I was using the logic that was just beaten into me during our concessionary contract at PCL. All I kept on hearing is, we have to many senior guys here, which is costing us to much money. I do accept that at the major airline level this factor really doesn't matter.

8 year replaced with a two year? Lately it has been an 18 year guy replaced with a 6-7 year guy. The 2 year upgrades are long long gone, which like you said, is part if the reason the regionals no longer make financial sense.

We will probably see a disproportionate percentage of new hires on the younger side simply because of the flows and special programs (WMU, etc) that DL has. A large majority of those groups are younger by default and DL is pre-committed to them by contract or intent. So "class average" is really an invalid statistic when evaluating a future new hire's chances to get hired because of his/her age.

You have to look only at the non flow, non legacy (a large percentage that are sons/daughters of DL employees and by default usually on the younger side) completely "off the street" new hires. And then you have to further adjust for the average ages among the eligible pilot pool at large. IOW of most available qualified apps are from younger groups, youre going to get younger new hires.

With the flows and whatnot, DL could theoretically prefer older pilots and still have future new hire classes mostly younger. I'd theorize that no airlines wants to self create another massive attrition curve anyway (beyond what will happen inevitably) so older off the street pilots will have a very good chance, all things equal. Preparation is a huge part of it though. There are a lot of younger pilots who prep and study and update and network, while some older pilots don't do nearly as much of that because they think their resume alone will carry them.

Over all I'd say DL's hiring process is very equal opportunity and DL HR appreciates a pilot group with a diversity of experiences and perspectives. If you are an older pilot, and you do what you need to do to get noticed and you prepare, you have an excellent chance of a job with DL. Just my 2 cents.

Exactly. Regionals operate in a bizzare alternate economic reality. Any "airline" can be very profitable and even well run (I know right) yet lose massive amounts of flying or even shut down simply because someone underbids them by a penny. They don't own their flying. Majors do, so while they still have to compete and costs are still a factor, if the airline is doing fine thats not a risk they have to that same degree.

Not to mention legacy airlines will get significant longevity corrections with the upcoming mass retirements and significant, suatained hiring.

Most of the top 100 flows from Compass are between 35-50.
In the first would be flow class in the next round of hiring most guys are between 35-45 with a 31 yo being the youngest and a 55 the oldest.


I dont think it is an age issue the only thing the care about is if you are competent in your ability to present yourself as a team player.

You're gonna have a terrible time with your UNO playing abilities. :cool:

Based on a quick glance, about 10 of the 100 youngest pilots at Delta are flow ups. I would guess that the average age of a flow up will be about the same as a typical civilian new hire going forward.

Numbers
 

So here are some hard numbers on where the 2010 Hires currently sit, which should give some insight into where newhires might go.

We currently have roughly 11750 pilots on the roster, with roughly 230 2010 hires. Based on the projected category list from the March AE, They are Distributed Thusly:

58 ATL M88 (the ATL Plug is on the M88, and has 6 guys junior to him in NYC)
19 ATL 717

3 CVG M88

52 NYC 7ER (roughly 23% of 2010 hires are in this category. The 7ER plug has 17 guys junior to him in the system. )
13 NYC 73N
17 NYC 320
42 NYC M88

The balance are on various types of leave.

As you can see, 2010 hires can only hold those 3 bases currently, split mostly between ATL and NYC. It should be noted, however, that when they were hired, a substantial number of them were in MSP and DTW (and MEM.) They were kicked out of MSP as the 330 was transferred to ATL, the DC9 retired, and the 320 reduced block hours. The MEM closure threw a few wrenches in there too.

DTW just happened on the last few bids as a result of the DC9 retirement & 320 reduction, and will probably be reversed when the 717 Category opens there (which may or may not be the next bid.) (Also, 2010 hires could not hold CVG until this bid.) It should also be noted that on the march bid 20 ATL 717 vacancies were not filled, as well as about 10 DTW 73N vacancies. (As well as a handful of others, though I can't remember where.)

Here is a breakdown of the other bases, with how many folks (system wide) are junior to the plug there, and what seat he sits in (again, per the March AE projections.)
DTW (73N) – @270
MSP (M88) – @350
LAX (73N) – @530
SLC (73N) - @400 (and yes, the plug on the 73N is junior to the 320 plug)
SEA(7ER) -@1260

Thanks so much Razorback Flyer! Good info

Is NYC: JFK/LGA/EWR, or just JFK/LGA?? Thanks.