Originally Posted by Utah

Those figures for SkyWest aren't very accurate. As of 12/31/06 we only had 2499 pilots, and I'd imagine only around 2100 at the start of 2006. Out of the 2758 pilots we have now, over 600 were hired just in the past year and are still on first year pay. The next 400 up the list are all on second year pay. Halfway up the seniority list is only a 11/22/04 hire date and goes to explain why we had such fast upgrades lately. (And also why upgrades for the current newhires will probably run much longer- now that those hired within last last 1-3 years have their 2500tt/1000turbine requirement met.) Less than 240 pilots have been here longer than 10 years.

Some other things to consider, Comair and Expressjet have an all jet fleet, while others airlines compared still fly the lower paying turboprops as well. SkyWest is staffed to around 500 EMB120 pilots.