Originally Posted by
Excargodog
Oh, the regionals have certainly gotten better (even mor so since I left), but let’s be honest about what they paid before the pilot shortage in comparison to the majors for basically doing the same job with far fewer benefits.
here is a blast from the past:
So 7 years for an upgrade, after which a CA over 7 was pulling in $60k? Four year FOs we’re getting maybe half of that. That wasn’t very good money even back then. And after two more years the CA would barely be competitive for a major. The average regional guy going to a major was 45 years old and had 10,000 hours.
Yes, this is exactly what is confusing, why would an intelligent, highly skilled person accept this? My point was, you can't blame this entirely on the regionals. If a recruiter interviews two people with similar backgrounds, experience, etc. and one says he wants to be paid $100K and the other says I love this work so much, I'll do it for $40K. Who do you pick? The $40K guy who is clearly enthusiastic about the work and will work for cheaper, of course. Prior to 2019, there seemed to be plenty of folks who wanted to be pilots so badly that they were willing to accept low pay, marginal working conditions. That has now changed somewhat, demand has increased and barriers to entry are time consuming and expensive. So the regionals and the majors have to adjust their models to scale to the new demand curve. This is a time of transition where the experienced pilots now carry a bigger stick. I would think Skywest, without a union, would have some flexibility to offer some creative compensation packages, not only $$$ but QOL incentives, but that doesn't seem to be happening yet. I think there is still the mentality in management that folks want to be pilots so much, they will still accept market minimums.