Originally Posted by
hockeypilot44
The reality is the retirement age was raised from 60 to 65. This caused the industry to freeze for 5 years. I've got news for you. Your extra 5 years aren't at the end of your career in the highest paying seat. Your extra 5 years are spent in whatever seat you were in when the age limit was raised. For some, this meant instead of spending 2-5 years at a regional, guys are spending 7-10 years. This will change now that the 5 year freeze is over. It is still a stepping stone job. Age 65 affected all of us a lot more than people realize.
No, it won't, because there's 135, corporate, military, and all those other guys fighting it out to be the "select few" that get on with "the majors". Because regionals take up so much of the air traffic volume, the system doesn't work like it used to. There's a surplus of pilots for a shortage of major airline jobs. Retirement will help, but it's not going to be some crazy boom, you and everyone else has been predicting that for 30+ years for all sorts of reasons. If it wasn't "age 65" it was "increased travel of retired baby boomers" or whatever the flavor of the moment. I don't like being so cynical, but you are the textbook definition of "dangling the carrot".