Originally Posted by atpwannabe
Man, I've learned more about these two a/c and about procedures, work rules and what to ask and what not say by reading what rickair7777 has to say than anyone else. You are really informed. Whichever route I take, I hope to get an instructor like you and when hired, a Captain to fly with.
I have one other question: Is Mesa the only regional operating the entire CRJ fleet, i.e. (200/700/900)? You mentioned on another thread that you didn't think CA would go with the 900? It seems as though the upgrade would be seamless. Also, why are these a/c bidded differently, if the flightdecks are so similiar?
I think SKW bids them differently simply as a safety thing. Or it might be done to allow senior people to bid into a higher paying aircraft bid and stay there. Since the ratio of 200/700s in the fleet doesn't really fluctuate, you can assign your pilots to those types in the same ratio. Mesa likes the flexibility of switching their pilots around. The downside for senior guys is they can't reliably bid all 900 or 700 flying, they always get stuck with some 200, so they can't max out their $$. Most companies pay FO's the same, so this is not something that I would factor in to a career decision, there are bigger issues to consider.
Mesa is the only one with the entire fleet of CRJs. I think they hold all the delivery positions with the factory, but have voluntarily released some. I know Lufthansa is starting 900 operations, but I don't know of any US airline that is adding 900s. There have been rumors as always...
What do you mean by "CA"?