Utah

What makes you think the market hasn't already adjusted. New hire pay is up 2-300% over the past 5-6 years. SkyWest which probably has one of the lowest first year compensation packages has hired 1000s of pilots over the last several years. 100s a month. Half of the 4400 pilot seniority list has less than 36 months on the property.

The only airline I hear of cancelling a ton of flights is Horizon. But I'll bet you that Alaska management knew that SkyWest could pick up some of the slack with the old CRJ700s and weren't too worried about Horizon. AK management made the financial decision that they'd rather cancel than pay more.

I think a lot of this crying about a shortage is just management just looking for a cheaper pilot.

Just wait until the economy tanks, flying gets reduced, and all of these bonuses disappear.

rickair7777

They're not out of applicants yet (at least not SKW), so why bother? Actually I think some regionals are paying bonuses to the tune of $60K, if you're willing to sign your life away.

Also...the whole point of regional subcontractors is to keep costs down. If you have to pay mainline wages to regional pilots, then the regionals will cease to exist. The majors want to keep the regionals around because the pilot retirement bubble won't last forever...they'll band-aid it as long as they can, ie bonuses instead of permanent payscale changes.

Milksheikh

They pay more than the regionals for sure. They don't top the majors here though. About 300k is the top I've seen for capt pay in China. That can be exceeded here although it may take a longer time to achieve. Im still considering going overseas. Why make 60-100k here and wait for the majors to call when you can make 200k+ for 2 on 2 off.

Adlerdriver

This is why.

Before you really make that move, at least skim through the .pdf in the link below.

Working as a Pilot in China

KnotSee

You get paid what the market will bear and what your union is able to negotiate.

Entry level pay at the regionals has gone up substantially in the last year or so.

Your flight training costs are of no factor in determining what you get paid.

If you can't afford to live on what you will get paid, then you should have reconsidered being a pilot with only civilian training and therefore, a large debt to repay.

sailingfun

Good luck actually getting that Chinese regional job paying 200K. Lots of deceptive adds out there. As far as Major airlines the US is the highest paying in the world outside of the first 3 years.

Milksheikh

I took a look at it and also check pprune every now and then. I know it's not for everyone but for the more adventurous types it could be an option. Don't know if I could deal with the whole FO smoking in the cockpit though. He'd have to wait to smoke when we land. Unfortunately a lot of these contracts require wide body time. I can see some of the lower paid cargo guys going there to make some real coin while awaiting a call from the majors. There are also some decent contracts if typed in the e175 for regional guys. But if they're hurting that bad for pilots they need to be in the 500k+ range for American pilots to consider straying from the path to the majors to join them. By the time you get PIC time at the regionals you might as well just wait it out for a major to call.

Gundriver64

Reading through the Duke Nukem's diatribe on China flying. It's confirming my assumptions about Chinese culture. Like it or not, stereotypes exist for a reason to the chagrine of the rainbow and unicorn types.

Kenny

They offer the kind of money they do because they have to and they can..simple.

Like everything else in life, it's a case of pro's vs con's. Some will take money over working conditions, others will take working conditions over $$$. Having spent the better part of a decade living in Asia and more recently, flying into SE Asia, it's simply not as easy to live there as it is US or Europe.

The biggest problem with becoming an expat pilot isn't finding work overseas and leaving........it's the coming back part.

gzsg

Blows my mind why any pilot would go to Skywest.

As to the economy tanking, don't hold your breath. It is firing on all cylinders.

Even if it dipped, the retirements are going to happen.

In my opinion all regional flying will go the way of Expressjet with Delta.

Lack of pilots will cause them to violate the performance demanded in their contracts with the legacy carriers. Then the legacies will bring the flying and jets to mainline.

One thing we know about legacy management.

Monkey see, monkey do.