In addition to the industry-wide pilot shortage, American Airlines says it's seeing other shortages that can affect passengers' experience in-flight.
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While the pilot shortage is wreaking havoc on airlines' flight schedules, leading to spates of delays and cancelations, one airline says it's facing additional shortages impacting customer experience onboard.
American Airlines CEO Robert Isom told investors on an earnings call this week that the company is struggling every day to provide many of the basic items provided to passengers for comfort in-flight, as first reported by Inc.
"Pilots are one piece," Isom said. "But ... there's not a day that goes by where we don't have issues with provisioning our aircraft with pillows, blankets, plastic cups, food. At various times, we have issues with fueling."
He continued: "It's just a myriad of things that all have to come together to put an aircraft in the air. And yes, the supply chain for aircraft parts is one thing that we monitor closely. But it's all these other things that we really are dependent on so many other parts of the system."
American Airlines did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
As for the pilot shortage, Isom reportedly said last month that American will hike pay for 14,000 pilots even higher than initially proposed to help mitigate staffing challenges. The news came weeks after the carrier grounded 100 regional jets because it didn't have enough pilots to fly them.
The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), a union representing more than 14,000 pilots at rival United Airlines, voted to approve a tentative agreement last month that would give pilots a 14.5% pay raise over 18 months, among other benefits, if ratified.
Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines has announced a new partnership with private aviation company Wheels Up to help pilots finish their training faster so airlines can hire them sooner.
