Originally Posted by
drrhythm2
Right, but how many passengers does a 3000 pilot airline fly each year? According to one source, Expressjet (about 2700 pilots currently) carries 40,500 people per day on average, which equates to 14,782,500 each year.
5.4 million / 14.78 million = .303
That same bean counter should realize that raising ticket prices by $0.30 per ticket would allow that $2 raise. Actually even less, since my calculations were for a 2700 pilot group, not 3000.
Therefore, a $2.00 raise in ticket prices would allow for a better than $12/hr raise to all pilots, and would probably solve the labor shortage.
But when you have a surplus of pilots it's not required, as a regional you don't control the ticket prizes. You bid for a contract and it's your responsibility to ensure the cost is less that the fee for departure contract payout. Now as we start seeing less applicant things will start changing. It's all about supply and demand and right now we are starting to see a stronger demand for the qualified pilots available.
* I'm there with you that it wouldn't cost the companies a significant amount per ticket to increase the pilots compensation, but with more guys willing to work than jobs amiable they will utilize that money for other things. We will see how things go once we have attrition, and stricter requirements for qualifications and rest requirements!