Originally Posted by Excargodog

It isn’t just the load factors (although with cheap enough fares you could probably sell out the back of a dump truck) it’s the model.



Every pilot they have can fly every aircraft they have. A falloff in international or business flying doesn’t require you to train someone currently flying a 787 (and whose previous type was a 727) to fly a 777 before you can train the guy displaced from the 777 to fly a 767 so you can train the guy who was displaced from the 767 to fly an A320 so you can train the guy displaced from the A320 to fly a 737 before you can furlough the first year 737 FO so you can save $7k a month after paying for 4 training events and 6 months of senior pilot down time. And then you have four PO’d senior guys still making 12 year scale.



If they need to furlough, NK and F9 tell their junior FO (who is making maybe $4K a month) hasta la vista and everybody else presses on.



And no captain is gonna need a new type rating to downgrade to FO either.



So yeah, you better believe NK and F9 will be recalling furloughed people and hiring new people long before AA will.