Originally Posted by
Excargodog
The plain fact if the matter is that all regionals are expendable. The list of regional airlines (or even major airlines) that have at least briefly been THE PLACE TO BE and then subsequently gone bankrupt is a long one.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List..._United_States
And the number of people who - at least at the regional level - have lost seniority and had to start over again somewhere else is legion. At the major airline level it’s usually a merger and the two pilot unions get to spend a few contentious years dealing with the seniority list integration. The bad feelings between the Virgin America and the Alaska pilots still lingers.
There basically are two philosophies and I personally subscribe to the minority view.
The majority view is to go somewhere you believe you would be willing to spend ten years if you got stuck there. That’s generally considered to be Skywest, Republic, or one of the wholly owneds.
Personally, I believe things are too unpredictable for that. Any of these can go bankrupt just as easily as anyone else. A REAL bankruptcy, or just a strategic one like Republic did to be able to get out if their fifty seater flying. Corporations have all learned how to play bankruptcy courts to their own advantage and - for airlines - they can manipulate the RLA to an even greater degree. And they’ll furlough you in a heartbeat if it serves their purpose.
My philosophy is to do whatever you can to avoid being stuck for ten years in a regional. That means chasing 121 flying hours in general and TPIC in particular, so my plan is to go where there is lots of flying, relatively short reserve times, and relatively quick upgrade. That detracts from quality of life at a regional generally, but optimizes the process of getting through quickly, which with the peak of the major airline hiring wave hitting in three or four years, I would really like to do....Everyone of them will drop you like the proverbial hot rock if it suits their purpose. Once you’ve fulfilled your legal obligation to them, do whatever’s best for you.
WISE WORDS!!!
Want an idea what future will look like? Look BACK at LAST ten years...then assume won’t be same (pilot shortage, scope issues, start-ups challenging majors, etc...) and take your best guess. Never having furloughed before or having a flow agreement sound great...until BK or new management’s decision “to go in a different direction.”
Besides change, the only thing I can count on is my personal experience. That’s never getting taken away. So I am building TPIC, experience and my resume. Everything else can be gone with the stroke of a pen, email, or an incident/accident.
Good luck to everyone, it’s a crazy industry.