Originally Posted by
Swakid8
As a previous R-ATP person who joined the regionals at 1000 hours. Best guess would be because of the structured training and in depth course work from Day 1 of school until degree certification vs the unstructured Part 61 training and lack of in-depth course work in that training environment. There is a big difference both environments. Is the course additional work worth the additional tuition expenses, no they are not.
Theory was that the comprehensive flight-ops oriented book learning made them better aviators. Even though the flight training is the same as at your local mom & pop 141.
Reality was politics and money.
The big flight schools (who had money to lobby) were afraid the ATP rule would scare away their customers... and they also saw an opportunity if they could be designated as the sole gateway to a shortcut. So they lobbied for an exception and got it. They actually wanted a much bigger exception of course but they got 1000 hours.