Originally Posted by
Moonbeam
Thanks guys for the amount of pilots based in Denver for each airline. Seems like both have around 1300 line pilots. If you go into the training department at UAL and training slows down can you just go back to the line in DEN?
Is reserve really so bad at UAL that guys living in base won't take the year upgrade to Captain? It seems like you would be more likely to get bounced out of DEN at United if they downsize or move the airplane you are on and if training guys can bump you if they go back to the line.
Its not that its “bad at UAL”. Its that WB FO is such an easy job and the pay is almost the same. We are adding 100+ planes a year and 2,600+ pilots a year, and we just can’t keep up. Its not that we have unfilled Captain positions, but that we have unfilled positions everywhere. New hires can select 777 or 787 FO. A lot of people are staying put because they like their easy commute or their schedules and with the current pay its a diminishing return to upgrade.
We have to hire 10,000 pilots in the next 4 years to staff 150 A-321s, 400 737s and 100-200 787s we have on order. 1 of every 5 planes that rolls off the Boeing assembly line between now and 2030 is coming to United. Virtually all of that is for growth. These are growing pains. Its an opportunity for pilots at other airlines to come here and go right to International WB FO or wait a year and go to domestic NB Captain.
Also if they displace out of the training center, those pilots can just go to the line in DEN and displace more junior pilots. We are adding another massive sim building with classrooms large enough to hold 150 pilots because that’s potentially how large new hire classes will be in 2024 when we are taking on 130 new planes that year.