Originally Posted by
ChrisPilot1
My question is just out of curiosity. I was looking at choosing SkyWest due to it being the largest regional out there but the pay was just terrible. Training pay was only 65 min gaurentee , 0 Bonus payouts. I see all the class sizes are still full. Why are people still going to Skywest?
Im curious how you guys get through training as well. With the regional I chose we get some of our bonus payouts upfront just to help feed ourselves, but honestly, I would be eating Bread and butter during training or canned soup every night had I come to OO.
I'm not mocking your airline by any means and have a lot of respect for you guys. But im just curious what your mindset was when you chose this airline over others? I get it , " company stability " , "QOL", seriously though, pay in certain aspects is QOL.
I see looking at your other post you're at Air Wisconsin or will be starting shortly. They certainly have a nice bonus program for new hires. I guess the question there might be why do they have that and we don't? Yet we still attract way more new hires here.
A quick look at Air Wisconsin show only three domiciles, old 200s, and a short term new contract with one partner. Additionally staffing should run about 10 pilots per aircraft yet the pilot group totals under 500. That tells me they are 150 short. And that in my opinion is why they are offering so much to new - and they should. Supply and demand right....
A quick look at SkyWest shows the opposite. 16+ domiciles, with a large number on the west coast. A bunch of new airplanes with a bunch more coming. Four partners with long term contracts. 4500 pilots and growing. The reality of it that has attracted enough pilots here that they haven't needed to pay the big bonus yet to ALL new hires. Again supply and demand...
What's Air Wisconsin going to do when the 200s time out? And they can't get any 175s because of scope limits? Or costs.. Do you think the UA contract will get extended or some other carrier may underbid them next time around? It could be us or it could be Mesa... What if Air Wisconsin tells United they can't operate all 65 aircraft? They can only operate 50 because of a lack of pilots. Or 40. And your upgrade gets pushed off another year or two? Horizon is having this problem now. And guess who's flying their aircraft?
All of that plays into why pilots are still coming here. I'm sure Air Wisconsin is a good company to work for, but there are a lot more things to consider than just first year bonuses. I wouldn't be surprised to see those offered here at some point though.