AA won't be needing new-hires until spring 2012 at the earliest. Barring the unforseen, I'd expect a new-hire window to be announced sometime in February or March. When that announcement happens, my bet says AA gets 10,000 apps within 14 days meeting their minimum quals. What those quals are, are anyone's guess right now.

I'd expect though (a guess) considering the market, the minimum to be 2500 hours part 121 or military, 500 PIC military or civilian jet/turboprop, bachelors preferred. Competitive requirements may easily be double that consisting of long-time regional captains, corproate/fractional pro's and experienced military vets fighter and heavy. A stray regional F/O here and there as well and a smattering of Eagle pilots (all captains with the competitive mins) to be included.

Soft requirements that are subjective and difficult to quantify are always there as well like work/driving/legal histories, interview skills and sim performance, but that we all know is in effect everywhere. I expect quite a dogfight for new-hire slots whenever that happens.