SALT LAKE CITY — David Neeleman sat in the captain’s seat of a flight simulator near Salt Lake City International Airport.
It’s the seat where pilots for Neeleman’s airline, Breeze Airways, get their training.
“We have a 31 aircraft fleet today, and we have about 400 pilots,” Neeleman, Breeze’s CEO, explained. “But by the end of next year, we're going to be closer to 50 airplanes. And so we'll have to hire a couple of hundred pilots between now and then.”
Breeze will have to make those hires against a nationwide pilot shortage if the company wants to continue its expansion. Breeze, headquartered in Cottonwood Heights, is connecting lesser-served, growing communities like Provo and Huntsville, Alabama, with popular destinations like Los Angeles and Orlando.
Another Utah-based airline, SkyWest, is so short on pilots it is asking the federal government to make some destinations into charter flights. That would allow lesser-trained pilots into the flight deck.
SkyWest flies to many small, rural airports that receive subsidies through the Essential Air Service program. Neeleman says those are the communities that could be harmed as the pilot shortage continues.
“Cities like Moab and Vernal,” Neeleman said.
“And when you have Essential Air Service, you need pilots. And the smaller the plane gets, the more scarcity there is in pilots.”
Neelman supports proposals in Congress to raise the pilot retirement age to 67 from 65 and to allow more flight time before a pilot is hired to be in a simulator.
Breeze is not so affected by another shortage — a lack of air traffic controllers. Neeleman sees that as a problem starting in Washington.
The Federal Aviation Administration has been without a Senate-confirmed administrator since April 2022. The Senate recently rejected the White House’s nominee.
“We need really experienced people, the FAA, especially the head, leading,” Neeleman said.
“It's a cycle that takes years to be able to get an aircraft controller working in New York center.”