Originally Posted by eaglefly

Yes, there are that few and a trickle at Envoy. But what's occurring now will pale by comparison in the very near future. The college programs will supply a fraction of pilots needed to enter the regional airline industry in that very near future and there is virtually no one in any other pipelines outside of that. Most seasoned military pilots simply wont come to most regionals as F/O's for the present pay and treatment even with a flow, unless that is the only way to get to ANY of the legacies. One Envoy flight dept. manager's claims of a 2 year upgrade and a 6 year flow to AA can only occur IF a steady supply of new-hires is brought into feed such an engine and that will require upwards of 50 pilots each and every month.

So far, Envoy hasn't even announced an increase in hiring, let alone demonstrated one in progress. The very resource that is the only way they can meet that claim simply doesn't exist and the idea that Envoy or anyone else can poach dying regional carcasses (and perhaps even facilitating their demise) of their pilots collapses the instant Delta and United respond in like kind to any effort by AA to create a regional model designed to raid their pilots. They may try, but that strategy can easily be blunted. I'd bet neither Delta nor United will do that until absolutely necessary though. The flow-through may indeed become a significant vehicle in the future for entry-level pilots to transition to legacies, but if one carrier adopts that straight model and it threatens the other two's operations, they too will have no choice but to match that, essentially making Envoy's or Piedmont's ineffective as most pilots wont defect from wherever they are. If you want to go strictly by "projections" by the two PRESENT players to get only to AA, your best bet is Piedmont whose upgrade and flow to AA are projected to be faster at 18-24 month upgrade and 3-5 year flow to AA.

Will it really be ?

Who knows as just like Envoy's projections, Piedmont's is simply that.....a projection. What appears to be happening is a 'turf war' developing among AA regionals and anything goes in those including fluffy "projections" which are easy to make, but much harder to deliver, especially over time. Neither are supported by any foundation though as both require a fuel that doesn't exist, that being a large influx of street new-hires. Throughout the late 90's for about 10 years until about 2009 or so, Eagle (now Envoy) promised then new-hires they would be at AA in X years and most of those pilots are still at Envoy or at least did NOT flow to AA. Some of those who are here now selling the present promise fell for that one and also are still at Envoy and not surprisingly desperately want out. I suppose if they were to believe the fairy tale told to THEM to get them to Envoy, it would make sense they not only would believe another fairy tale, they would willingly sell it. I understand MANY Envoy pilots aren't buying this schtick, but apparently here on this and other forums, a vocal and concentrated minority have begun a jihad into the sales dept.

My advice is to be an informed and skeptical consumer, especially when dealing with pushy salesman.