Originally Posted by
Ejetdriver
It seems that Delta already has a pool of pilots who fly thousands of their customers safely every day. They work for SkyWest, Republic, Gojet, Compass, Expressjet, Delta Private Jets etc. These folks have ATPs and airline experience. Would it not make sense for Delta is set up a program to help these pilots get hired? Why set up a college program when you have group of experienced aviators already representing your brand on a daily basis?
They're already pulling from the regionals, but they'll need to replenish those seats (unless we can pull all of our flying up to mainline, which would be nice), to keep the operation going. They just don't think that hiring from the mil/regionals will be enough in the coming decade. Last time I was at Mecca it was mentioned that they expected to get 1/3rd from Military, 1/3rd from Regionals/135/et.., and 1/3rd from direct hire programs like this.
The first book I ever read about professional aviation (the name escapes me) was about a dude that retired as a WB Captain. The book starts out in the 60s or 70s, when he was flying home from college and he had no idea what he was going to do. Flipping through the pages of the airline magazine, he saw an add that said come fly for XX airline (I think AAL). They paid for all his training, got him experience and put him in the right seat. While they're not so desperate that they're paying for training (yet), what's old is new again...