It amazes me how it took a shortage of pilots to finally bring the pay up to what it is now at regionals. They started raising pay, albeit slowly, around 2014/2015, and gradually stepped it up since then. Then they made the huge leap to the current rates this year alone. I wanted to feel bad for regional management, but I don’t. They created this problem. I have no sympathy because they got themselves into this position with people leaving in droves to go to the majors due to years and years of low pay. This shortage has shown that regionals really did not want to pay pilots what they’re worth. They kept putting off pay hikes for as long as they could, until things got so bad with staffing that they had to slingshot the pay rates up to where they are currently. But even with the current rates it still may be too late for some places. I also don’t believe they will bring the pay back to 50/hour. There’s too much risk in that. The only way that could work is if we hit another hard recession. Then they will feel emboldened to do so, and unfortunately pilots will be forced to ‘take it up the rear again.’ But besides a recession, if the pilot market is still strong in 2024, or heck, even if they do manage to catch up with staffing levels, I can’t see them reducing the rates back to what they were pre-2022. It’s just bad business strategy.