OTOF, a SWAPA member estimated that each pilot who leaves costs the company ~$50K to retrain a new pilot to replace them. So, given that 158 pilots have left since Dec 2021, that means pilot attrition has cost the company ~$8M in training costs. Of course, that is offset to some degree by slightly lowering the average longevity pay rate of the pilot group.

Regardless, if we were to go on strike, based on 2019 numbers (the last full year unaffected by the pandemic), the daily revenue lost by the corporation would be ~$65M. In other words, in ONE day a strike would cost the company more than 8X what more than a year of pilot attrition has cost the company.

$65M is equal to the cost it would take to train 1,300 pilots. So, another way to look at the difference in leverage produced by pilot attrition versus a strike is that EACH DAY of a strike would create the same financial pressure on the company as 1,300 pilots leaving.

Since it has taken 506 days to lose 158 pilots, that’s an average of .312 pilots per day lost. If we divide 1,300 (the number of pilots per day in terms of training cost it would take to equal the cost of one day of a strike), by .312, we discover that we can view a strike as producing 4,166X as much leverage as our current rate of attrition.

That doesn’t include leverage generated as a result of the lost revenue due to the “book away” phenomenon in the 30-90 days leading up to a strike. It also doesn’t include the intangible losses to the corporation in terms of brand injury that are attached to a strike, esp in the wake of our Christmas meltdown and zany, love, family public image that we try to promote.

IOW, the credible threat of a legal strike generates thousands of times more leverage than pilot attrition at the rate we are currently experiencing it.