Sadly, although not to the same extent, the hiring practices at some major/legacy have done the SAME thing. And believe it or not, many of them didn't have ANY "RJ" time what so ever.

 

It's not really the RJ thats hurting the majors. It's marketing that does it. Taking 4 mainline flights and turning it into 10 SMALLER AIRCRAFT flights per day. Notice I said smaller a/c....not jet. If the majors throw a bunch of turboprops on a run it will still have the same affect. We all know what happens when you try to squeeze too many airplanes into congested airspace at a crowded airport.

Passengers wanted turboprops instead of pistons. They got them and complained. Passengers wanted jets instead of turboprops. We gave them a few small jets. Now they wanted frequency. We gave them lots of small jets and frequency. Now they complain about delayed flights and small jets. You just can't put a 777 on every leg. Delta tried that already between Orlando and Atlanta. You only get 777's if you complain enough and you have oil....Lagos.

When I travel as a passenger I love RJ's and turboprops on flights between smaller cities and shorter legs. I love checking my bag planeside and getting it back. Those who don't like it are the dumb ones who stand up first and run outside in the weather. If your the last one off your bag is right there waiting for you. I do not like smaller a/c on runs between major cities or long flights. Longer distance for me means more bags and I need a real overhead bin. Inflight entertainment helps with the little guy. Food for sale helps when I don't have time to meal plan.

disclaimer - without 9 years of t-props and rj's I wouldn't be at a mainline carrier to complain about rj's.

 

Major Airlines have been trying to damage the careers of their pilots purely for spite. They ground their fleets while continuing to pay leases, and then pay double casm's just to fulfill their number one objective; outrage pilots.
It has nothing to do with abliene tx inablity to support a 747 to denver, it is just a personality war. Not related to economics, nothing to see here, move along.

 

I think I have expressed my opinion.

The issue is in reality, deregulation., It caused a need for hub and spoke. That means many things.

9-11 and the SWA effect caused another nail in the coffin.

RJ's are a Band Aid. They allow Air Lines to maintain markets share. Problem is that the CASM was all but unworkable at mainline. Pre CH11 the CASM would have been double at mainline.

Going in to the CH11 era ALPA and other Union Houses misidentified the threat of how scope changes were going to totally change the medium and short haul domestic network. Prior to CH 11 many airlines had backstops based on financial data. As the airlines keep going down a poor financial road, some of it by design, these backstops were met and the RJ boom ensued.

CH11 arrived at many airlines, and other did everything to avoid it. With the threat of voiding labor contracts the unions went with a known in an uncharted world by allowing large RJ's.

We are where we are now.

The fuel run up showed the vulnerabilities of this type of plan. 50 seat jets are generally not a viable option for many airlines. Contracts dictate many floors so we will see them around until said contracts and leases expire.

70-76 seat jets are slightly better, and offer a premium product on some carriers. Still not mainline but dispatch rates are decent.

When it comes to the companies and their labor management, the RJ's, 9-11, CH11, and maybe an ultimate financial meltdown (100 seat) have proven to be perfect storm after perfect storm.
Problem for airlines:
Visibility. The colgan crash will continue to show failures in the model. Major airlines cannot be held liable for a third parties mistakes, but if lawyers can connect the dots on prior performance before a contract was signed, there many be some issues for the mainline carriers and their payouts.
Result:
reduce liability and it will swing the other way. Money talks......

ALPA and other Associations:

We sold it, we can argue what ifs but it is water already over the dam. We have to deal with it. Many of us have many different solutions or ideas on how to start a fix. We need to look at all of em.
Where we will go from here:
-Problem with "Just do it":
The pilots at mainline gave up scope without a total understanding of what they were doing. That will no longer float as we all can see the effects of shortsightedness. Some of it was avoidable some not. Again, water under the bridge.
The problem is along with section one small jet scope changes we saw pay cut by 40,50%+, pensions gone, medical destroyed, other bennies like night override, international override, trip and duty rigs et al destroyed. Many of the guys in the mainline cockpits want this back too.
Many want this back without a scope sale and are happy to keep the line where it is. There is a strong argument that economics and slot constraints will take care of a lot of the RJ flying over the next decade.

The simple fact is that if pay can go up many do not want to recapture scope.Many see that SJS is acceptable if it slides no more. 100 seat jets are a target, but now pilots have the knowledge, and giving that or a company taking it in 1113C will have unintended consequences. Many labor relations professionals will agree. The age if Mainline Pilot innocence is over.

We can argue that until the ends of the earth the benefits of unity and how that would work going forward, and many will and have. That will take a bigger grass roots effort, an effort between mainline and RJ guys and gals.

The simple fact is that we hope the government solves our issues but many need to realize that those with money and power will keep their money and power to influence the decision and rule making. The new pilot min standards appear to be eye wash. Ab Inito programs will still be able to pump out pilots at 300 hrs. (less if it is part 142) Nothing will change by this. We need education, economics, regulation and unity to all play a part in this.

I know that not one single person has all the answers. It takes a industry wide effort of all professional pilots to change the direction we have been steering.

There are options about pay at mainline for these jets, but that should be another post!

(Not sure if this is what you were looking for. I just kind of started typing)

 

Welp, that just about sums it up......

 

RJ's? Nope

Outsourcing? Hell yes

 

We have a winner!

 

I was going to ignore it but......darn


2% of the Regional pilots got hired with less than 1000 hours and you are insulting all Regional pilots and that is more than 15 thousend pilots....

The interview at the Regional level is not the same at every company. Some companies have extensive testing and evaluation and requested 1000+ hours all the time.

For most Regional pilots it took as much work and time to get to a Regional as it use to take to get to a legacy. They are at a Regional because legacy did everything they could not to hire or maybe you have not noticed that in the last few years there has been no positive movement at the legacys. The few that got hired 2006-2008 at the legacys went there mostly from Regionals and flew RJs and those guys are today furloughs.

To get from right seat to the left one takes 15 to 20 years at most legacy airlines.

If a pilot has done 135 cargo or some other type of flying for some years and wants to fly 121 jet operation the idea of staying in the right seat for the rest of the career is maybe not what that pilot wants....

The legacy Airlines changed the whole industry and invented the Regional Companies by offering Small companies the flying and Airplanes as their own pilots did not want to do it. To blaim RJ pilots is just stupid.

What about the guys on laptops while flying larger jets and the guys landing on taxi-ways......,do they belong in the airlines?

If you even are a pilot, are you 100% sure you should be or belong in an airline? maybe some people that knows you thinks different.......

 

And here we go...

There are a lot of guys that got through the less stringent screening that would never be able to pass the higher level of selection at a legacy. It generally catches up with them through violations that pin them at their outsourced company, anyways.

The most extensive regional interview is easier than the easiest legacy interview (I dont know about the nationals).

The laptop and taxiway guys' issue has been extensively hashed out... no need to revisit it.



Outsourcing blows.... it has hurt this career just about beyond repair. Would you rather sit the rest of your career in the "9" jumpseat in an outsourced operation? Or actually not depend on your company being the lowest bidder (with goodness knows what corners they cut to be able to be that bdder)?

 

HA, I never said I wasn't one of the people I was referring to. My post above is mostly a joke though, I wondered how people would respond to it.