With its new contract with Midwest Airlines, Republic Airways Holdings is recalling more than 100 pilots and flight attendants out of the more than 500 furloughed in July. However, the deal calls for Midwest to operate the planes under its own certificate in 2010 but it does give RJET breathing room to develop new business the keep the crews flying. The airline said that in addition to the 100 crews being recalled, another 100 pilots and flight attendants could be reassigned to Midwest routes instead of flying other services done by Republic.
Meanwhile, pilot hiring in August slowed from last year when jobs created for pilots exceeded 10,000 and caused pilot shortages at many regionals. Only 5,555 have been hired to date through August. Thirty-nine percent of the 177 airlines reporting to AIR, Inc. hired 215 pilots in August. “Although AirTran, American, Republic, and Spirit have pilots on furlough and Aloha, ATA, and Gemini have ceased operations and laid-off pilots there are carriers that are still interviewing and hiring pilots, 69 to be exact,” according to AIR, Inc.

Industry Employment Data
The July employment data released by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics last week showed airline employment was down 0.8 percent from the year-ago period. For U.S. scheduled passenger airlines. It was the first decrease in full-time equivalent employee (FTE) levels for the scheduled passenger carriers from the same month of the previous year since January 2007.
Regional carrier FTEs were up 1.4 percent in July 2008 compared to July 2007. American Eagle displaced SkyWest as the only regional listed among the industry’s top 10 carriers by employment.
Republic Airlines and Air Wisconsin reported the largest increases in the group. Republic employed 27.1 percent more FTEs in July 2008 than July 2007, while Air Wisconsin employed 27.2 percent more
Regional carrier FTEs rose from 57,574 in July 2005 to 60,698 in July 2008, an increase of 5.4 percent.
The 12 regional carriers reporting employment data in both 2004 and 2008 employed 5.1 percent more FTEs in July 2008 than in July 2004. Of that group, Pinnacle Airlines reported the biggest gain, 57.2 percent as it came back from the Northwest bankruptcy, followed by SkyWest at 45.4 percent and ExpressJet at 12.0 percent. Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Air Wisconsin, Mesa, PSA, and Executive reported fewer FTEs in July 2008 than July 2004.
Effective with April 2008 reporting, Trans States Airlines no longer met the reporting requirements for filing monthly airline employment data. Trans States reported 1,319 FTEs in July 2007.
Regional carrier Compass Airlines, wholly owned by Northwest, began reporting employment data in November 2007, only a few months after its May 2007 launch. Compass reported 641 FTEs in July. Regional carrier Lynx Airlines, a subsidiary of Frontier Airlines, began reporting employment data in February 2008, shortly after its launch in December. Lynx reported 341 FTEs in July. Regional carrier Colgan Airlines began reporting employment data in April 2008. Colgan reported 1,323 FTEs in July.

The first chart is from AIR, Inc while the second is from DOT.