FirstClass

Why the U.S. Airline Pilot Shortage Is So Hard to Solve -- The Motley Fool

• In short, the growing pilot shortage has encouraged the union to take a hardline stance. Since most pilots would be able to find new jobs -- possibly with better pay -- if Republic goes out of business, they have shown a willingness to drive the company under rather than compromise.

• Based on the prevailing contracts in the industry, regional airlines likely won't be able to recruit the pilots they need while remaining profitable. The only question is whether the legacy carriers choose to proactively pay regional airlines more to keep them afloat, or if they wait for the pilot shortage to reach crisis proportions before they act.

magnus0322

That article is highly inaccurate. We are not 1 billion apart. We are $120 million apart. Yes Bryan Bedford lied to investors on the earnings call.

basesjuiced

"However, there are two big barriers in the way of giving regional airline pilots a big raise. The first is that regional airlines like Republic Airways and SkyWest have lots of long-term contracts with the legacy carriers locked in already. Unless they can convince their legacy carrier partners to amend these contracts, the regional airlines won't be able to meaningfully grow revenue per pilot to support higher pay."

Who's fault is that, the pilots? These arent decade+ old contracts, see RAH AA deal('13, 47 e170's), United('14, 55 e170's), Delta('14, 9 e170's). Not once do BB and his mafia take any accountability for this, ever. Its all the pilots and now congress' fault? Right. Couldnt have anything to do with your despicable wages. Couldnt have anything to do with zero career progression at your airline. Couldnt have anything to do with your miserable working environment. Thats all on the pilots and congress

Flightcap

Lies, @!#%@ lies, and statistics.

FirstClass

Republic's best and final offer will be presented to the IBT on August 20th. The big question is will that offer be extended to the pilots or rejected first by the negotiating committee?

Realtalk

Rejected first by the NC... duh!

Duct Mon

[QUOTE=basesjuiced;1946746]"However, there are two big barriers in the way of giving regional airline pilots a big raise. The first is that regional airlines like Republic Airways and SkyWest have lots of long-term contracts with the legacy carriers locked in already. Unless they can convince their legacy carrier partners to amend these contracts, the regional airlines won't be able to meaningfully grow revenue per pilot to support higher pay."

Who's fault is that, the pilots? These arent decade+ old contracts, see RAH AA deal('13, 47 e170's), United('14, 55 e170's), Delta('14, 9 e170's). Not once do BB and his mafia take any accountability for this, ever. Its all the pilots and now congress' fault? Right. Couldnt have anything to do with your despicable wages. Couldnt have anything to do with zero career progression at your airline. Couldnt have anything to do with your miserable working environment. Thats all on the pilots and congress[/QUOTE
Management new about the upcoming pilot shortage prior to these new contracts. Management on both sides knew this. It's a numbers game. How long can they hold out negotiating this new contract and the longer it goes the more money both sides make and save.

proprunnner

I think its comical during the lost decade after 9/11 no one cared about the mass amount of furloughed pilots or the families they had to sustained. No one cared they had to switch careers and take subpar contracts to keep their jobs or lose they retirements. Finally now, things are finally moving in our favor and gaining just a bit of balance in wages and everybody has an opinion. Suddenly because we want a livable wage we're the bad guys? Give me a break. All these managements and stock analysts are a joke to me.

JetDoc

I counted at least twice where the author blamed the 1500 hour rule for "skyrocketing" training costs. How? You get your commercial add a CFI and you go to work. CFI, pipeline/powerline, jumpers, Amflight etc. The job are out there. The author should have probably conducted some research on the the "regionals" past hiring minimums also. 1000TT and at least 100ME seem to come to mind for most of them.

FirstClass

Except now Republic management needs this contract to go through more than the pilots do. From their point of view, the contract is what is keeping them from A.) attracting new FO's and B.) keeping existing FO's.

I submit its too late. I find it hard to believe recycled FO's are going to be jumping ship to Republic. Also, there simply is not enough new pilots available to hire to make all of Bryan's dreams come true.