Originally Posted by
Nantonaku
We went from around ~11,000 to 16,000 in less than 3 years. That isn’t exactly quiet growth. United has been aiming for a 20,000 pilot group for two decades now so it is hard to take their goals seriously. If anyone really thought they are going to be 28,000 pilots strong in 6.5 years then it is an easy decision. There are also probably about 5,000 Delta pilots that would be well served to make that jump. It would be an amazing ride. But you are right, at least they have stated goals. And they aren’t as high on the international outsourcing horse as Delta. And they have more attrition. I’d probably gamble and go to United. At least they have a bigger international footprint.
11,000 to 15,000... that was restoring to pre-covid 14,600 or whatever. The last 1,000 is what I consider growth beyond our 2020 size. How big of a pilot size do we target for 2024, 2025, end of the decade? Just last year, I pressed and pressed for target seniority list size for this year, and never got straight answers. Only, " hiring 200 month". Certainly not 16k by summer, or 17k EOY'23. This past January was the first annual hiring goal I've heard, and it was just a casual comment by Bob in a Skyhub.
When I say quiet growth, I mean we don't market some bold long term goal, make splashy mega aircraft orders, announce ambitious growth to the media, etc. In the end, we might grow pretty aggressively, but we just make smaller close in orders of jets, delay aircraft retirements, hire hough numbers of pilots but without announcing future pilot hiring goals.