All regionals need a cadre of top-seniority lifer dogs...they provide cultural continuity and an example of maturity, and also typically help to hold the young bucks down as far as compensation goes (via the mechanism of the union or whatever). In exchange, said top dogs get comfortable six-figure salaries and good schedules, or even much higher than than $100K for sim guys.

But what you can't have is a whole bunch of mid-seniority lifers clogging up the longevity scale. SKW may well be trying to push the pain deep into the top 1000 to "encourage" attrition amongst the 1500-500 range. A consequence of the high QOL of the past, and primo western bases, is that lots of folks have stuck around here, even folks who didn't plan to.

The ideal demographic is the top 5-10 percent stays, and everybody else cycles through quickly, say about 5-6 years tops...keeps FO pay averaging in the $30s and CA pay in the $70s.

If you can't get a major job after 6-8 years, nobody in this industry wants you sticking around collecting $100K to fly an RJ...you're no longer welcome.