American Airlines pilot reveals 1,600 who were furloughed 'won't fly again ...

An American Airlines pilot says 1,600 of his colleagues who were furloughed in October last year won't be flying again until August because they have to redo their training after so long out of the skies, worsening the staff shortage that caused the airline to cancel more than 300 flights this weekend.

Captain Dennis Tajer has been a pilot with American for more than 20 years. He is also the spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association - the union which represents American's 15,000 pilots. 

On Monday, Capt. Tajer told DailyMail.com that the shortages over the weekend could have been avoided if American had worked with pilots to rearrange their schedules without forcing them to overdo their hours. 

He said that it is the airline's fault they haven't been able to replace the 1,600 pilots that were furloughed last year, or the 1,000 that took early retirement.  

Now, those pilots who were not flying for months must undergo extensive training before they can go back up in the air. It is part of an industry law that after three months out of the sky, pilots must train again. 

But there is huge backlog to training, and not all of those pilots will return. Some have gone on to work as delivery drivers for FedEx or UPS, Tajer said.

What's more, thousands more pilots are expected to retire next year and with no new recruits able to gain their flying hours before taking jobs, the problem is likely to get worse.   

'It's surreal. This time last year we were canceling flights because there weren't enough passengers. Now we're canceling flights because there aren't enough pilots,' Tajer told DailyMail.com. 

He doesn't believe that the shortages are down entirely to the COVID-19 furloughs, but says the airline is unwilling to work with the pilots to plug the holes. 

'Instead of coming to us and working with us, they've just surrendered to reducing the schedule.