Looking to go into regionals pretty soon. Having trouble finding any differences between these 3 regionals. Skywest pay is probably half of Envoy and Endeavor but they seem to be the best QOL regional and have a good structure. Can somebody else give me some opinions on what they think of these three? These are what I believe to be the top 3 regional at this time. Maybe throw in Expressjet. Thanks.

Skywest is a solid company with good people, no union on property. Endeavor and Envoy have big $. Endeavor has good schedules and a guaranteed interview with Delta which has been yielding about a 50% success rate. Envoy has bad schedules with a no interview flow to AA.

Do we know if Skywest is gonna up their pay scales to compete with Envoy and Endeavor... and I guess Republic too??

Probably not. They're doing enough hiring where they don't need to.

For now. I don't think that's going to be the case in the near future. 30k a year is a big difference.

Just went through this myself. I spoke to a couple more airlines than you did.

Envoy is currently just over 3 years upgrade with a flow to AA. SkyWest is just under 2 years upgrade (CRJ side) with great bases and QOL if you live there. No opinion on Endeavor. ExpressJet currently has a 9 year upgrade. Their personnel department says it will reduce to 5 years soon.

Everyone has told me that the number one consideration is being based where you live and QOL, but money matters.

For one year, for a CFI. These days I pizzle away 30K without even thinking about it. Well OK, my wife does that. I think about it a little first. If I need to make it up I can pick up extra flying for a few months.

If you're going to upgrade asap anyway, look at upgrade times. A year or two faster upgrade will cover $30K.

While flow programs have sucked in the past, given AA's massive retirements combined with the other majors, I'd guess that flow is a pretty safe bet right now. There's something to be said for not having to sweat interviews and jump through all those hoops, even if it's a longer wait. If the flow drags out, or you get tired of waiting, you can always jump through the hoops and bail for another major.

Either way, I'd look further into the future than year one pay.

No way on expressjet, they are losing 100 odd aircraft this year, not sure how they figure upgrade will drop unless attrition is insane.

Envoy flow is nice but takes a long time to flow and the flow will slow if staffing becomes a issue. Their credit per trip is awful, upgrade time is a long time, but I'd take flow over guaranteed interview.

Endeavor I don't know much about their current situation but I always question why someone needs to pay huge bonuses. No business owner does that out of the goodness of their hearts.

SkyWest is solid, good pay, great bonuses (which have been around for forever minus the two pilot profit sharing ones), lots of bases, High quality of life. Don't expected bonuses (besides type over 12,500 / 121 or 135 operator bonus of $7500). Ran into CEO the other day and he said no way on retention bonuses at the moment, no point paying for people to stay because they will leave first chance they get, you only stop a few from going to LCC and very few leave with upgrades so low and mainline hiring being what it is.

Comes down to where you want to live and if u have anything that can get you a mainline interview faster than flow or if you have something in your background that flow is essential.

Granted, but it's 30k a year, not once. The difference between 35k and 65k is striking. 140k and 170k, not so much.

Between which two airlines is it $30k per year (and not just once)?