Sun Country vs staying at Regional?
Sun Country recently lowered their hiring minimums to essentially ATP minimums. I am in my mid 20s, and am a 1 year FO at SkyWest. I live in MSP. I was just invited to interview at Sun Country and am looking for some opinions. (No, I wont make a big life decision through a forum - no need to remind me).
The question is, if I manage to get the job at Sun Country, should I accept or stay at SkyWest? I ultimately want to work at a major airline - Delta and United are my top preferences in that order.
Pros:
-Opportunity to fly a 737 around the world, seems incredibly more fun than flying to Lansing, MI.
-B737 type rating
-Year 4 captain pay at Sunny beats 20+ yr captain pay at SkyWest should I end up there for any length of time. I fly with so many captains at SkyWest who "still haven't gotten called." The thought of being stuck at a regional terrifies me. Why not take action now?
-Keeps me living in base in MSP. I love MSP and really don't want to move away or commute anywhere.
-I've only invested 1 year of my life into the airlines so far, so it would be much less of a loss for me (seniority and pay wise) to make this move vs somebody in a different position/timeline. If they invited me 6 months from now it would be a totally different conversation. It's now or never.
-The new firm that owns Sunny has large growth plans. Potential to get on the front end of some serious growth. Or... it could just close shop in a year lol. Who knows really lol... but then again I could always come back to SkyWest- keep living in base, keep my longevity pay with their Soft Landings deal.
Cons:
-My QOL at SkyWest, living in a junior base, is actually really fantastic. I get a lot of days off and have a lot of control over my schedule. I honestly can't complain about anything. "Why fix what aint broke?"
-I would be deferring upgrade for approximately 1.5 - 2 years by doing the Sunny move. If I stay at SkyWest I could upgrade in as
little as 1 year or less. So PIC time building would be delayed. Plus I would enjoy being a captain more than an FO.
-Sunny stability vs SkyWest? SkyWest owns their own aircraft and have never furloughed in 45 years. Is it crazy of me to think that SkyWest might actually be a safer business than Sun Country? Please tell me if you think otherwise.
-I hear captain reserve time at Sun Country is extremely long and they don't fly much. I haven't confirmed this. But that's probably no good...
Sooo any thoughts? My end goal is a major airline, and I don't want to delay that chance. But I'm also totally excited about this opportunity... It IS a career advancement right? Not a lateral move? I would be pretty upset to see myself still at Skywest in 4 years knowing I could've been at Sun Country all that time...and that's what worries me. I also get butterflies in my stomach thinking of flying a 73 on some charter to Asia or something. I got into this industry for the fun more so than the money.