Upgrade time update at different Regionals
 

I thought that we can have a consolidated thread on upgrade time at different regionals since the APC profiles need an update.

1. Current upgrade time at your regional

2. Projected upgrade time (speculation) for 2014

3. Chances that your regional will have to hire street Captains in the near future.

I know there are several factors that affect next's year projections, but go ahead and speculate on with the information you have and whatever you think could happen next year.

In the profiles section of each airline there is usually a note of when the most junior captain was hired. This is IMHO the best source of info for upgrade times.

Be prepared for the remainder of this thread to be filled with advice to "not chase an upgrade."

Street Captains?

LMAO!!!!!!!!

YA right after our single pilot certification goes through.

Not unheard of. I know an ex-ATA guy who got hired by Colgan as a street captain.

Numerous fractional/corporate operators hire directly into the left seat.

Compass

Right now just under 4 years. It should fall a little over the spring, but will only fall to about 3.5, maybe 3 years for any upgrades in the first 3 quarters of 2014. It should continue to fall into 2015.

Street CA's? Hell no, we have FO's with over 7 plus years of experience and 5000 hours of SIC time waiting to upgrade.

PSA is around 4.5 years but will fall to about 2.5 years by the end of next year if the additional aircraft are additional.

Current upgrades at CommutAir have just under 2 years on property.

Back in 06-07' there were at least 3 regionals hiring street CA. Others were having a hard time filling CA vacancies and started lowering their upgrade minimums.

Piedmont
1: 6.5 years
2: 3-4 years
3: No

Skywest:

CRJ Upgrade: 7 years
Brasilia Upgrade: 6.5 years

Not many people were hired in 2008 and 2009 so the upgrade time should drop two years very quickly.

Negative on the street captains. There are hardly any FOs at OO who have less than the 1,000 hours of 121 upgrade requirement and everyone now has ATP mins. There would be no reason to hire a street captain.

Please. A class of 2 that just finished were years 8 and 6.
Let's talk reality. Not "if we get 40 airplanes tomorrow..."
Till something else happens it's just wishful thinking. People will be making life decisions based on what they read here. Let's keep it real.

Endeavor upgrade time is... er well we have a class of guys with up to 9 years going through downgrade right now, though that is more because this place can't keep any FO's more than it's overstaffed on captains. There should be some movement finally from the top of the list with Delta hiring. Realistically it's not likely there will be any captains under 7 years (yes even the Colgan guys) And as for street captains... PAHHLEEEZZZEEEE!!!

2. Projected upgrade time (speculation) for 2014

3. Chances that your regional will have to hire street Captains in the near future.


2. I can't afford a magic 8 ball for you to shake because I am a regional pilot :(

3. In m opinion a regional that hires DEC is not a good regional to go to.

true, but now with the merger closed things should move.

Eagle

1) 6.5
2) impossible to predict
3) 0%

TSA

1. ~10 months
2. a year or less if you have the time
3. Not likely unless they completely run out of qualified FOs.

Comair > 25 yrs.

No upgrades in the near future.

Street Capts? Well. Maybe. As soon as business plan changes.

Street Captains?!?!? BAHAHAHAHAHA! When pigs fly and SFO allows fuhriners to do visual approaches! :rolleyes:

I would expect upgrade times to improve some as we move beyond the class of 2008 into the lean years where there were few new hires. It might get down to 4-ish years and perhaps hold steady there but only if major hiring picks up and SKW manages to avoid a massive downsizing due to retirement of 50-seaters.

Are contracts for 50 seat flying up soon with Delta and United?

From 2015 on a lot of them are coming off contract each year. The XJT side is losing more than OO.

Enough to cause a real hiccup or will 175 deliveries offset that?

This......

We don't really know. No guarantees we will get 175s. Expect a major hiccup. Then, if it doesn't happen, you might be pleasantly surprised

1) Eternal.

2) Even more eternal.

3) If "street captain" means "more likely to be on the street than be a captain," then yes.

The sad thing is, my stomach is still cramping from laughing at that. Well done good sir, well done.

I'm sorry where do you think people are going to "move" too. Maybe with that golden flow through of y'all's. I don't see what could go wrong.

PSA doesn't have a flow through they have guaranteed interviews. Peoplemover is living under the delusion that PSA is "growing" and everyone is upgrading in < 2 years.

Yes hence why I said "golden flow through" hahaha. That's the funniest thing I heard all day! If I was US Airways I would interview all of those guy, not hire a single one and freeze everyone's pay. Genious.

And then get rid of two 200's for every 1 "larger" RJ's. That should shorten the upgrade time haha. SMH :confused:

We do have guaranteed jobs. They have to hire minimum 4/month.

Just wait.

No 4 people have guaranteed jobs lol. So they can interview in seniority and offer positions to only 4 people. Wow. Good for you guys.

GoJet is at 2 years. Give or take.

False.......

I hope your dream comes true to fly a big rj's as a captain to make lower wages than your fellow pilots. When you look out that window at other rj's just know they don't respect you. you can blabber on all you want about how good it's going to be, but at the end of the day you and your kind is are the cockroaches of the industry. Psa now has a tarnished reputation. 60 some percent are some of the most spineless coward pilots the industry has seen.

False?

The seniority of the ongoing upgrades is at 2 years.

There are still some guys that are captains that just recently got off of probation. By recently I mean December or November of 2012 hire dates.

Gaining the respect of a big time 28 year old regional FO isnt something too many concern themselves with.

When's upgrade for ya?

Thanks for making me young. And I can't respect someone who truly doesn't understand business.

Moonwolf, we are picking up more Wisconsin people each class, your future is so bright don't let it get you down. You have so much to look forward to! :D what a great business plan you all have.

What about Mesa?

What I see is the 2013 and early 2014 classes reaching upgrade at around two years, which could continue with some attrition and growth.

We had 9/11 and an economic downturn surpress growth for a decade. Could upgrade times at all of the regionals go back to "normal" in the coming years?

That's funny because I see the resignations and none of them say going to PSA on them. Keep reaching buddy.

Problem is regionals are probably going to shrink more just like the majors have gone through. I believe in 2000 Delta had close to 10,000 pilots. I believe the combined Delta/NWA list has like 12,000 but don't quote me on that. Hiring would really need to pick up and another problem(at least at my airline), is that at least half if not more of the attrition here is FOs leaving for spirit, allegiant, virgin, etc. A lot of Captains are waiting for Delta/American/United, etc. For all the large jets that come on property usually means more parked 50 seaters. To think that regionals that have a bunch of 50 seaters are going to replace those planes 1 for 1 is very delusional. Any "growth" will generally be at the expense of another airline. I am a fairly senior captain and I very rarely move up. The days of short upgrades may return but hiring at the majors needs to be firing on all cylinders and you need to find an airline that isn't choking to death on mostly 50 seat aircraft.