Originally Posted by
Likeabat
Soooooo....the low paying airlines are having a hard time attracting qualified applicants (which are out there) and your solution is to have pilots win the lottery so they can afford to work cheap? Am I missing some sarcasm here?
How about these airlines deal with the market realities of the situation and pay enough to attract applicants? The regional airlines have simply lost access to the 300 hour pilots and are now crying foul. If they can't pay what it takes to attract pilots, then they deserve to suffer accordingly.
It takes two to tango; the abusing company and the willing victim.
The information is out there. New career entrants know that they will be poor and treated like filth. I would say that we have lost the battle. The airlines know that we would sell ourselves cheap for the job. As such perhaps we need to acknowledge that it is a hobby job and come to the profession with our income and retirement needs already in place.
The regionals don't have to raise their wages much to attract more pilots. All they have to do is to pay just a little more than their competitors. In addition if they park planes due to a shortage of cheap pilots they can then increase fares. I would not expect a windfall. Either way the airlines are going to win and pilots will loose.
In addition China, India and in the Middle East governments and airlines are building massive pilot and mechanic factories. In a handful of years the world will be flooded with cheap third world pilots. My point is to not rely on this career to provide a living middle class lifestyle, retirement or stability. Set yourself up first before entering the career because it is not going to get any better. Very soon pilots will be competing against people who cook over coal and ride a bike to work.
Skyhigh