GAO report: Airline pilot shortage? Not clear

WASHINGTON – Regional airlines report difficulty over the past year in finding enough pilots to hire, but it isn’t clear whether there is a shortage of pilots, a government watchdog said in a report released Friday.

Researchers found “mixed evidence” of a shortage, said the Government Accountability Office. A key economic indicator supports the emergence of a shortage, but two other indicators suggest the opposite is true. Of three studies reviewed by the GAO that examine the issue, “two point to the large number of qualified pilots that exist, but may be working abroad, in the military, or in another occupation, as evidence that there is adequate supply,” the report said.

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