Originally Posted by
pitchattitude
Details on long call and implementation is yet to come. By this fall likely. As far as the bottom of the reserve list getting it, unlikely.
Right now the junior 175 base is MIA for captains, but just barely. There have been no openings in ORD last two bids meaning it is trending higher.
Not hiring actual DECs at this time, so you will go through as FO and get captain when your seniority will allow it. It was dropping rapidly but with these new pay rates and LOAs it is a strange dynamic. Getting captain pay once you have 750 hours of time that counts towards upgrade may mean much less incentive to bid captain for those that know they will be junior doing so.
This next bid will be interesting indeed. The word was the retirement of 145s is accelerating, but if these new LOAs and pay significantly increase the ability to hire, train and retain then it will slow that down.
Of course this is the airline industry. The next crash is always just around the corner and with current inflation and slow down of the economy, it might be even sooner than later.
Isn't it really just going to poach a few pilots from Endeavor, with the attrition to mainline or the LCCs, continuing? Then what happens when Endeavor and every other serious airline match the pay rates? I would think with the high fuel prices that would finally kill off 50 seaters everywhere, but they still manage to survive like cockroaches. The severity of the economic downturn is the only question at this point, since it has already started. I'm just surprised it's taking this long and that there are people out there who still have enough money to travel or buy a house.