Originally Posted by
KirillTheThrill
Where are they going to find the 175 sims?
Between SkyWest (owns the majority) Mesa, and Envoy, there might be a clapped out sim in Afghanistan. How long will the process of buying sims and hiring instructors take? Probably years, time UAL doesn’t have.
What are the most pilots UA has hired AND TRAINED in a year. Now you have to utilize your already thin resources to hire AND train RJ types. Your answer to this issue seems simple, but it’s not.
Quite a few of the 175 sims are either owned by the legacy airlines (AA especially) or are leased by the regionals from the training centers. They are not all owned by the regionals. The mainline carriers have a lot more "pull" with the training centers than the regionals do. Plus, it would be pretty easy for United to say to SkyWest that they need their sims, or they would lose all of the United flying.
The regionals really don't hold any good cards in this scenario. The major airlines have the power.