From the horses mouth:
John Bendoraitis, Compass executive vice president and chief operating officer, said the Compass jets will serve cities out of the Twin Cities, Detroit and Memphis hubs.
The Embraer 175 has a range of nearly 1,700 miles, and Northwest management will decide which routes will be served by it.
The new jets to be flown by Compass, as well as 76-seat Canadair Regional Jets that will be operated by Mesaba Airlines, are expected to fill a gap in Northwest's fleet. Northwest wanted to acquire 76-seat regional jets to meet flight needs that fall between the 50-seat regional jets and 100-seat DC-9s.
Bendoraitis said Compass has hired 10 pilots to fly one 50-seat jet in the early months of the company's operations. He estimated that Compass will need to hire about 350 pilots to operate the 36 Embraer jets. They'll be hired under pay rates negotiated by the Northwest branch of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) during concessionary bargaining last year.
Bendoraitis acknowledged there is a tight market for regional pilots. Some pilots are being hired by large carriers, some are jumping to other regional airlines for better pay and some are leaving the profession.
Pay rates, retirements and job security all have been affected adversely in the pilot profession, said Northwest pilot negotiator Ron Barnett. "Quite honestly, I think there is a looming pilot shortage for the right seat [co-pilot] at regional airlines."