[xenadu02]

A race to the bottom on pilot pay won't help anything. Well it may lead to less qualified pilots. You can ask Boeing how well screwing over labor has worked for them if you like.

All US airlines have the same labor costs for pilots and it isn't their highest cost anyway. That would be fuel.

If you want to divvy up costs that way: Boeing is probably the biggest problem. Both them and Airbus eat up all possible excess profit on the back end via the cost for airliners. Break up Boeing, bring back competition in airliner manufacturing. People who want to screw over labor don't usually frame things in those terms for some reason.

[kayfox]

How exactly does Boeing drive up the cost? The cost of the aircraft is less than 20% of the lifetime cost of operating an airliner and a lot of the maintenance cost is not related to the cost of parts from Boeing, since most parts that get replaced on an aircraft are not made by Boeing and airlines do not go through Boeing to buy them.

[xenadu02]

Are you sure about that number being ex-fuel?

FWIW I'm not interested in flying commercial with non-union pilots so that airlines can become cheap labor body shops.

I'm also not interested in saving money by having Boeing outsource to kick as many people out of their machinist union as they can (and screw those people out of retirement and healthcare benefits).

I got my pilot certificate last year (zero plans to go ATP/commercial). Its a lot of work. Then you've got years of getting paid pennies to earn your 1500 hour ATP. Then you've got more years of taking the crap routes and not making super dollars. Much like a doctor its after you've put in 10-15 years that it starts really paying off.

The union also protects pilots from blame culture and trying to game metrics. If it isn't based on seniority then what metrics do you use? And do you want pilots to start making flying decisions based on on-time percentage instead of safety?

If your business needs to screw over labor to survive you don't have a worthwhile business.

[xnx]

> Break up Boeing, bring back competition in airliner manufacturing.

Sounds backwards. Pilots have a total monopoly. Boeing doesn't.

[xboxnolifes]

Pilots have a total monopoly... in the occupation of piloting?

[xnx]

For US commercial airlines it is my understanding that there are effectively no non-union pilots. That's good for the pilots (higher wages), but bad for the flyers (higher ticket prices).

[rcxdude]

Pilot pay has been trending downwards for a while. It's pretty badly paid for how high-stress and high-skill it is.

[bdangubic]

sure, airlines have a choice among tens of US aircraft making companies other than Boeing... oh wait...