Originally Posted by
Sliceback
PC - is he saying guys should stay regional FO's instead of going to Spirit?!?!?!
And only 8-9,000 regional FO's. How many are the Big 3 hiring this year? 2,500? How many years does he recomment they stay at the regional vs. going to Spirit???
I believe he was speaking more towards staying a regional captain. I don't work for a regional, so it wasn't specific to that segment.
I think 2,500 is a very generous number, especially considering how few OTS new hires will be at AA. I'd call the number closer to 1,800-2,000 depending on whether or not DAL cleans up it's pool.
He went on to say that his buddy at AA told him "they can't get enough qualified guys." I could only laugh. The average age of a "new hire" at AA is currently about 51 due to flow throughs... at an average of about 15,000 hours+. Yeah, hard to find qualified guys. When I explained that 70%+ of DAL and 90% of FDX new hires were military, he only scoffed and said, "There aren't that many military pilots!"
At that point I knew he was just an idiot and a lost cause so I discontinued the conversation.