Recalls are not new hires, and even then we're sending 5 anyway is what I heard. They gave us the projections months ago, we published this long ago too, and they're exactly where they said they'd be.

Very, very few. 99% find them fine pilots and people. Some are now even AA captains themselves.

But if your quip results in a wannabe $250,000/year GV captain who really is a washed up alcoholic Envoy pilot enjoying crusty nasal passages, I like it !

You honestly believe Pedro when he says "We'll park planes instead of meter the flow?" If you do I'll sponsor you to take a junior college course in economics.

The flow is a mechanism to get new hires at the regional level, not a measure to get current pilots to the mainline because they really like you.

If they can't staff Envoy, Envoy won't flow. Fly it and grieve it.

A good reason to not be committed to staffing 170 jets then, wouldn't you say? If we can fly that many or more, great; but our only mandate is 40. Play it your way, Let the pilot supply dry up; we'll just all flow as it shrinks then.

The way it's designed, it works regardless if we are large or small. Either way, our most junior guys are at AA inside of six years under their plan.

AA needs the regional lift, they appear committed to doing the majority of that lift at Envoy, PSA, and PDT. They've committed flow agreements to those three companies in an effort to staff those three regionals. Those flow agreements are not to staff AA, they're to staff the regional level. If that effort fails AA is not going to just shut down one of the companies, they will figure out a way to keep as many pilots flying their lift as possible (metering or stopping the flow).

I'm not saying that going to Envoy as a brand new CFI is a bad idea, in fact it's likely the smartest move right now. I don't think it's smart to make a lateral move to Envoy and the flow is not nearly as iron clad as the company is telling everyone through you.

Edit: If I was still an Envoy pilot I'd be awfully worried about you and the rest of the union cutting deals to ensure your flow at the expense of the rest of the pilot group. It's Team Tony all over again.

Reading this guys posts, I couldn't help but be struck by the same thought. He comes across as the quintessential management shill and their dream cheerleader. In the past, union officers have done exactly that......cut deals to benefit themselves at the expense of the poor chumps left behind.

Looks to me like nothing has changed. :(

Envoy has somthing like 2000 pilots now. According to the cheerleader, they will announce shortly that they will keep more aircraft longer. That means they will have to start hiring like gangbusters @ 40-50 per month. If they can't do that, this whole plan melts like ice cream on a hot sidewalk. Once that reality becomes obvious, I can see this plan in place for a few months for PSA to catch up on their training, but not longer.

By late this year, Envoy will likely be in the same place PSA is now and will need to either park aircraft or re-shift it elsewhere. I think he knows this and is busting his hump for the executives and himself to net as many unsuspecting fish as possible.

It was my belief that at the latest we would need to begin hiring 40-50 a month as late as this September to abide by AAG's size they want us at. We will need to hire 40-50 a month at some point just to keep up with 30 flows and misc. attrition monthly. One thing Envoy has done differently is set up their instructor pipeline. It gets a lot of laughs and chuckles on the line but this is akin to having a farm system feeding talent to the higher leagues. The total is at 38 programs last I checked. There are plenty of other creative ways to get new blood at your airline as well($$). Not that any of it will be easy.

Oh no, there's plenty they still do completely wrong. The current reserve mess being a prime example. However, when you come on here and hear how great xyz regional is, or how bad abc regional is, people need a fact check. They ALL are crappy. Some are better in one area and worse in another; but they are all equally horrible to work at. So, the object for most is to work there as short a time as possible and move up. The job also needs to be protected for those that, due to the lost decade, have to finish their careers at a regional. Unless you're a former NASA space technician, the flow at PDT and ENY is the best flow in the industry and under their plan would have you at AA in under 6 years. I'm not saying the place is great; far from it. What I'm saying is if your goal is to get to a major, the best flow in the regional industry is at ENY & PDT and is a nice insurance policy to have in your back pocket while you apply everywhere else to go through the front door. ENY also currently has the best commuter and hotels policy in the industry as well.

State of the Industry
 

Management knows it..... do you?

Mainline and Regional Views On Pilot Shortage