The case for letting older airline pilots keep flying

An effort underway to raise the mandatory retirement age for U.S. airline pilots from 65 to 67 faces plenty of opposition. Although controversial, such a change would not only provide a bit of quick relief to the U.S. pilot shortage but also has the potential to increase safety.

The House’s version of the FAA reauthorization bill, which passed last summer, includes language to up the pilot retirement age by two years. The Senate has yet to pass a companion bill amid a dispute over flight training requirements, though Republican Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, who is a key member of the chamber’s Transportation Committee, recently told Reuters that a deal could be in the offing. Whether the Senate version will include the retirement age increase remains to seen.

Backers of the proposal have pushed it as an immediate, if relatively small, antidote to the commercial airline pilot shortage, which this year stands at approximately 14,000 for North American carriers, according to a recent analysis by the consulting firm Oliver Wyman.

But the idea has powerful opponents, among them the Biden administration, which has noted that allowing pilots to fly up to age 67 is not in keeping with international norms. Airline pilot unions also oppose such a change, citing safety as well as the possibility that prohibitions against pilots over 65 in many other countries would prevent such U.S. pilots from crewing international routes.

But while it is certainly true that pilots of advancing age need to have their cognitive and vital health appraised consistently, I found an argument that was made to me by a recently retired pilot to be compelling. 

Dev Colin flew 30 years for United, retiring from his position as a Boeing 787 captain in August, when he turned 65. He’s now on the leadership committee of a lobbying organization called Let Experienced Pilots Fly. 

This past year brought a lot of attention to close calls in terms of aviation safety in the U.S., particularly on runways and during takeoff and landing. Serious incidents, the FAA acknowledges, have risen.

Colin contends that one reason for the increase is the relative inexperience of U.S. airline pilots now compared to before the pandemic.

According to the pilot recruitment advisory firm Future & Active Pilot Advisors, large U.S. airlines have hired more than 24,000 pilots since the beginning of 2022, a massive increase in the hiring pace compared with 2019, when a little less than 5,000 pilots were hired.

Airlines have undertaken these ramp-ups, in part, to replace the approximately 5,000 pilots who accepted early retirement packages in 2020. They’re also replacing a steady stream of pilots as they reach 65 as well as building padding in their pilot workforces to deal with the overall reduction in the efficiency of the U.S. airspace system in the aftermath of the Covid crisis.

All these developments have led to a more junior pilots corps than the industry had in 2019. 

“I would say experience matters tremendously in my profession,” Colin said. “It is critical both with the actual operation and with the people who are instructing and teaching.”

I haven’t seen data to back this hypothesis, but intuitively, it makes sense. 

Airline pilots over age 40 are required by the FAA to undergo health screenings twice annually, including annual electrocardiograms. That’s crucial for safety. 

Allowing healthy pilots to stay in the cockpit a couple years longer would reduce the industry’s newfound collective inexperience, while also providing at least a bit of relief to the pilot shortage. 

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