Originally Posted by
Sliceback
Mink,
The statement was "they're hiring as many as they can as fast as they can. Ultimately the limit, as currently structured, would be about 60(65?)." (paraphrased) That number was just an educated guess.
The lead time to get spun up, from what I've been told, is measured in months, not weeks. Throw in the 17 months until the A320 shows up, along with a potential(hopefully!) training bubble developing, and they probably need 30 hrs in a day to stay afloat.
They've been claiming they want to put more through training, but they can't because they're hamstrung by a lack of check airman, sim time, etc........but they've been claiming that since the AE flow's started coming over in January (8.5 months ago).
After that period of time, they could have easily ramped up monthly classes to at least 60 if they wanted or needed to. They're training exactly as many as they WANT to train, 35-40/month and until they feel they want to train more for whatever reason, it will stay that way.
They know EXACTLY what they are doing.