ABSTRACT
This book examines the management of people in the airline industry. More specifically, it focuses on the management of pilots in the UK airline industry and the impact that human resource management (HRM) has upon their attitudes towards their airline and their work. It is based on a study of flight crew, sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and conducted between 2001 and 2005. A study of airline pilots is timely. Despite the crucial importance of competent flight crew management (discussed at length in Chapter 2), the last major study of pilots in the UK was carried out in the late 1960s by A.N.J. Blain.1 Pilots then, as now, enjoy(ed) considerable industrial strength. Consequently, any collective expression of discontent, such as threatened industrial action, can cost an airline dearly (e.g. the threat of industrial action by pilots in BA in 1996 cost the airline an estimated £15 million). At airlines that operate the seniority rule, which binds pilots to one airline as they accrue non-transferable benefits, pilots must resort to voicing any discontent,2 which they are frequently prone to do in an adversarial manner,3
because they are effectively prevented from exiting the airline. In this context, pilots’ attitudes can be crucial to the survival of the airline. As exit is a more likely strategy for pilots employed at airlines that do not operate a seniority rule, therein management is confronted with the problem of pilot retention. As later chapters show, the growth of civil aviation has not been matched by a growth in pilot numbers and there has been widespread concern about a shortage of flight crew to meet demand. In this environment, pilot retention is a fundamental objective of management. Finally, pilots are among the highest-paid employees in any airline. With the necessity for airlines to reduce employee costs,4 the management of pilots is fraught with difficulties.
