Originally Posted by
rswitz
You'd think, since regionals like to keep their pilot groups junior as to keep payroll costs low, they wouldn't be so inclined to sabotage ones chance of moving on.
A constant revolving door keeps the pilots from getting too expensive. Seems like that's what the regional business model is about. Idk. Maybe I'm wrong.
You are wrong.
Ask yourself this question: Why are there regionals?
The answer is there are regionals because they make money. Who do they make money for? Well, the majors, obviously. If they weren’t a money maker, why would the major even hire them to fly pax? Because it damn sure isn’t the regional selling the ticket. The AA wholly owned s contribute substantially to AAs bottom line. So do you think AA wants these guys to move up to the major as soon as humanly possible? So they can then pay them MORE and then have to go find and train a replacement to keep the regional functioning? Or would they rather hire someone else - away from their competition, so THE COMPETITION incurs that expense. And it isn’t just AA. Look at Republic. Who owns it? When it emerged from bankruptcy in 2017 61% of the shares were held by United, Delta, and American. Who owns Horizon? Alaska, that’s who. Who owns Endeavor? Delta. Skywest and Mesa are the outliers.
if major airline management didn’t benefit from the regionals, regionals would have disappeared long ago. And the majors are just as happy to keep their regional pilots on the far cheaper pay scale just as long as possible.