Will the majors cannibalize their WOs?
 

Looking forward here, there is a lot of temptation to choose a regional based on a flow through agreement...


My question is whether or not the majors will actually cannibalize their wholly owned? In other words, wouldn't they prefer to take pilots from other airlines' regionals instead of their own? Flow throughs it would seem to me would be hurting their own regionals.


So in that regard, perhaps it is better to choose to work for a regional that doesn't have a flow-through program, or choose a regional that is wholly owned by a major you are not interested in working for? If the majors drain their own regional could they be shooting themselves in the foot?

Thoughts? :confused:

No. One of the key benefits of a WO to a major is their ability to control capacity and staffing without long-term contracts.

They'll want to keep the WO pilots chained to the oars while the non-WO regionals get emptied out by hiring. Of course that only works for so long, because the WO pilots can (and will) eventually bail for other majors once they realize the deal.

In a pinch (which will probably come to pass eventually), they'll most likely all do a metered WO flow through to try to control the bleed out.

Reason being, their non-WO's are likely to be emptied out by other airlines at a rate that they cannot control. At least with the WO's they can control the damage to some degree. If they offer retention of longevity for example, that could incentivize people to stick around and wait for flow rather than bail for another legacy.

The "real" point of a flow for managment is to "meter" pilots from leaving... they will do what they need to protect there feed, and keep the bait alive..

What carrier is most represented at Delta new hire ground?
What carriers have alotted slots at American?

These carriers are growing and the highest paid.

The question is what happens when they don't have enough incoming new hires to replace those leaving via flow. IMO there are 3 options:
1. Flow the WO regional out of existence.
2. Meter the flow down to a trickle.
3. Offer even more money to try for more new hires.
The old AMR got tons of mileage out of this type of thing going back to the 90's.

More PSA pilots have been hired by Delta in the last 2 months than have flowed to AA.

The majors may cannibalize their competitors WO's. That would be a great strategy. If Delta hired a dozen sim instructors and a couple dozen LCA from a given regional, it could seriously hurt their competitor.

Kind of defeats the purpose or marketing that "never interview again" pitch...oh well, to each their own!

The flow is going to be for those that are not able to get hired outside of it.

If you do not want to put forth the effort of applying elsewhere, then the flow will help. Likewise if you have a bad record with multiple checkride failures or a criminal history.

If you have a good record, there is really no reason to wait for the flow unless you really want to work for the parent company.

What are you saying? It doesn't make much sense.

Are you saying that you wouldn't bother interviewing elsewhere?

Just because you don't have to interview elsewhere doesn't mean that you can't. If it gets you to a legacy carrier a few years faster, wouldn't you go to an interview?

Nailed it. Flows are for managements benefit. Not pilots. You may get lucky, you may wait 13 years to go from Eagle to AA like a colleague I knew...