Yes, once airlines start hiring they will be holding strong to their hiring mins. At SkyWest we require 1000 total time, 100 hours of multi and a current 1st class medical; that's the minimum. There are many pros and cons to pilot factories, one pro is that if and when you start instructing for them you’ll build hours very quick. Over 80+% of many pilot factories students are foreign, it’s MUCH cheaper to train in the US with our civil system than anywhere else (Asia and Europe send thousands and thousands of students to the US each year for training). These foreign students are more challenging due to their poor communication skills but these students are on strict schedules and require constant teaching. If you start instructing for a pilot factory like Pan Am in Phoenix you’ll log almost 100 hours of flight time a month. Most of my friends who instructed at Pan Am easily topped 100 and sometimes pushed 120+/month. After a year or so you’ll be more than competitive for the regionals (probably sitting around 1500 TT & 250 Multi+). Bad part about a pilot factory is that they really don’t care about anyone other than their contracts. As an instructor they want you to work as hard as you can for as long as you can; no if’s, and’s or but’s (LOL!, that will prepare you for the airlines).