Eastern Halts Effort to Hire New Pilots

Eastern Airlines today stopped hiring new pilots, saying it had enough for its rebuilding effort after the last week’s sudden surge in picket-line crossings.

Spokesman Robin Matell said Eastern canceled training classes next week for its newest recruits and will also stop advertising for pilots.

Eastern filed for Bankruptcy Court reorganization five days after being hit by a crippling strike by its pilots, flight attendants and machinists unions March 4. The company has undertaken plans to rebuild to two-thirds its prestrike size.

800 Daily Flights

In its bankruptcy reorganization plan, Eastern indicated that it would be flying 800 daily flights with 1,700 pilots by year’s end. Eastern now has 350 daily flights, compared with nearly 1,100 before the strike.

Whether Eastern could hire and train enough new pilots has been a major question about the plan to rebuild. The company this month leased five planes and crews from sister carrier Continental Airlines to help meet schedule expansion goals.

Matell declined to give figures on Eastern’s pilots, but sources speaking on condition of anonymity have said more than 600 union pilots are flying, including about 250 who have crossed picket lines since the union leadership last weekend discussed ending the strike.

Eastern has graduated 300 newly hired pilots from training and has between 700 and 800 in training.

Veteran pilots who want to return to work will be put on “a preferential recall list” and given priority for future openings, Matell said.

Hank Weber, spokesman for Eastern’s Air Line Pilots Assn., was skeptical about whether Eastern has hired enough qualified pilots but said today’s announcement would stop the flow of pilot crossovers.