Will skywest lower their mins now that the industry is desperate? Or will they remain picky for that 1000tt min....

 

I believe they already have, or they are planning on it. We are losing pilots to attrition, and we're growing even faster with RJ's. You can bet you'll see them lower their minimums.

 

They will do everything they can to avoid it except for raising pay. I would expect to see things like bonuses (think chatauqua) for people willing to switch carriers before they lower the mins. My opinion is they will EVENTUALLY be forced to lower them, but I wouldn't expect it anytime real soon.

 

What about in 2 years? That's when i'll be ready to go

 

Seem like everyone is dropping their time except Skywest and Horizon. Horizon doesnt seem to have a problem finding pilots. Think they ever will?

 

Horizon will never have too much trouble... they have the advantage of bases in the Pac NW. If you want to live there and you work for another carrier you are faced with a tough commute, or ridiculously senior bases.

 

How senior is Skywest's Portland base?
They have a lot of service out of PDX and SEA. I am surprised they don't have a SEA base. They have atleast twice as much service as SBA, MRY, SAN...

 

It's only a E-120 base. For F.O.'s not senior, however, for CP very senior.

 

i doubt skywest will offer bonuses before they lower their time

 

Why not?? They could shorten the training program, thereby reducing the overall cost of training. (That's what CHQ is doing.) They get to keep their insurance down because they'll have relatively experienced pilots. They wouldn't have to raise pay to the whole seniority list. I think this may be the direction that SkyWest would prefer to go instead of lowering mins. But who knows. I of course would prefer they just raise pay across the board to encourage pilots to come over, but that's a pipe dream. If CHQ finds that this bonus program works for them, I would expect all the carriers that have large hiring needs to follow them down that path. Perhaps they'll try Eagle's guarantee for a base thing, but most of our large bases can be held pretty early, so I don't think that'd be a major attractor to SkyWest. Like I said, they may have to EVENTUALLY lower them, but I wouldn't expect them to start doing that real soon. The cost to them to give bonuses would probably be lower than the increase in insurance costs if they started hiring lower time guys.