Originally Posted by
SaturnV
Which Legacy has captains costing 50% more than LCC Captains? I’m guessing Southwest and JetBlue are the two main LCC and they both pay 12 year captains ~$270/hr vs. The Legacies paying ~$285/hr for the same equipment.
Maybe 1,500 out of 15,000 at any given Legacy are WB Captains costing 30% more than LCC Captains but still not 50% more. The majority of Legacy captains cost about 5% more over LCC captains if we are just talking straight pay scales.
I’m not trying to be pedantic, just seemed like 50% was way too large of an over reach.
Not talking straight payscales, talking what they are actually paying. Take Spirit. They’ve basically only been a player since 2007 and really didn’t start expanding until 2014. Very few of their pilots have anything like 12 years seniority. Yeah, their 12 year pay might not differ that much from that of Delta or United, but damn few of their captains and even fewer FOs are at those lofty seniority levels. JetBlue too. Their major expansion started about 2010.
Lots of pilots with very little time at the company mean reduced crew costs. A Delta 20 year captain and 12 year FO cost ( counting 401k) well over $500 an hour to fly a 320. Spirit with a five year captain and a 3 year FO costs about $350 an hour to fly the same equipment.
A newly hired crew is a cheap crew.