Dare I say, I think 1000 turbine PIC or better will be competitive when hiring picks up again. A large amount of pilots are currently working as RJ captains making between 55-100K per year. The current downturn has lasted over 2 years and many pilots just missed getting into a major during the last hiring spree. Every month that goes by these pilots are another month into their lives. People have houses, kids, wives, cars, motorcycles, child support, BILLS. How many RJ captains are in the their mid 30's and beyond? Many will not be able to take a pay cut of 30-40K a year to start over at a place like Delta or Continental, even though the long term pay off would probably be worth it. They will be somewhat of a slave to the regional. I bet a guy is looking at 3 years to get back to 80K a year if they left for a major. How many can swing that?

How many times have you heard a guy say "I would only leave for UPS, FedEx, or SWA"? How many are those three going to really hire in the future?

How many senior regional pilots made no attempt to leave during the last hiring boom?

Lots of pilots were getting called or hired by the majors in 2007 with less than 1000 turbine PIC despite everyone right after 9/11 saying that it would be ultra competitive.

I predict anyone hired at colgan as of late will do just fine long term.