Skywest vs. Republic
 

I am currently flying 135 and will probably start applying to the regionals this fall/winter. As of now I have narrowed it down to Skywest and Republic, but am really stuck between the two. The biggest reason I am looking at Skywest is I would like to live in Colorado, as all of my family is there, but everything else about them doesn't seem too attractive. Republic has much better pay, QOL (from what I can tell), but they don't have many bases that I would like to live in, thus making me commute. Any feedback or suggestions would be great.


Very sorry if that has been discussed elsewhere, couldn't really find anything searching around.

At the regional level, probably no amount of money is worth commuting. It's all chump change in the grand scheme.

Follow the money.

Agreed. Only single pilots, or about to be divorced pilots, follow the money.... go with SkyWest if Denver is where you want to be based.

SkyWest is not the airline it used to be and you can expect to be in ORD/DTW/MSP/LGA for around 6 months (depending on fleet). DEN is a bit more senior and you can expect to be on reserve for a while there.

RAH will pay you better by default. (Example: OO does not pay marketing block. It pays "historical" actual block time.)

At SkyWest, Dever Is 6 months from DOH or about 3 months on the line . COS right after ioe I think COS is a better base. Better paying trips..

And how long to hold captain in these bases? Answer: forever.

Cos is exactly 3 years seniority on CRJ, Denver is about 3yrs8months as of the last bid.

Not great, but also not awful like SLC or the west coast.

When the OP gets there he might not need TPIC... UAL is hiring CFI's right now.

But he can upgrade, and go east for a while to get TPIC if needed. If he gets stuck, he can wait it out, or take a downgrade to get back home again.

Not commuting is good. Not getting stuck in a permanent long-range commute situation is priceless.

Or you can take your chances and follow the money. Everyone has to make their own decisions.

For me working 135 I will come into the 121 with 500-600 hours of multi turbine, it will be SIC time, but whats skywest upgrading at these days?