Originally Posted by
Slats
Perhaps you should learn reading comprehension... Again, yes FOs are being hired without PIC, YES, captains with 5000+ hrs of PIC aren't gee gettin calls, want to know why? There are items more valuable than PIC, who you know, what you know and who you are trump your PIC nugget.
Now, I stated getting hired at mainline will get HARDER because regionals are conceding to managements offers/threats. Why on gods green earth would someone pay X-pilot to fly from IAD-OKC when you can have Y-pilot do the same flight for far less... Retirements won't matter because, mainline will and have furloughed to cover flying at a lesser cost. IE "Jets for jobs" that United pulled. Delta pilots IF furloughed flow down to compass/pinnacle as captains ect... This is already in the playbook and mainline won't wait until 4th and long to execute it....
You can work for free on that E175 but that A319 on the same route makes a whole lot more money. Last I checked the airlines are consolidating, decreasing hubs and frequency while increasing A/C size. Why would they just furlough at mainline to grow a workforce that is cheaper but operates equipment that is a whole more costly in the long run. The 76 seaters are still a pig, they just have lipstick on them... It still lacks seats to spread the cost, the total RJ fleet number is decreasing while the 76 seaters are growing but the reason why you are seeing this because the mainlines have waiting to start all their hiring till the last moment, the bulk of the mandatory retirements it's still 2-3 years away, scope for United and Delta doesn't have them shrinking regionals just yet, now as 2014 ends and we roll into 2015 you will see regionals as a whole shrink while mainlines absorb some of that flying and the extra 76 seaters grabs the rest. Just look around, see the economic, contracts and what is actually happening.