Originally Posted by PinnacleFO

I believe just as the landscape changed dramatically when the 50 seat jet was first introduced, that the industry is primed for another dramatic change. Delta may see something about the future. With United hiring 50 plus a month, Usair hiring, American to hire this fall, Virgin, Spirit, Jet Blue, and countless carriers all hiring , Delta may be saying where are we going to get our pilots not only for our airline, but for our regionals as well? What ever they are doing with Pinnacle may be a test to see how they can get people to stay at pinnacle. If the first test is the SSP, it is failing miserably. I know of 10 people alone that have interviews at other airlines in the next 2 weeks and I am only 1 person. People are not going to wait around for the interview for years unless they live in base, and that is a maybe as well. I agree that there will always be pilots lined up to apply to delta but will they be the pilots delta wants? A lot of qualified people are going to be heading to united in the next year. Maybe Delta turing Pinnacle into a mirror image of themselves will change the pinnacle culture into the culture they want. If that works, they may take it a step further and try something else. In principle it actually does make sense. A pilot would be hired at Pinnacle and from day one would have a delta mentality. He would fly the airplane the delta way and treat the customers as such. when his delta spot opens up he would move up with minimal training besides the aircraft. The interview at pinnacle would be a delta interview, not a pinnacle interview. All outside the box thinking and not popular thinking, but we should not think it to be impossible.