Originally Posted by
VacancyBid
Airlines hire when they 1) gain planes or 2) lose pilots. (ie less supply or more demand)
#1 is a possibility as the captain shortage abates and dormant planes see more use
#2 is hard to say as the military/ULCC pipeline may meet all major hiring needs (and reduce regional captain attrition) for awhile
The pipeline of CFI > Regional > Career Job is probably broken or at least narrowed in the near term to special CFI > indentured regional > career job
As a low-time guy (and yes, 2000 hours is back to being low time) your best avenues are probably either 1) balls to the wall, do what it takes or 2) settle into a second tier career trajectory that doesn't require immediate cash/QOL sacrifices
I'm not plugged into the sitch at every regional but I know PSA and Piedmont are hiring for exactly the reason you said. They finally have enough captains so airplanes that have been parked are coming back online.
The crappy ACMIs are probably still hiring so there will be a little movement as regional pilots get tired of waiting for flows and seek variety.
The Big 3 all claim hiring at least 1,000 each next year so that will help a bit but you are correct, military, Spirit, Frontier, ACMI and flows will be more than enough to fill those slots.
TPIC, degrees, check airman experience, sim instructor, chief pilot are all factors again. Some highly qualified regional pilots will still get hired outside of flow arrangements. We're also nowhere near the 'lost decade' level of stagnation.