- American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said on Friday that the carrier is grounding about 100 regional jets.
- According to The Dallas Morning News, the aircraft is likely 50 and 75-seater planes.
- United Airlines grounded 100 regional planes in December amid the pilot shortage.
- The pilot shortage is continuing to take a toll on US airlines, forcing some to park planes because there aren't enough pilots to fly them.
American Airlines CEO Robert Isom told participants at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions conference on Friday that the carrier is grounding about 100 regional jets due to the pilot shortage, The Dallas Morning News reported.
"There is a supply and demand imbalance right now, and it really is within the regional carrier ranks," he said. According to the Dallas newspaper, " We have probably a hundred aircraft that aren't, aren't productive right now, and aren't flying," We said, according to the Dallas newspaper.
The parked planes are likely 50 and 75-seater jets, the Dallas Morning News reported. However, Isom said America has made up for the lack of frequencies by flying larger regional planes, like the Embraer 175.
Isom's comments come as the airline industry grapples with the pilot shortage, especially with the busy summer travel season quickly approaching. Regional carriers have been particularly impacted as their pilots move to larger airlines.
Mesa Airlines CEO Jonathan Ornstein told CNBC in May that it takes about four months to replace a pilot who put in their two weeks' notice to fly for a larger carrier, and that Mesa needs "about 200 pilots."
While some airlines are reducing their fleet and laser-focused on hiring, one carrier is trying to change training requirements to get more pilots flying sooner.
In April, regional carrier Republic Airways, which flies on behalf of Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and American, asked the Federal Aviation Administration for permission to hire pilots from its training academy, LIFT. Currently, most pilots need 1,500 hours to be hired by an airline, but Republic wants to slash that in half to 750 hours.