Originally Posted by
johnso29
Hence, the shortage of pilots. Qualified or not, many regionals are severly understaffed due to attrition and growth. I question how CHQ plans to staff the airplanes they have coming to them(EMB 175s I believe), they have to offer bonues to qualified ERJ/CRJ FOs just to staff their 50 seaters. How are they going to staff their new airplanes. Many regionals are having staffing shortages, but I think CHQ is particularly in for some severe staffing problems in the very near future.
The company won't have a problem staffing the 175's (those are on the republic certificate by the way). They're coming at a rate of like one a month, which means the company has time to hire and train crews on to the aircraft. Our shortage is definately on the CHQ side (all 50 seaters) because they are trying to "add" a lot more flying to that portion of it at a WAY faster rate. They're trying to get all those CRJ's up and running plus moving 145's from US Airways over to CAL...that creates a pseudo shortage because the 145's for Airways are usually flown by guys based in RIC, BUF, LGA, etc. where there is no COEX flying. Those 145's move over to flying in CMH, SDF, STL, etc. where there is COEX flying and the crews are already strained as it is. The company has shuffled around some Delta flying which I'm guessing is to alleviate that...from what I can see is that it's helping out.
The main point is that the 175's will be covered by the guys already on the Republic certificate and those getting hired on to the Republic certificate. The shortage right now is for 145 and CRJ drivers (hence the bonus). Now that the program is up and running, they're playing catch up.
I could go on forever about some other stuff, but I think that pretty much sums up the "shortage" part of flying over here.