Originally Posted by
Stitches
Another issue is our training requirements have almost doubled from the past few years and we haven’t even started etops training yet. Several pilots I fly with have mentioned that they cut back their flying with the latest contract. Also, the company can see future bookings so they have an early look at demand.
I'm hoping this is it. I don't think the company intends to kill the premium marketplace, if so they'd upgrade more and kill premium on the captain side also. I think they looked at their training capacity and their upcoming requirements and figured they'd better get people onboard.
Next year we get 30 airplanes, which accounts for 400 pilots. Approx 110 retirements, plus early outs. Recurrent training will be a day longer next year, plus some pilots will go to ETOPS training. Many FOs hired in the bubble ten years ago get an extra vacation week this year. Also after the classic retirements the company put on all the shoulder flying and found they could still fill airplanes. The shoulder flying makes money but makes the aircraft day too long to cover with 2 crews. We might even see red eye flying to connect HI paxs to east coast destinations.
Hopefully all these factors will mean the open time market will return to normal by next summer. If not, reserve gonna go real senior...