Originally Posted by
Mesabah
The company doesn't set the rates, the pilots set their own rates. Even if it took 10,000 hours and a Phd to get hired at a regional, doesn't mean senior pilots are willing to give up their pay for junior new hires. Management will lower the standards to put bodies in the seats, when there aren't enough bodies willing to work at those rates, the planes will be parked. Wages will never go up in this industry unless the PILOTS do something about it, that is the inconvenient truth of this business.
The airplanes won't be parked. If no bodies are to be had, the wages will go up. The profit margins will shrink, but its still the most profitable way to go. The management/owners are all about maximizing profit. Parking an airplane potentially eliminates profit. Paying more to staff an airplane will still allow operations to continue, but at a reduced profit level.
But, pilots will show up regardless of the compensation. Quality of pilot might suffer, but someone will be there to take the job and they'll get it if the price and ROI is right.