Originally Posted by
80knts
I was just looking over the mandatory retirement numbers and it looks like they won't really peak until the early to mid 2020s. JetBlue just released their Gateway Select program, regionals are struggling to fill classes and raising their hourly rates. I have read over and over on here that more pilots will retire than are at the regionals at the moment. So if this is really the case that the regionals will almost certainly not be able to fill classes in the future why are they so slow to take corrective action? It seems to me that offering a $10,000 signing bonus and a guaranteed interview is not going to get it done. Do you guys think there will be any regionals left when the major airlines really start to face a large amount of retirements if they don't do something drastic to fix this situation they are facing at the regional level?
Even if they offered a 30k signing bonus pilots would still leave for the big leagues at the first opportunity. I'm sure the regionals are aware of that fact. Dramatically increasing your costs to try to stave off future attrition probably isn't a good plan. Long term the regionals are screwed unless something changes. Good riddance in my opinion. Hopefully the Legacies decide to bring the majority of the flying in house.