Originally Posted by
XJTFO
Mesa's pay is drastically lower. $4 per hour x 1000 = $4,000
$2500 x4 - $10,000
$14,000 per year less is a lot of money. As a new hire on the 175 at XJT I was having no problem crediting 110-120 hours per month with a little extra effort and some ROE pick ups. Work rules/hotels at XJT are better. As far as pilot skill, all is the same. I have flown with some of the most wonderful captains at XJT and a very small handful of real pieces of garbage. Nasty attitudes Either way Mesa has a great pilot group and their company has offered tremendous stability but the cost is pay. Upgrade times at XJT before this whole mess started had dropped to nada on the 145 and only a few years on the 175.
I used to poo poo these arguments saying FO pay is irrelevant. Where you want to look when choosing a regional is 3 year CA pay because everybody was upgrading relatively quickly. That is where the money was made, not at year 1 or 2 FO. Well, not anymore. People are going to be FOs for a long time again it looks like. FO pay is once again relevant when choosing a regional because that is what you will be making for your first 4 to 6 years.