Originally Posted by
Fixnem2Flyinem
I’ll say it... Age 70 around the corner, also recession in the near future. These two may be enough together for the airlines to continue business as usual. Or... if neither of the two happen and the 38,000 retirements by 2032 actually happen, it may be a wild ride even for the “good” regionals of today.
You assume the majors want age 70. I don't think they do. The guys at the top of the pay scale - those who are making max money - contribute no more to the company's bottom line than the guy who made captain just a year ago and is 7-8 steps lower on the pay scale. They learned when the retirement age went up to 65 that those last five years rather dramatically increased their average wage costs.
While the regional's may have trouble filling seats, the majors don't. They have plenty of applicants and from the financial management side it would be preferable to hire a series of well qualified old codgers who will retire promptly when they reach the top of the Pay Scale rather than spend decades there pulling max bucks. Increasing retirement age to 70 would simply increase the major's costs with no benefit to them. Recruiting and training newbie's - whose pay is far less - is much cheaper.