Half the pilots (that I can think of) that have gone to B6 from Cape in the past six months via the Gateway program have had turbine time prior to leaving.

I cant think of one that i know that did. But yur there bro so you must know. Its too bad its not open to all 9k guys. Seems unfair. Good luck man

How many pilots that JB hires are from the Gateway program (percentage)?

Very small at this time, but the goal is to expand the program to other airline/university combinations and hire 25% of all pilots through a gateway program.

Why would the airline lower standards and take guys with only piston time when they have a list overflowing with experience? Are they getting something in return from the Universities? It seems the only institution to benefit from this arrangement are the UNDs and ERAUs (by convincing incoming students to overpay for flight training in hopes of securing one of these spots). JB certainly does not have a shortage of over qualified applicants, so why lower the bar.

Personally, I think they want a predictable number of pilots who will be starting class each year. In the future when DAL/AA/UAL start hiring like mad then we will have a hard time attracting new hires.

The other option would be to offer comparable pay/benefits/qol as the legacy carriers. We will see what direction things go...

I seriously doubt there will ever be any kind of "pilot shortage" for any of the good jobs out there. And while JB may not be a Legacy carrier it is absolutely in the good job category.

I agree, but JetBlue had already been screwed once. They lost 10% of the seniority list in 2007 and couldn't hire fast enough to staff the airline. The problem isn't just having people to hire, but making them stay long term.

Then they need to call people like myself already that have no interest working at DL, AA, etc. :D

Even if the pay/benefits/qol where comparable, we still don't have the retirements or widebody airplanes. So... they might have to have higher pay, or have a huge aircraft order book with strong growth commitments to attract people........

You are right, we will have to see what direction things go...