Help! Choosing a regional airline
 

Military guy here looking to get hired by a commuter. I have interviews scheduled with Envoy and Air Wisconsin, and an application recently submitted to Endeavor. I live in Detroit. Would any of you with more experience mind giving some advice on who the best company might be from a pay, benefits and QOL standpoint?

Thanks for your help!

Go where you can drive to work.

Endeavor. And since you live in DTW, it's a no brainer to go with them. They're pretty backed up right now since they got bombarded with apps when they raised pay. So you might have to wait a little while to get in the door. But it would be worth the wait.

I’d recommend Endeavor highly for Detroit. There might be a few moments (months maybe) where you’d need to commute to NYC but it’s not the worst commute. The base has trended more junior on both captain and fo side recently.

Like big time mentioned, Endeavor is not hiring currently. Classes for summer are full. It may be many months before you could get in.

Skywest has a junior DTW domicile

What kind of time frame are you looking at?

Are you willing to move?

Are you qualified for a fixed wing ME ATP?

I can’t recommend highly enough that you do not commute for a regional. If you also can’t move, that leaves you with Endeavor, SkyWest, and GoJet.

Endeavor is easily the best choice right now, except that you won’t be able to start with them for quite awhile. If you are a military aviator with no huge skeletons in your closet, you’ll get in anywhere on the regional level. The interviews are a formality. If you aren’t going to separate for 6 months anyway, you probably want to go to Endeavor.

If you need a job now, it’s a harder choice. SkyWest is a better company, and DTW is very junior in the CRJ. You’ll get it in training and most everyone above you will be trying to go elsewhere. If you do end up staying, you’ll get senior very quickly in base, and you can upgrade there as soon as you have your 1000 hours of 121 time. On the other hand, the bonus for mil is only $7,500, and the pilots in DTW generally feel very overworked and are usually unable to much or any time off. Training is in SLC.

It pains me to recommend a TSH holdings airline, and their reputation isn’t good, but GoJet has much bigger bonuses if your intent is to spend 6 months until you can get a slot at 9E. Training is in STL. Not sure how senior DTW is at GoJet.

If you can move, your options open up a lot, but you should still be looking hard at 9E. If you’re rotary wing and need some hours to be eligible for a fixed wing ATP, take a closer look at the rotor transition programs.

Go to SKW now. Apply to endeavor, wait and see how long it takes.

When they call you, decide at that time based on how things are going at SKW and what you would gain by going to endeavor.