Originally Posted by rickair7777
A good one could pay 100K down the road, have 15 days off/month, and basic benefits. The downside is that many folks chose to stay at a company where they have a decent pay & benies and good seniority, so upgrade can take 5-10 years.
Don't scare the kid. The only regionals I know of that have anywhere near a 10 year upgrade are Eagle, which sucks, and Horizon, which rightly so has a long upgrade due to work rules, QOL in the NW, etc.
I would consider AWAC a "decent" regional, certainly better than a company such as Mesa, and AWAC's upgrade in the CRJ is just under 3 years right now and dropping because of attrition. Contrast that with Mesa's upgrade in the same a/c...(I can't, I don't work at Mesa), but I'd assume it's pretty close. However, I've heard the Freedom ERJ is down around 15 months. That's certainly lower than most turboprop outfits.
Now, if you compare upgrades in turboprops vs. jets, generaly TP's are lower. Colgan in the 1900 is running around 18 months or so, SAAB a bit longer. Commutair is 2+ years in the 1900. Regions Air is around 12 months in the J41.
You're taking a gample that the majors will still want to hire TP guys over jet guys in the future. I had a friend that worked for CommutAir (1900's) and those guys couldn't get on ANYWHERE, and it wasn't for lack of trying. Yes, some places will take them but you've got a sure thing taking an RJ over a TP. They specifically had problems getting on at Allegiant. He quit and went to ASA.