Originally Posted by
eaglefly
....and it only will get worse, as like or not the large RJ's are here to stay and will be the final stop for a large percentage of current regional pilots. Every 4 years or so, most pilot groups will have to "reset" their compensation or risk losing their paychecks. Factor in a stagnant hourly rate, large increases in health care costs and inflation and the average regional pilot's actual earning power will decrese significantly as they progress in the regional industry with the exception of their first captain upgrade.
Your actual earning power will peak as a newly minted RJ captain and decrease thereafter. First slowly as your hourly rate increases lag health care/inflation and then more quickly should you either lose your seat due to faliure to accept a reset or the losses of the reset itself. It will be a catch-22 situation with no remedy.
Eh maybe, this is where I disagree with you, and most of my Dads friends say otherwise as well. I think the lack of new applicants is going to make retention a huge issue for most RJ airlines. Add into that many people will start going to the majors here shortly, already looking at 1000 next year between United Delta and Usair pending no merger. I realize the real retirement numbers dont start for another 3-5 years, however most guys I know at LUAL are saying 62.5 is going to be the magic number. The larger RJs will replace the smaller ones, its just the ever changing business model of the airline and this country as an entity. The scary idea to me is more start ups like gojets to undercut already existing work groups, at a holding company. Luckily Gojet HAS faced hiring issues compared to places like Skywest, and I hope that only gets worst. Gojet is hiring from a different pool than Eagle and Skywest did last round. Gojet is sharing the great lakes and silver pool.