Originally Posted by
proskuneho
Thanks for all the feedback guys. Keep it coming.
This will surely sound like a dumb question and common knowledge to many of you, but aren't the major airlines facing a HUGE (much larger than normal) number of retirements over the next decade? Will that not cause upward mobility in the regionals also?
This is a myth perpetuated by certain business interest who peddle training and other services to entry-level pilots. We may again see a shortage of entry-level regional pilots willing to work for $20K, but I doubt we will see a large shortage at the majors...especially if oil goes up and stays there. A few majors (Airways East and CAL) do have a lot of old guys though.
The only glimmer of good news career-wise is that the lending companies have finally realized the fallacy of loaning a 19 yo $100K+ so he can get a job paying $20K. Going forward, we may see fewer low-time children and more self-funded adults entering the business.
Actually it would be interesting to get hold of the demographics of all the US major airlines and generate a year-by-year retirement count.