Originally Posted by RemoveB4flght

Spirit is still a growth company, which is why it doesn’t pay a dividend. Pre-Covid and pre legacies mopping up all available pilots, shareholders were expecting double digit growth. The market is there, and a combined NK and F9 would be a juggernaut, however having served under the Indigo regime I echo the sentiments of others that it’s not a management I preferred to retire under.

At one time the growth was such that upgrades were down under two years, but yes mathematically a 400 pilot airline doubling to 800, 1600, to now 3400 will naturally increase time to line holder captain. Retirements are low, and even without the current shortage there would have still been some attrition to legacies as there always has been. But the order book is significant and in a vacuum a NK pilot hired 4 years ago could have reasonably expected to be a junior line holding captain. We have been short captains, but the FO attrition has limited training capacity which is why they have remained at a trickle. The 319’s going away has stop-gapped things to a degree, but not for lack of demand or need for increased capacity on current routes. NEO engine woes also have an effect.

The interesting question when it comes to evaluating career expectations is how much consideration will be given to these external factors. That’s for a mediator to decide, and ultimately it will be just one of several factors involved with seniority list integration, but I think it is disingenuous to say NK is a maturing airline that is seeing a natural tapering off of upgrade potential like one would expect at Southwest or a pre-shortage legacy.

Interesting times ahead.