good regional airlines
 

Out of your personal experience which regional airline would you choose start off in? What would be the overall best be not just for money wise but enjoy working with? I can research all I want but what it says and what put the actually have experienced is completely different. Any advise would be helpful thank you

The best today can be the worst tomorrow.
Good luck.

Yup. All are in the same ballpark. Work for one that has a base where you want to live.

Comair was the place to go, now look at it. Colgan or Compass have movement these days

Colgan doesn't exist anymore its all 9E now:D

Every regional is on the ass end of this industry.

I've heard Lufthansa Cityline is a good regional airline, try them... ;)

It all depends on what you are looking for and where you want to live.

Well im still in the military and I have 2 years left and I am trying to find out what everything is sitting at right now so when time comes I can be ready. Would anyone know any other web sites to get some information such as news and what going on the airlines. Thank you

I hear ACA/Indy Air is up and coming. Also, Comair and Horizon have solid contracts, good work rules and are great places to work.

The best of yesterday are the has-beens of tomorrow. What you're looking for in two years is completely irrelevant today, next month or a year from now. When your time comes grab a dart, blindfold yourself, throw it at a list of regionals (probably shorter in two years) and go wherever it lands.

You're just as likely to succeed or fail by doing that as choosing "the best" regional. Working for the best regional is like having the best kind of cancer. You'll likely survive, but come away scarred.

Eagle is good but like the others... the future is unknown.. most likely they're going to sell us off soon. Hard to tell if that's going to be good or bad. Today I think I would choose Skywest cuz I like western bases. Also watch out for little bases... they tend to come and go. For instance at Eagle Dallas and Chicago are huge and unlikely to close. Meanwhile the folks in Boston got screwed by their base closing.

Flash,

The best advice any of us can give is continue to work toward that day, a few months prior revisit this website and ask the question again. I am 100% positive our industry will not look like it does today 2 years from now.

JJ

good and regional in the same sentence? Wow, kidn of course. Matters what you want really. QOL, upgrade, equipment, etc. Im starting to use "regional" less and less since i overnight on both east and west coast in the same 4 day trip. Regional is a management word so they can pay us less. Pick an airline, move to a base, take the first upgrade and get that pic asap. Keep the fingers crossed, and hope everything works out. Enjoy the Elmira, Scranton, and Bangor overnites!

Complete guess. Luck and 20/20 hindsight are all that you can rely on to make the correct choice. You can plan on it "sucking" quite a bit for a while.

As has been said prior, I'd pick an airline that allows you to be based where you want. Upgrade and get your ATP and 121 PIC time as soon as you can, no matter where it is.

"good regional airlines" = Oxymoron

Jet Blue




...

colgan haha this guys a comedian and comair, ha I guess you have no idea

:D

I keed I keed.

This question is always being asked on here. This is a question that no one can answer for you. "Good" depends on what youre looking for. What are your top priorities? Is it living at home and having a local base? Is it stability? Is it quick upgrade time? Is it flying the plane you want to fly? Is it a flowthrough agreement with a major? Is it good pay? Is it good benefits? Is it good work rules? Is it a newer fleet? Is it high growth?

The point im trying to make is that no regional is absolutely perfect in all catergories. So you have to decide for yourself whats important to you.

fltops.com is a good site to look at. It's "pay to play", but they provide a lot of free info on the industry and hiring.

If history of the airlines comes into play, and who has been able to compete and come out without too much pain, and has had a history of that, then you are looking at Skywest, ASA, and Republic. These, in the worst time for aviation, have done relatively well. Each are positioned better than most with 70-100+ seat airplanes which I'm told is the future of small jet flying. Republic is changing it's business model so no one really knows how that is going to turn out. Eagle has also weathered the storm, but who knows what AMR is about to do to them.
PNCL had a good hold on 900's and good deal with turbo props with the Q400's, but Delta actually owns all of their 900s, and there is a stipulation written into these contracts that if delta wants these jets back they can take them. (same with all the 900s that are flying Delta colors)

Good luck! Trans states just put a firm order for 50 Mitsubishi jets. Who knows what that will turn into.

In 2 years Gojet will be the place to be. But that's a can of worms.

Deleted....

Tell me where you live and I may be able to give you a more educated opinion.

Are you a pilot in the military? If so, raise your standards. You can go straight from the military to Delta, Fedex, Southwest, Jetblue, etc. Why waste your time flying for food stamp wages at the regionals?

The home website of this forum has some great info on hiring and profiles for each company, free as well:

http://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/airlines.html

Not entirely true. 16 of the -900s belong to 9E, but all the -900s at XJ are Delta owned. As for taking the jets back, they'll have to renegotiate the air services agreement they signed as part of the XJ purchase. The -200s are Delta owned as well, but were at contractual minimums on those airframes per the ASA signed with Northwest. They could land us in court to dump them like they did with Freedom, but I don't see that happening unless we screw up really badly.

Don't ASA and Skywest have a butt load of DL 50 seater's. To me that sounds way scary for the future. But, if 6 years ago someone told me that at OH I would have laughed, I had to bail fast before that ship went under

I find it interesting going back and reading posts from back in 2007. Especially that enormous Comair thread. Sounds like a great place, big hiring and awesome QOL. It's interesting to follow it along and watch the wheels fall off ( I said interesting, not good).

What is good one day, is in the dumps the next and what is in the dumps one day... is still in the dumps today.

What branch do you serve in? Like someone else already said, if you are a pilot in the military with fixed wing time, there is no need for you to even consider the regionals......shoot for jetblue, swa, or any of the majors.......even FedEx and UPS.

If you are NOT a pilot in the military, then pretty much follow what others on here have already said. The only other things i would consider and think about in addition to what others have talked about are......your age.......and are you married?........and do you have any kids or dependents? The ideal position you want to be in that'll give you the most flexibility is not married, no kids, and be somewhere in you early to mid 20s. Not to say that you are wasting your time if you are in your late 20s or 30s, married, with kids!;)

Goodluck!

That is a good way to put it I guess.

manhattan ks

Really???? When did SkyWest and ASA get 100+ seat airplanes, and where are they hiding them???????:rolleyes:

I didn't say that Skywest or ASA had 100 seat airplanes. I lumped the companies together in a group of airplanes from 70-100+ seats. If you aren't smart enough to understand this concept than I'll break it down better for you. Skywest and ASA have airplanes that can carry up to 50 pepole, 70 people or 90 people, depending on configuration. Republic has the same thing, but they also have A320s that can carry 100+ people.

Clear enough?

Wrong again oldcar, Pinnacle owns all their 900's. Mesaba's are owned by DL.

My bad. Then 16 of the 900s are PCLS.

Bob, that is some funny stuff right there! HAHA!

My suggestion would be to stay in the military. You would be taking a pay cut to go to a regional and who knows if your regional will furlough you or go out of business. Stay in the military 20 years or more, get a retirement check from the government, and get a job at a regional to make extra money for greens fees and such.
If you are indeed reaching 20 years or more now, then go for it. Of course, with only 9-11 days off a month, and commuting, there ain't much time for golfing:p

"Can" being the key word...

Not necessarily. There are/were plenty of military guys hired at regionals, fracs and 135 freight....especially true if they were short of their "magic" 1000 PIC turbine and didn't make the numbers for a major or good corporate outfit.