United and American Airlines are among companies introducing bus services on some routes, a report says

• Some US airlines are introducing a bus travel service on short routes.
• United and American signed contracts with the bus-as-flight company Landline, Bloomberg reported.

As a pilot shortage continues, US airlines have introduced bus travel on some routes.

Bloomberg reported that United and American Airlines were among those using the new scheme.

Labor shortages continue to pose problems for various industries, including aviation, where salary hikes and higher bonuses are being used to attract and retain talent.

Bloomberg reported that United and American signed contracts with the Colorado bus-as-flight company Landline to transport passengers and their luggage by bus on short, domestic routes.

One such route offered by United is expected to take passengers from Denver to smaller cities, including Breckenridge and Fort Collins.

American's bus service is scheduled to begin on June 3. Passengers are expected to be ferried between New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

An American Airlines spokesperson told Insider the bus service will not replace plane routes: "Landline-operated routes are incremental to our schedule – they're not replacing any flying and aren't related to pilot staffing."

United did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment, which was made outside normal working hours.

The pilot shortage has affected other airlines, too. Delta Air Lines announced that it was reducing its education requirements for prospective pilots by abandoning the requirement for a four-year college degree.

Meanwhile, Breeze Airways is combating the labor shortage by hiring pilots from Australia under the E-3 visa program for skilled workers.

Recently, United said it had cut 29 cities this summer indefinitely because its partner company SkyWest Airlines didn't have enough pilots to fly the routes.