Spurred by rising demand for air travel, United Airlines is putting its pilots back to work. On Thursday, the subsidiary of Chicago, Ill.-based United Continental Holdings (UAL -0.74%) announced plans to recall all of the nearly 600 pilots it placed on furlough in recent years, mining this resource "to address the airline's future staffing needs."
According to online employment information website Glassdoor, the average salary of a United Airlines pilot is $105,792.
The pilots to be recalled account for about 5% of United's total pool of 12,000 pilots. At one point, United had as many as 950 pilots on furlough -- a consequence of diminished travel trends post-9/11, and post-Financial Crisis -- which amounted to 15% of its pilot pool at the time. It has since put some pilots back to work, merged with rival Continental Airlines, and is now the largest air carrier in the United States.
To freshen up its flyers' skills, which may have gotten rusty during their furloughs, United says it will begin putting the recalled pilots through "training classes" that will begin in October and run through year end.
