


Tourism Observer

USA: With Small Tourism Budget, North Dakota Aims For Strong Marketing

Actor Josh Duhamel motions to the Fargo Theatre as he stands next to the wood chipper from the thriller "Fargo," on Sunday, August 16, 2015

A homegrown movie star, a woodchipper, musicians and a throng of people wearing NDSU and University of North Dakota jerseys hammed it up for camera crews that were there to film the latest advertisement meant to lure visitors to North Dakota. But behind the scenes, tourism officials say marketing North Dakota is as much a science as it is an art.

With one of the smallest tourism budgets in the nation, North Dakota officials say they have to make savvy marketing decisions. That involves analyzing reports to find out what brings people here and what media they consume.

The nearly $6 million North Dakota spent on its state tourism office in fiscal year 2013-14 was the eighth-lowest among the 46 states reporting figures to the U.S. Travel Association, and it was well below budgets in neighboring states. Hawaii spent the most that year with $82 million, and Delaware spent the least with just over $2 million.

But with the help of research, North Dakota Tourism Division Director Sara Otte Coleman said her office tries to make the most effective use of its money. And, according to the department, it appears to be paying off: visitation increased 22 percent between 2011 and 2013.

"It's really just trying to take all that information and trying to lay it all over on top of each other, and make sure the most important things rise to the top," she said. "The bottom line is most of the efforts we put in we want to be able to measure."

Where and when?

The tourism division of the North Dakota Department of Commerce is planning a $3.3 million media buy in 2016, with 78 percent of that being spent on ads in the U.S. and another 15 percent going to Canada. Roughly 6 percent will be spent on niche advertising.

Next year's campaign will feature Minot native Josh Duhamel, a movie and television actor. He's been involved with North Dakota tourism campaigns for some time, but his role will be expanded to most of the state's ads next year, including TV, print and digital. Duhamel is getting paid $475,000 for his work.

North Dakota is targeting Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois as U.S. markets, and Manitoba and Saskatchewan in Canada. That focus on the immediate region is partly based on research that shows North Dakota's target audience travels by car--one example of how research helps shape how North Dakota markets itself.

"We need to be very strategic about our media buys in order to make that as effective as possible," said Heather LeMoine, marketing manager at the North Dakota tourism office.

North Dakota will run broadcast television ads in major Minnesota and Wisconsin markets between early May and early June, as well as on cable television later in the summer.

Next year will be the first time in a few years that North Dakota will market itself on Canadian television, with ads airing in Winnipeg, Man., and Regina, Sask., in May and June. That's more feasible today because of a lower Canadian dollar.

Still, 80 to 90 percent of North Dakota visitors come from the U.S., LeMoine said. North Dakota tourism officials are adding Chicago in its digital and print advertisements, such as Chicago Magazine, newspaper inserts and email marketing lists.

Otte Coleman said Chicago and Illinois rank high in North Dakota Tourism's web traffic, but it tends to be an expensive market for advertising.

"I had hoped to be able to get there in a bigger way," she said. "We didn't get enough dollars to get there as big as we wanted, but we're going to dip our toe in the water and try to expand our footprint by adding some more Chicago and Illinois media this year."

But 2016 will also see North Dakota tourism pulling away from certain segments, like golf and birding niche advertising.

"We made this determination based on the awareness we have already built with previous campaigns and the lower participation numbers in these activities," Otte Coleman wrote in an email.

North Dakota has put more money into tourism in recent years, from $8 million in the 2005-07 biennium to nearly $13 million during this two-year budgeting cycle, according to figures provided by Otte Coleman.

Meanwhile, Minnesota increased its state funding for the tourism operating budget from about $8.4 million in fiscal year 2013 to nearly $14 million in the following year and has stayed at that level since. Minnesota's traditional markets include North and South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois and Winnipeg, according to Explore Minnesota spokeswoman Alyssa Ebel.

"We have not seen dramatic increases like other states have," Otte Coleman said. "We're competing in those same markets for a lot of the same visitors."

But Nan Marchand Beauvois, vice president of National Councils at the U.S. Travel Association, said states with large and small budgets face the same task: identifying their consumers.

"Their marketing should be based on data," she said. "They have to have data to support who they're targeting and what markets they're going into."

But whether the millions of dollars states spend on tourism marketing are effective is a matter of some debate.

Longwoods International, a research firm contracted by the state of North Dakota, said in a 2014 report that visitors spent $94 for every advertising dollar spent. Those high return on investment claims make some researchers skeptical.

"They strain credulity," said Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a free market think tank in Michigan. That state spent more than $32 million on tourism in 2013, and has become known for its "Pure Michigan" campaign.

Research conducted by LaFaive found that for every dollar increase in spending on tourism promotion by the state of Michigan, the accommodations industry sees a 1 cent increase in revenue. Moreover, a significantly smaller tourism budget in neighboring Indiana had the "same impact that we had here in Michigan," he said.

Meanwhile, the 2014 Longwoods report said the North Dakota ad campaign in U.S. markets generated 1.1 million incremental trips that would have not otherwise taken place, bringing in more than $200 million in visitor spending and nearly $16 million in state and local taxes. Minnesota's tourism department, Explore Minnesota, says advertising generated 3.1 million Minnesota trips and $320.2 million in traveler spending in 2014.

"If done well, it can be very effective in driving tourism business into the state, generating spending for the industry, jobs and tax dollars for the state treasury," Longwoods CEO Bill Siegel wrote in an email.