Hello all,

Being a Texas born and bred I have a special affinity towards SW as I am building time on the regional side. One question so of my current cohorts have been discussing is the best way to be marketable at the next level. Given that I’d appreciate some input on a few items.

1: Does coming from one regional vs another have any impact (AWA 200 vs Republic 175 for example)

2. College degree, yes obliviously recommended if not 100% req, but does the major matter (Embry Riddle Avaition vs Economics at Purdue)

3. Other standouts like volunteering, letters of rec, military etc...big impact or just so so?

Thanks for the responses in advance.

I don’t think so for SWA. There seem to be a lot of Skywest guys in PHX, but a good variety of experience anywhere is what matters.

A Bachelor’s degree would rank higher than an Associate’s. The degree checks a box, the school doesn’t. My opinion only.

SWA likes to see all mentioned. I can’t comment about military service, but for sure community involvement and letters are very important.

SWA doesn't care what regional you come from. If this is your ultimate goal, work on your degree while flying at your regional. The regional that offers the fastest upgrade would be the one I'd suggest.


SWA definitely appreciates military service, but then you're looking at a significant time commitment that will slow your progress to SWA down.


So it just depends on your preferences.

I believe all of them are represented. the famous "Eagle Mafia" (now Envoy) and obviously Skywest are well represented. Some theory supposes that "alot of Skywest" because "Skywest is similar to SWA" but other supposition is that if the largest regional on the planet is, well, Skywest, then alot of Skywest dudes are at all the majors.

I would probably go with a guaranteed interview or flow regional versus not. That way you have a worst-case backup plan if you never get called as an off-the-street hire.

Hopefully many captains that you are/were flying with at your current regional are getting hired at SWA. Several internal letters of recommendation from recent co-workers really helps. Best of luck to you!

They help after your interview. They won't help you get selected for the interview.

Go to a regional you don’t have to commute to, and/or one with flow.

I was in new hire class in March. Half of my class was military, a quarter was corporate, and the rest was regional. I came from Endeavor Air. There were several Skywest, one Air Wisconsin, one Republic, and two from Mesa. While there are a bunch of Skywest guys, they do hire people from everywhere.

I had an aviation Bachelors Degree from Tarleton. I had about 7 rec letters uploaded with my resume and cover letter, not including my SWA recs. Once selected to interview, I had 3 SWA recs. I did Career Takeoff interview prep. 9500 total time, 7000 pic. Good luck, stay after it, and you’ll be happy you did.

They do like SkyWest people but st the same time I think relative to being hired from another regional chances are the same. Remember SkyWest has around 5200 pilots, so of course compared to another regional there may be a few more in class.

The most important thing regardless of where you want to work is to get Turbine PIC and differentiate yourself by doing stuff like check airman, recruiting , safety coordinator etc etc. so many people have PIC but few have stuff beyond that. being a ground instructor is usually attainable early on at any regional if you want it and can lead to sim instructor etc

Are there any regionals that have a "stigma" attached to them at WN and make it extremely difficult to get hired, even for folks who look really good on paper?

Mesa, for example, takes a beating from its detractors, who claim pilots from Mesa struggle to get hired at The Big 6 & elsewhere because of "Mesa's reputation." Others (often Mesa pilots) claim that the skills gained from managing all the challenges, as PIC, that Mesa thrusts onto them actually makes Mesa pilots more qualified than their peers at other regionals.

The answer to this question may well be different at each legacy/major/LCC, but if anyone is good enough to shine any light on WN's thought process here, I would greatly appreciate it - I'd like to be as competitive as possible at WN and I haven't yet reached the point in my career where I've been hired by a regional. Understood that things easily could/will change before I'm hirable by WN, but any insight on the current WN mindset would be great to get.