The Financial Post reports in its Monday edition that pilots want better wages and benefits, raising financial pressure on airlines that are recovering from the pandemic. A Canadian Press dispatch to the Post says that the union representing 320 pilots at WestJet Encore, the carrier's regional service, announced last week they plan to launch negotiations on their second collective agreement. The move by the Air Line Pilots Association comes after 1,800 pilots with WestJet's main operation and its budget subsidiary Swoop ratified a deal in June that brings them onto a level pay scale, giving flight crews a 24-per-cent wage bump over four years and resulting in Swoop's shutdown at the end of October. John Gradek, who teaches at McGill University's aviation management program, said losing pilots is a big deal to an airline because replacing them is time-consuming and expensive. "The airlines will do whatever it takes in order for them to protect their pilot base. And that approach is going to cost a lot of money," Prof. Gradek said. The number of Canadian pilots applying for certification to fly commercial aircraft in the United States nearly quadrupled to 147 last year from 39 in 2021, according to the U.S. government.