What happened
Hiring at the biggest US airlines has picked up again in 2026 after two quieter years, according to new figures from the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and the hiring tracker Future & Active Pilot Advisors (FAPA). ALPA's analysis, published on 13 October 2026, concludes that the pilot job market is "normalizing" after the extraordinary post-pandemic boom, and that the outlook "remains stable and well-supported well into the next decade".
The hiring numbers
FAPA tracks pilot hiring at the major US passenger and cargo airlines. Its figures show:
- 2022 and 2023: 25,553 pilots hired in total, an unusually high level driven by the post-pandemic recovery
- 2024: 4,834 hires
- 2025: 4,509 hires
- January to August 2026: 4,511 hires, already more than the whole of 2025
ALPA reports 3,863 hires in the 12 months to July 2026, 74% more than the 2,215 in the same period a year earlier, with Delta, American and Southwest all hiring faster than last year. FAPA's table for 2026 had no September figures yet when we checked.
FAPA notes that its method double counts some pilots, because people move from smaller carriers to bigger ones. It estimates that double counting is no more than 15% of the total.
Retirements and long-term demand
Retirements are a big part of the story. FAPA estimates 42,000 retirements at the major airlines over the next 15 years, around 2,800 a year on average, with annual retirements expected to average more than 3,000 between 2028 and 2031.
Longer term, Boeing's 2026 Pilot and Technician Outlook forecasts that the world's airlines will need 674,000 new pilots by 2045, including 122,000 in North America, according to ALPA. Boeing also warns that geopolitical and weather disruption in 2026 led some carriers to adjust their recruitment plans, and that this is likely to put pressure on recruitment over the next one to two years.
The pipeline is growing too
There are more qualified people as well. According to figures cited by ALPA:
- US airlines employed 105,244 pilots in 2025, the highest number ever recorded, though growth slowed to 1.5% that year
- the FAA counted 126,900 active airline transport pilot (multi-engine land) certificate holders with first-class medicals in 2025
- the number of flight instructors with valid medical certificates rose by 30% between July 2021 and July 2026, from 82,469 to 107,155
What this means if you're training
Demand for airline pilots looks steady rather than frantic. That's useful for planning: the hiring rush of 2022 and 2023, when airlines were taking on more than 1,000 pilots a month, was unusual, and it's not a good benchmark for when you might get your first airline job.
The rise in flight instructors is worth noticing too. Instructing is a common way to build hours, and more instructors may mean more competition for those jobs. It may also mean shorter waits for lessons at busy schools.
These are US figures. Hiring in Europe and elsewhere follows its own airlines' plans, so look at the airlines you'd like to fly for, not just the global headlines.
Sources
- ALPA, "Pilot Employment Trends: Outlook Remains Strong", 13 October 2026: https://www.alpa.org/articles/2026/10/pilot-employment-trends-outlook-remains-strong
- FAPA, "Pilot Hiring History", accessed 17 October 2026: https://www.fapa.aero/pilot-hiring-history
- Boeing, "Pilot and Technician Outlook 2026–2045": https://www.boeing.com/content/dam/boeing/v2/products/pilot-technician-outlook/pdf/2026-pto-download.pdf