Originally Posted by
JungleBus
All this means that when retirements start up again and when the economy takes off, and there's a giant sucking sound of an exodus from the regionals to the majors...there will again be a shortage of pilots at the regionals, particularly the ones who don't pay well and mistreat their pilots. It won't be enough to really justify going into flying for someone considering it as Kit Darby would suggest, but it will be a real opportunity for those of us who would like to see mainline recapture a portion of the flying that has been lost to the regionals.
Agreed with most of what you are saying except the part about "recapture". Unless mainlines are able to compete with LCCs in the medium to small markets, they'll have to drop out of those markets. This isn't good for the airlines nor their pilots, mainline or not. Those 777s to Heathrow and Narita don't fill up themselves.
That said, I don't see any "recapturing" being done as much as seeing a return to stability; a drop in the amount of domestic flying being lost by mainlines to lower cost airlines. The regionals will have to up their pay, benefits and treatment to both attract new pilots and, if there is a lack of new pilots, retain those they have in order to prevent the giant sucking sound you mentioned. This is as good for those like myself who are too old to start over at another airline as it is for those who wish to move on.