Major unions don’t negotiate contracts for regionals nor can they legally do so. The current career track for young pilots is vastly improved from the days when you flight instructed to 1000 hours, then got a job flying solo all night in a piston twin with a load of checks for 10 bucks an hour and finally were able to move to a regional turboprop operator for 18 bucks an hour after you had 3000 total hours and 1000 multi.

 

We're not on the same team, and that always my biggest gripe with ALPA and the regionals.

 

Walking uphill BOTH WAYS IN THE SNOW...

 

And if you are in Chicago, there is a chance you could be chomped by a coyote.

 

Or shot....

 

[QUOTE=Voski;2918173]What is the viability of the ultra-low cost carrier model in the U.S.? As companies like Spirit and Frontier continue to expand their fleet of A320neo aircraft, the profitability of these airlines in the current U.S. economy is undeniable. However, what are the pros and cons of their business model going forward? Are they a threat to the market share and dominance of the legacy carriers?

I'm genuinely interested because the model seems to be successful throughout Europe, however, I wonder if the ULCC model is filling a gap in the market or if it's eroding the profits of carriers like Delta, United, and American.

Moreover, pilots seeking jobs at major carriers have a lot of options nowadays and will hopefully continue to see a hot job market for a few years ahead. The ULCCs seem like great options and alternatives to the 'Big 6,' but I have to question whether these airlines have the career stability (as much as that exists in the airlines) that the Big 6 have...[/QUOTE

 

The ULCCs certainly provide a nice alternative career to the Big boys.

With so much industry consolidation there are fewer career airlines than there used to be. I strongly believe that the remaining few big airlines are stronger and will survive any recession and provide better job security than in the past. However, there's less choices now then there used to be. If you botch the Hogan at United and fail your Delta interview, your choices become very limited very fast.

Anyhow, I think the ULCCs will grow thru the next recession while the big airlines slow or stop growth. ULCCs are proving to be very successful all over the world. Just not in the long haul markets. And for the record, the ULCCs claim to be generating new traffic and not stealing from other airline

 

Not really in Europe, except Ryanair which as sort of established itself as the budget SWA over there. Many of the rest are falling like flies (their legacies aren't all doing so great either).

 

I’m no European ULCC expert but Easy jet made over 500 million dollars profit FY2019, Wizz made over 400 million.

 

The long haul low cost airlines really struggle. The short haul ones seem to do well. Ryan, Easy and Wizz have completely changed the entire market in Europe