Originally Posted by
P8ASW
I think I may be a bit confused. It seems all I hear about is regionals unable to find pilots to work for them. With the low pay and QOL as a FO, I guess I understand that. What I don't get, is why it still takes so long to upgrade? If everyone is leaving there, I would think you could move up fairly fast? On APC, Mesa shows the newest captains were hired up to 13 years ago? What is it that holds the process up?
Thanks!
The industry stagnated for about 8 years which skyrocketed the upgrade times. People are starting to leave now but I've met a lot of captains who decided during those 8 years that they're comfortable and don't want to leave. If captains at the top don't leave then people at the bottom won't upgrade since age 65 retirements don't really happen at regionals. Also in order to upgrade 500 pilots they need to hire 500 to replace them. Most airlines are having trouble hiring FOs so they can't afford to let the current FOs upgrade.
The good news is that a lot of majors and LCCs are hiring people with no PIC time. I know regional FOs with no PIC who have gone to United, AA, US Airways, Spirit, JetBlue and Virgin just within the last year.