Originally Posted by
Will
My logic I think is pretty simple. A pilot hired at age 30 will top out at age 42, giving them 23 years at the top of the pay scale. Hire a 45 year old pilot, that pilot only rides the top of the pay scale for 8 years. A much cheaper employee to employ for the length of there career. Not only in pay, but vacation, sick time, etc. I agree Delta does not have to look for a replacement pilot for 35 years compared to 23. But at this current time replacement pilots are not hard to find. Longevity is what makes a pilot group expensive. If Delta hires all guys in there 30's pay roll is going to be expensive for a long time.
Your logic is simple, but simple doesn't mean correct. Currently more than 88% of the DL pilot group is topped out on longevity. This isn't Pinnacle where longevity is considered a cost to be mitigated.
As newK said, they are looking for good pilots that will be long term assets and not liabilities.
At peaks of advancement cycles there have been a handful 7-8 year captains, but that is typically around when the music stops. Junior captain now is over 13 years. Only about 1100-1200 out of 11800 pilots are not on 12 year scale.