Airline Industry Comeback: United Hires 300 Pilots After Halting Employee Onboarding Process

United Airlines will be hiring around 300 pilots amid the growing number of people willing to travel more than a year after the coronavirus pandemic began.

On Thursday, Bryan Quigley, the senior vice president of flight operations at United, sent out an internal memo announcing plans to resume hiring pilots, CNBC reported.

“With vaccination rates increasing and travel demand trending upwards, I’m excited to share that United will resume the pilot hiring process that was halted last year,” Quigley wrote.

“We’ll start with the approximately 300 pilots who either had a new hire class date that was canceled, or who had a 2020 conditional job offer.”

In 2020, the U.S.-based airline industry lost an estimated $35 billion due to the coronavirus pandemic. Following the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, the industry has seen a rise in travelers, which has prompted United Airlines to increase its number of pilots.

Todd Insler, the chairman of the United Airlines chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association, noted the organization was happy about the job opportunities.

“When this crisis began more than a year ago, it was clear that the decisions we made as a group would dictate how we weathered this crisis,” he wrote in an email.

“Today, thanks to our collective decisions, the United pilot group is fully intact and we are growing.”

In September, United pilots agreed to a deal that would prevent layoffs by reducing their hours. However, once the airline begins producing a 5% profit margin, pilots will receive a 5% pay raise.

Last year, people around the world remained indoors following stay-at-home orders, which had a major impact on the airline industry. However, the number of travelers has increased, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

An average of around 1.2 million people were screened per day last month, a 15% increase compared to March 2020.

The number of Americans who have been vaccinated has surpassed 100 million.