Originally Posted by
iahflyr
Generally, Regional pay is driven by supply and demand. Pay is just high enough to fill the seats. Right now, regional pay is a little low at some operators (thus attrition is exceeding hiring), and a little high at others like the AA wholly owned (hiring exceeding attrition).
Major airline pay however is artificially higher than it would be based on just supply/demand. That’s why HR has thousands of resumes, and they don’t have issues filling classes. If major airline pay were suddenly cut 20%, they would still have no issue filling classes.
They might not have immediate issues filling classes but unless the airlines are willing to completely remove the high barriers to entry for this career, a 20% cut in pay will induce a future pilot shortage.
In the end, you’ll get what you pay for.