The future of the industry
 

This might be a loaded question and provide many opportunities for the conversation to get hijacked, but where does everyone see the industry in 1, 5, 10, 20 years? This includes what happens with the majors, regionals, pay, QOL, hiring, everything.......ok....have at it....:D

Consolidation continues:

DAL+Alaska within 1-2years from now
Jetblue+Virgin 4-6 years
United+Hawaiian 6-8years
AA+Jetblue/Virgin 8-10years

OR

AA+Hawaiian 6-8 years
Southwest+Jetblue 3-4 years
United+Virgin 5-8 years

Frontier will get bought by private equity, restructured to be an ultra low cost carrier, then sold to Spirit 2-4 years later.


There is room in the regional industry for 1 more big player. I thought it would be Pinnacle when they went on the buying spree, but Delta took them out of the picture. Maybe something will come from the AA/US merger where they spin off PSA/Piedmont/Eagle and that combined carrier buys TSA/Compass to be a rival to Republic and Skywest.

in 20 years somewhere a DC3 will still be earning its keep.

I see more pilots looking and living over seas.

UAVs will fly cargo in 10-15 years. I doubt airlines will use them though.

Well BL might want to drop the cargo thing all together then.

I (and 2 md-80s behind me) had a wind shear warning the other night in ORD at 500agl...boltered like hell, I thought to myself afterwards ..and people are to trust a drone for this?:confused: ya right

Majors doing only long haul. Regionals performing all domestic flying...except Southwest. Regional airline pilots will be unpaid internships. Permanent internships.

The future of the industry? We'll see.

What we can be sure of is that 99% of what is typed in this thread will end up wrong. :)

You got it. Airlines are turning profits, us getting a piece of it is on us- do we want to demand it? AA did their deal and made out fairly well, everyone else has caved to one degree or another.

More Entrants Coming
 

Just flew on SW with 100% LF. New entrants will be attracted to the industry.