If you’ve tried to book a flight lately, you know it’s pretty hard to get a ticket. That’s because the U.S. is experiencing a pilot crisis. Airlines don’t have enough pilots to fly their current routes. Cheddar's Shannon Lanier tells how we got to this point and what might solve the problem.

Wake Up With Cheddar

Pilot Shortage Leads to Flight Cancellations Across the U.S.

now. As you know, travel season is here and I'm sure you've noticed looking for plane tickets has been a little bit more difficult than usual. Well if you tried to book a flight lately then you know that it's pretty hard to get a ticket because the U. S. Is experiencing a pilot crisis. That's right. Airlines don't have enough pilots to fly their current routes. But here's how we got to this point. Airlines across the country are canceling thousands of flights this summer. You will have an especially hard time booking flights to smaller cities. Why? Well Airlines are facing big pilot shortages and it's going to get worse. The US is expected to lose about half of its current pilots to retirement in the next 15 years. American airlines alone is expecting to lose 15,000 pilots to retirement in the next seven years. The FAA mandates that pilots retire at the age 65. So how do we get to this point? Covid is a big reason during the pandemic air travel plummeted. So airlines accepted early retirements and buyouts for thousands of pilots to cover the airline's labor cost. And as we come out of the pandemic, airlines are now struggling to replace the pilots they lost. But the airline pilots association disputes this saying airlines are cutting flights to cut costs replacing pilots can be a long and costly process. A commercial license takes two years and can cost pilots between 80 and $170,000. And then they need additional training to fly for the bigger carriers. Congress is looking to raise the actual retirement age for pilots from 65 to 67, hoping to ease the shortage. In the meantime, don't expect booking that ticket to get any easier any time. Oh, that's not good news, Shannon? Yes. Thanks so much Shannon Lanier.