Originally Posted by Cujo665

focus on the WO’s. As the shortage worsens the contract companies can only raise pay so much for so long before they’re bankrupt. The WO’s are run as cost centers and exist to feed the mainline. They can run the WO at a loss as long as it’s bringing in revenue mainline connections. Unlike vendors the WO have no need to generate a profit, and generally speaking no shareholders to answer to.

the vendors that will survive the shortage are Republic/Skywest/Mesa. The rest will eventually downsize as they can’t staff, displace CA’s to the right seat, lose contracts as cancellation performance worsens... then their pilots get to recycle themselves as new hires elsewhere at the surviving but still contracting regionals, or go to a WO. The mainlines will increase flow and pay to keep the planes moving.
I’d do Endeavor first if you live in one of their bases. The AA regionals are all similar. Living in base is the single biggest QOL factor.

its going to get worse. LCC’s are already working on programs targeting the exact pilots the regionals historically have. Frontier now has a program taking Embry Riddle grads straight from Cessnas to A320’s bypassing the regionals altogether. This type of hiring will become more prevalent,