Originally Posted by
sailingfun
I don't think it's a big change from last year. A corporate decision was made to increase staffing on the domestic aircraft. That's done now. I suspect that accounted for 3-400 pilots hired last year. Hiring this year will be heavily dependent on what happens with the MD88 fleet.
I still can't see how all the 88's could be parked in 2-3 years without a sizable net reduction in domestic flying. I didn't think there were nearly enough 739/321 orders remaining (plus the eventual C series) to cover 130 or so 88's during that short of a timeframe. Especially since it doesn't even remove a category since the 90's will stay. Earlier last month they were saying 900 were "funded" and a bit more was likely. To now say 700 is a sizable cut from just over a month ago.