Psa could also negotiate (hard) to keep the rates but trade work rules. That would be a very savvy long-term play for the company.

 

Plausible.

I'd tend to expect that the rollback of the 2022-era regional raises will be more gradual, via inflation and whipsaw over time as permitted by market dynamics.

Although in a big "you're just lucky to have a job" industry downturn, anything is on the table.

 

Just curious where the $40 dollar an hour pay rate comes from? I know that any self respecting union pilot would reference his contract to see what the actual pay rate would be before posting random numbers on the internet. I’d highly encourage anyone curious as to pay rates to look into LOA 24 as the actual permanent pay rates without the 50% premium. Is it great? No. Is it still much better than pre covid or even pre 2022 CBA extension? Absolutely.

 

With recent “regional” accidents and mishaps in the news and publicity regarding hiring practices , Sean Duffy and the public are catching on to the fact that the wholly owned regional model is a scam and always has been. My guess is that with the FAA , Transportation secretary and the public scrutiny that the mainlines can ill afford to start trying to bring down pay rates at the so called WO regionals as the public is already suspect of training practices and experience . The mainlines have still been raking in record billions in profits while paying higher rates to the regionals, which by the way is what the pay should have been to begin with. Covid just forced them to do what should have been done anyway. If anything there would be more pressure put on the mainlines to completely fold in the WO’s and take over the training in particularly if there are anymore accidents, God forbid . The WO regional is sold to the customer as “mainline” . Time to come up with a new take on an old ALPA slogan : “One level of safety equals one level of pay and benefits”. It’s time to put an end to the WO regional scam and fee for departure sham.

 

Maybe some mainlines are 'raking in record billions', but AA is not one of them. They have posted a paltry $111M in profits on $54B in 2025 revenue. Their regional operating expenses were listed at $5.1B. I imagine that includes not just their wholly owned but also ones they contract to like Republic and SkyWest.

 

it seems like you’re equating pay with perceived experience, training levels, or safety of operation. Which doesn’t make sense at all and in the wake of a pilot error crash if the public thought we all made 5M a year they would be enraged not reassured.

in reality there will always be “entry level” airline pilots. Nobody just is born with 20 years flying the line and 8000 hours TPIC. The pay will fluctuate with supply and demand of pilots as well as macroeconomic forces but that doesn’t have anything to do with training, experience, or safety. I’m sure there are plenty of regional guys far more skilled and safe than some of the WB CA out there but that doesn’t mean the regional lifer makes any more money.

WO may or may not get swept up but that will only happen if it benefits the name carrier. FFD isn’t a scam although I don’t like it from a scope perspective it is a legitimate business operation and they are held to the exact same standard as the name carrier since before most of us even started flying. My guess is even if the WO get rolled up the independent regionals will survive as it gives name carriers the flexibility to move flying up or down quickly without incurring the capital expenditure required to do it internally.