JetBlue's CEO Over-hiring To Combat A Workforce Exodus

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of US low-cost carrier, JetBlue, has stated that the airlines was over-hiring as a necessary step, in wake of people leaving the industry.
 

JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes was speaking as thousands of passengers were affected by recent disruption, which was mostly caused by staff shortages, which hampered the resumption of air travel following the pandemic. Summer timetables have been reduced and last-minute cancellations have occurred. "I now have to over-hire just to maintain the quantity I require," the CEO remarked. "We lost a lot of experienced folks with Covid," he added.

Airports and airlines that slashed workers during Covid lockdowns have struggled to find adequate staff while demand for vacations has increased. JetBlue, a smaller scale airline than British Airways, Virgin and American Airlines had, he said, seen the situation "normalise" as the summer has progressed. However, he stated that the company, like other airlines, had modified its employment strategy to deal with individuals leaving more swiftly by hiring more workers. Half of JetBlue's employees will have been with the company for less than two years by the end of 2022.

"Even if you can find the people, they won't have the same experience as someone who has been doing that work for 10 or 15 years, so it will take them longer to master the skills," Mr Hayes explained. These changes may take "several months," but Mr. Hayes stated that Jet Blue has increased its training capacity, added more simulators, and built additional classrooms in order to continue hiring. "Your attrition rate is far higher," he continued. "You hire people, but they leave faster, so you have to modify your hiring strategy." Mr. Hayes believes that the aviation business will not be back to normal until next year.

He stated that airlines would approach 2023 with more "caution" than they did 2022, when many carriers, including JetBlue, had to scale back their operations due to resource constraints. He predicted that corporate travel would likely rebound to 80 percent of 2019 levels by the end of this year. 

The United States has been dealing with issues caused by a pilot shortage. According to United Airlines, pilots will be in limited supply for several years. The airline recently stated that the country can only create a maximum of 7,000 pilots per year, while carriers require 13,000 this year. However, cabin crew and ground employees are in more demand in the United Kingdom. JetBlue announced a £125 million deficit from April to the end of June last week, but Mr Hayes expects the firm will turn a profit from July to September.

JetBlue will boost the number of flights it runs between the UK and the US from one to five per day by the end of October. It recently acquired a competitor airline in the United States and established a new daily service between Boston and London Gatwick. JetBlue joined the transatlantic market a year ago with its inaugural daily service between New York and London Heathrow. Mr. Hayes predicted that ticket costs would fall slightly when jet fuel prices began to fall from their high levels. He claimed that the Heathrow flight cap, which saw the airport limit the number of passengers who could depart each day to 100,000 during the peak summer months - 4,000 fewer than current levels - had only had a minor impact on JetBlue.