Originally Posted by
Excargodog
Doubtful. 50 seaters can’t even afford to pay current wages, the CASM is too high. It’ll keep up only long enough for the legacy to get enough A220s to replace the flying, albeit at far lower frequency. Which fix will then gradually move up to the 70 and 76 seaters. Nor will that fix the CA shortage - not with regional CAs continuing to be hired and regional FOs with any 121 time at all being able to go to ULCCs where they’ll gain both hours and $$ faster than at a regional. And a three year stoppage in retirements won’t fix that. It’s a queuing problem.
It’s like being behind a bunch of cars at a stoplight. It turns green and it seems to take forever before the car in front of you starts to move, and the light will turn red long before you make it to the intersection.
Two more years for the hardy souls who want to keep making money despite having $3-4 million in a 401k and their homes and toys already paid for just won’t be enough to get people through that stop light.
Sounds like ULCC have a giant problem when said FOs move on to a legacy before being a captain at a ULCC.
What will they do to keep an FO? How will these companies grow?