The exponential growth of e-commerce is widely seen as a massive driver for rising demand in regional freighter activities, but in the US pilot issues threaten to turn into the Achilles heel of operators. Controversial rules to improve the standard of airline pilots are hitting regional cargo carriers disproportionately hard, and an ongoing debate over fatigue rules threatens to bring more restrictive regulations for freighter outfits.

In response to the fatal crash of a regional passenger plane on the approach to Buffalo in February 2009, in which 50 people perished, the US authorities have introduced new entry requirements for commercial airline pilots, mandating that co-pilots must have a minimum of 1,500 hours of flight experience to qualify, a six-fold increase from the previous threshold.

The new regime has been roundly criticized by commercial airlines, flight schools and industry organizations. The chief concern has been that this is bound to exacerbate a shortage of pilots, which is already on course to get worse as more pilots of the boomer generation go into retirement.

Regional cargo carriers stand to be particularly hard hit, according to the Regional Air Cargo Carriers Association (RACCA).

“We have a serious crisis going on in our industry,” warned RACCA chairman and Empire Airlines CEO Tim Komberec. “There’s much debate about the pilot shortage in the United States and in the world, but there is absolutely no doubt that at our level where we perform, where we recruit pilots from and where we are on the food chain, we have an extremely serious problem and it has taken on crisis proportions.”

According to RACCA, regional air cargo operations have traditionally been the training ground for commercial passenger pilots. Lumping them together in terms of flight experience requirements effectively eliminates flying for a regional cargo carrier as the first rungs of their career ladder to gain valuable flight experience, it argues.

At the same time, regional carriers have to compete for pilots from a shrinking pool due to the higher entry requirements, which discourage many aspiring pilots from pursuing a career in aviation. Given their margins, regional cargo carriers are at a disadvantage when it comes to offering attractive salaries to experienced pilots.

RACCA warns that depleted resources could result in the cancellation of air service to many smaller communities which rely on regional air cargo carriers to carry express packages.

Operators of mid-sized and large freighters are not affected by these issues, but they could be hit if tighter working regulations for passenger airline pilots were to be extended into the cargo sector. In 2013 the US implemented legislation that reduced the maximum work day for flight crews from 16 to 14 hours. In addition, they imposed a 10-hour break before a pilot is permitted to fly again, including eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. Like the new threshold for hours of flight experience, the working hours rules were drawn up in response to the February 2009 crash, as the investigation of the accident identified pilot fatigue as one of the causes of the tragedy.

US authorities exempted cargo airlines from these new rules, following the argument of all-cargo operators that they would be disproportionately hard hit, as much of the flying of cargo aircraft occurs at night. “Covering cargo operators under the new rule would be too costly compared to the benefits generated in this portion of the industry,” the Federal Aviation Administration concluded.

Pilot organizations at FedEx and UPS have been vocal critics of this regime and continue to challenge it. The Independent Pilots Association (IPA), which represents over 2,500 pilots who fly for UPS, has called for freighter airlines to be included in the working hours regime for passenger pilots.

It made the call on the anniversary of the tragic demise of UPS Flight 1354, which crashed on approach to Birmingham-Shuttlesworth in Alabama in August 2014, killing both pilots. The cockpit voice recorder transcripts indicated that the crew were suffering from fatigue.

The call comes at a time of strained relations between pilots and management at UPS. On September 9, the IPA issued a warning that it would seek a strike mandate from its members if negotiations fail to produce a new employment contract. The  National Mediation Board has been involved in discussions UPS and the IPA since early 2014 on issues related to compensation, pension and benefits.

“UPS has stalled and delayed, unnecessarily prolonging our negotiations,” IPA president Robert Travis declared in a statement. “UPS management has created a bitter standoff with its pilot employees.”

By Ian Putzger

Air Freight Correspondent | Toronto