And that's all good but the total number of qualified pilots is going to become an issue when the retirements start hitting hard in 12 months.

Hiring at majors or contract 'regional' carriers isn't the issue. There will be an issue finding enough bodies starting in about a year or two regardless of what kind of airline it is.

We'll see. I hate to use the word "shortage" because everyone knows how that works but the current system will not produce nearly as many ATP qualified pilots as the number of pilots reaching retirement starting this december. The majors can cherry pick from the regionals but the regionals will have no pool of qualified, legal pilots.

I see a problem starting in about 18 months.