Originally Posted by SAABDriver
Has the company started to hire FO's for the 190? The pay is a little disapointing. I always thought I could leave the regionals with a pay raise----even to the right seat.
As it stands now my pay would decrease by about 15k to start in the right seat of the 190.
Do you see the competitive hire times coming down? I find it hard to believe that someone with 2000hrs PIC Jet would want to go back to $37 an hour.
P
Now that is an interesting perspective from outside the company. If we do not get the appropriate experience level of pilots to fly the 190, you would think pay would have to go up. I would add, though, that even in the best of times first year pay for FOs in the majors was awful. Pay went up quickly, though, unlike the 190.
Neeleman's problem, however, is that he sold the 190 to the Board of Directors based on operating cost, about $.08 per ASM, and labor was a huge part of that.
It seems obvious that anyone coming to Jetblue would be striving for the left seat in the 320. So, the decision to come to JB and go with the 190 would have to be based not on the initial 37$/hour, but on money earned over a lifetime. At some point, it will take two or three years to upgrade to 190 Captain, and 4-5 years to upgrade to 320 Captain. People will have to do the math. That is why seniority is overridden when it comes to the 190. Near as I can tell, you cannot go from 320 FO to 190 Captain, except for the original 140 pilots. However, anyone in the right seat of the 320 will be behind everyone in the company with a higher seniority number for upgrade, since 190 Captains can bid for the left seat in the Airbus. That encourages new hires to accept the 190 initially, since they only have to worry about 190 seniority for upgrade. Confused? Anyone see it differently?
Let me put it another way. If you join B6 as a 320 FO, you are stuck at that pay rate until you upgrade to Captain in the 320. You cannot bid 190 Captain, so someone junior to you can get that paycheck and you can't. However, every 190 guy senior to you can get 320 Captain before you do. So there might be good reason to bid 190 in the future, depending on 320 upgrade time.