Originally Posted by
WhyIFly
The bonuses at the regionals will likely be going away in the next 6 months. The legacies are already slowing hiring with age 67, the slowing of airplane deliveries (Boeing sucks), and a backlog of new hires from 2023. Combine that with the 1500 hour rule likely getting dropped to 1000 hours, there will be plenty of applicants for the regionals.
Jumping to a regional now and taking the huge bonus while they are still offered, and applying like crazy to the legacies might be a really intelligent move. If the legacies don't work out, you still have the regional bonuses and good pay for a while. If you do get called to a legacy, then just pay that bonus back.
Spirit will probably not be around too much longer.
1500 isn't going anywhere. At most they're going to allow more sim time to count to the 1500 for issuance of ATP.
Regionals as it stands are not strapped for 1500 hour FO apps. They are flooded with them... They need captains. It will be another 3 or 5 years before regional hiring/staffing gets where they want it to be. Even if Age 67 passes tomorrow, it only delays the inevitable legacy hiring trends.. The regionals will be lean on captains for quite some time, only expect marginal improvement the next few years.