Originally Posted by
Excargodog
Absolutely. Three regionals have already gone under as have a couple 135 operations. And that’s before 1 October. And people forget that the military cranks out about 1000 potential airline pilots a year, guys who have either gotten to retirement eligibility or have at least served their ADSC. And For the last 6 months most of those guys have pulled their paperwork, stayed in, and are waiting anxiously for a better hiring environment. All those guys are going to get picked up before Joe CFI with bare ATP minimums is going to get a shot.
The days of any regional tossing out free ATP classes and bonuses to attract someone with 1500 hours are gone, and they won’t be back for a number of years.
Is the military requiring longer commitments from the guys that all of a sudden want to stay? I know companies like ameriflight are requiring a training contract so guys can't leave. I would think the military is trying to keep as many of their pilots as long as possible.
No one knows what the recovery will look like. Hiring again at minimums based on pent up demand is a possibility. People will want liesure travel. It may not be as profitable as last minute business travel- but it will still fill seats. When people stop caring about the virus (I stopped caring 6 months ago) things are going to come back.
There are a couple of important dates coming up:
October 1
November 4
Hopefully the election(no matter who wins) will kill the politicization of this and we can move on.