I'm now at the point of deciding which regional to go with. I'm a short drive from Atlanta so ExpressJet is very attractive from a commuting standpoint. Talking to the recruiter it sounds like getting an Atlanta domicile within 6 months is reasonably probability. This makes XJT very attractive from a standpoint of QOL but everything I read on this and some other forums is predicting doom and gloom for XJT.

Granted I'll admit I've really only been closely looking at the airlines for the last 6 months so I'm still trying to get a feel for this segment of aviation.

What I see in most predictions is SkyWest slowly shutting XJT down by the end of 2017. I realize this is all speculation and a guessing game but XJT seems to be putting a lot of effort into recruiting, surely they have a more optimistic outlook on the future of the company. From what I see I think the majors are going to be really ramping up their hiring starting in 2017. Anychance some of the senior guys at XJT will be moving on and decreasing the upgrade times? If Skywest really does close down XJT surely they'll put a domicile in ATL. Is there anychance XJT pilots will have any sort of priority hiring for SkyWest? Surely they won't just cut that many trained pilots when they also seem to be looking for staff as well.

I've been flying corporate for a number of years and the airlines are looking pretty attractive from the standpoint of benefits and salary. I'm taking a financial hit going to the regionals now but even a second year first officer at most of the major airlines is making as much as the director / chief pilot of most small flight departments.

It's a damn tough decision that I'm hoping will pay off in the end.

Any thoughts and input is appreciated.