I have a long list of pilots who would love to come back to flying but are not going to do it for 30,000 a year. Market value for a first officer right now is about 80,000 and for a regional captain is about 150,000. Until those levels are reached there will not be enough pilot willing to fly.

I get emails to go fly my former aircraft almost every day with starting salary of over 200,000 a year. Right now the only thing keeping regional pilot salaries down are the contracts, the first year bonuses, and the fact that regional pilots don't know their value and don't value themselves.

Its the pay, the pay and nothing but the pay.