Originally Posted by
sherpster
I bet its because of guys like my friend. Has a class date from aa and fedex but he is probably going to fedex. Probably wont tell aa until last minute which leaves no time to fill his spot
No. Looking at the new hire headcount during Jan, Mar, Apr, May averaged 39 per class (sometimes a few more, sometimes a few less). Looks much like the overbook of a few more than seats on a flight, always knowing a few are no shows.
In Feb, Jun, Jul the average has been 25 per class (sometimes a few more, sometimes a few less).
It appears to me the reason is an external reason, a bottleneck someplace in the training pipeline (or a bunch of extra pilots getting training to come off the MD-80s that are being retired).