United Airlines Resumes Pilot Hiring... Signal of Demand Recovery (Comprehensive)

[Asia Economy reporters Yujin Cho and Jaehee Kwon] United Airlines has become the first major U.S. airline to resume pilot hiring since the COVID-19 pandemic. The company views the crisis in air travel triggered by COVID-19 as entering a recovery phase.

Brian Quigley, Vice President of United Airlines, stated in a memo sent to internal staff on the 1st (local time), "With vaccination rates rising and travel demand increasing, we will restart pilot hiring that was halted last year." United Airlines plans to prioritize hiring about 300 pilots who had previously received part-time job offers or had their new hires canceled last year.

The scale of this new hiring represents about 2.5% of the current pilot workforce (12,000). United Airlines, which was hit hard by COVID-19, has been encouraging reductions through retirements or voluntary leaves for about 1,000 pilots since September last year.

U.S. economic media CNBC reported, "This is the first major U.S. airline to resume pilot hiring, which is interpreted as a signal that the airline is preparing for a surge in travel demand following the COVID-19 recovery." Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines, said at a U.S. aviation conference held that day, "Travel and tourism demand within the United States has almost fully recovered."

According to the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the number of passenger screenings at U.S. airports in March reached about 38 million, the highest in one year since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic in March last year. On 26 out of 31 days last month, daily air passenger numbers exceeded one million. On the 28th, the first weekend after the U.S. government began distributing COVID-19 relief funds, the daily passenger count reached a record high of 1,574,228.

Meanwhile, health authorities have expressed concerns, calling such optimism "premature." The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends avoiding travel as much as possible despite ongoing COVID-19 vaccinations. Rochelle Walensky, CDC Director, urged travel restraint in a recent interview with CNN, stating, "Looking at previous cases such as Labor Day and Christmas holidays last year, when people started moving, confirmed cases surged."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.