That would be ideal. The way I see it is Delta is dipping their toe in the water to see if throwing money at the problem will solve it. We'll have to wait and see what the outcome is when the agreement runs its course.

Flamensky gets it. I think we'll see flying go back to mainline (where it belongs) and potentially some type of vertical integration of the pilot supply from zero time to mainline (which could be a scary thing). The best case scenario for pilots is that mainline starts buying up regionals (for pilot capital) and everyone has a clear path to the majors with hopefully a seniority number earlier on. That's at least my supply and demand theory.

 

Delta won't pay more just so AA has staffing, and United won't pay more to staff Delta. They would all have to pitch in, what's the likelihood of that happening?

Not to mention, there are companies that can staff. Just not Republic. The new agreement would help everyone there and significantly raise first year pay.

 

I agree. I see the mainline carriers more willing to buy parts of RAH like they did with TWA & Eastern before they are willing to put money toward a company serving their competitor. Even the ground handling services which have for years been used to provide service to other carriers are now being brought back in house.

 

You don't need to go that route. That was never the most economical solution.

It's a fun route to go, and it works, but it's not required to go to a traditional 4-year program if you don't want to. There are so many ways to skin this cat.

If you desire a 4-year from a traditional university, it's also possible to move to a state with low tuition costs ($5k/yr roughly for the top 10 lowest, and there are even name brand schools for that like UNC) do your flight training while living in the state then do the 4-year program and work as a CFI on the side building time.

Another way to slash costs is to do AP classwork in high school. I dropped several classes from my ERAU course load and had college level credit transfer in from other classes I took in addition to my AP tests. It took me under 3 years to finish ERAU, saving significant amounts of money.

 

The airlines provide a fairly homogeneous product with nearly identical costs. The primary means of competition is through gutting labor anyway they can. Teams of MBA's are diligently working to develop solutions to the pilot shortage instead of simply raising wages. Example: A signing bonus gets them in the door without raising wages.

My guess is that airline management is developing a strategy to convince the FAA to approve a Multi Crew License or to set up a cadet program as they have in Europe and Asia. Other longer term threats are the Chinese and complete automation. China is working hard to become the pilot factory to the world. Autonomous flight is almost here. Tesla motors promises a self driving car in three years. I saw one company advertising a concept plane on Facebook that made the assertion that one would not need a pilots license "just tell the plane where you want to go".

I can see a near future where the plane flies itself and the pilots (rather people in pilot uniforms) are there to give the passengers a warm feeling as they board the plane but then seem them again serving drinks at cruse. The impending "pilot shortage" is just the excuse the airlines need to get some huge changes that will always benefit the company.

Skyhigh

Ref: China Airborne by James Fallows

 

Excellent point. No legacy will help any contractor that also flies for a competitor.

 

So what happens with the NMB yesterday?

 

The mediator and company execs probably had a nice dinner at an exclusive country club.

 

Would they be able to do something where they place all the mainline flying on one certificate per airline? For instance, all AA flying would be on Republic, All United on Shuttle and all Delta on CHQ, and then divest each airline as a standalone company - Republic Airlines becomes its own company, Shuttle America becomes Shuttle America Airlines, and same with CHQ. As a result, the mainline partners can support the regional feed without supporting their competition.

 

What you describe is exactly what they got away from. RAH was the holding company for Republic, Chautauqua, and Shuttle.

Chautauqua is no more. I thought I heard shuttle and republic would become one.