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?
Tough question to give a good answer too. Age 65 changed a lot of the retirement numbers. And it's really just too difficult to gauge what will happen. If airlines continue to park aircraft, it could remain "level" so to speak.
And this could cause a serious thread drift there, but OTHER variables that could affect the situation. When, or more if, there is another hiring wave, there are plenty of guys who have been slugging it out in the regionals (and various other civilian backgrounds) since 9/11 waiting for that spot at a major. Almost ALL these guys are going to be pretty qualified. Meaning, LOTS of PIC, multiple type ratings, LCA experience, etc.
Depending on what happens in the short term, you will ALSO have a high number of military pilots (also VERY qualified) hitting the market. Before anybody analyzes this comment, please think twice. I don't want to see this thread get closed.
Now, of course we ALL know people that got hired at (insert legacy here) with low time and not much real experience to speak of, and haven't really been in this industry very long. Yep, it happens. But those guys are usually the minority of a new hire class.