Originally Posted by Electra

Not while the prorate continues to be profitable. I don't know how long you've been here, but even three years ago when we were severely understaffed on the jet (Summer O' Double Time Juniorman), they didn't cannibalize the Brasilia. It's always a cycle of some sort of staffing crisis here, either over or under. Moreover we are actually picking up new flying and new planes for the Brasilia side, where we had previously been drawing down the fleet (lost almost 20 planes in 8 years). I'd say weather has been a bigger factor than staffing, but we simply don't have the FO staffing to allow enough upgrades at the moment since a pilot in transition/upgrade is a pilot not online. March is one of the highest block hour months on record yet again. We have some planes coming off contract soon, I doubt the 700's won't be renewed, but the 200 flying is a question mark. Maybe we won't end up so short-staffed after all. Who really knows?

I do have to say that I am sick and tired of the 6 year FO lament. That's what happens when you get hired at the tail end of massive & rapid expansion and hiring, followed by five years of stagnation due to A65 and economic collapse. Even if that hadn't happened, we hired almost 1000 pilots in about a year, that's a lot of people ahead of you for what (at the time for people hired a year ahead of you) was a 9 month upgrade. It's a case of expectations vs. reality. And before you jump all over me, I was a 6.5 year FO.