Originally Posted by
Diver Driver
Take a look at our pilot seniority list and/or the FA list. Hundreds of pilots and flight attendants were hired before I was even born.... Add that to the fact that they are topped out on the pay scale and you have the recipe for a top heavy, expensive labor cost. Most of the cost issues in the GO and other areas have been solved with downsizing the support operation to our current fleet size... but if you compare us with other airlines like Mesaba, Mesa, Chautauqua, etc, our pilot group is on average much older on the seniority scale directly impacting our cost. Until these guys leave for other jobs or retire, it will continue to be that way.
Yes and no. Again by comparison all those other airlines have just about the same percentage of lifers we do. We were bigger at one point, but operating costs due to rank and file pilots were pretty much the same as most those companies. Also rememeber this, at Comair's a person stayed an F/O much much longer than in any of other company -except American Giggles-. So if you take into account the fact what a 3 years pilot -an F/O- makes here, versus a 3 years pilot -a Captain- makes on those other companies, who do you think ultimately has a greater overhead -pilot related only-?.