Pilots per aircraft ratio question. - Page 3 - Airline Pilot Central Forums

#21

pangolin , 03-11-2019 07:16 PM

Gets Weekends Off

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyboy68

So in doing research on several regionals I'm interested in, I noticed a big disparity amongst them in pilots per aircraft and relation to how many pilots cannot hold a line and how long they're on reserve.

Here are the figures for 9 regionals. Please feel free to correct any numbers or other info. These numbers are from the Airline Profiles section on APC.

Airline/ Number of Aircraft / Pilots / Pilots per Aircraft
1)Envoy- 171 / 2500 / 14.6
2)Republic- 189 / 2445 / 12.9
3)Endeavor- 154 / 1905 / 12.4
4)Compass- 56 / 663 / 11.8
5)GoJet- 54 / 600 / 11.1
6)SkyWest- 476 / 4621 / 9.7
7)CommutAir- 32 / 306 / 9.6
8)Mesa- 145 / 1200 / 8.3
9)ExpressJet- 171 / 1136 / 6.6

So by these numbers, can you assume that the carriers with a ratio above 12 pilots per aircraft are over staffed and have excessive reserve times? And does ExpressJet have any reserve? 6.6 pilots per aircraft? They have the same number of aircraft as Republic and less than half the pilots. Why are their upgrades so long?

I'm just trying to make an informed decision and not have to sit reserve for a very long time. Thanks.

I like this analysis but you can get better numbers if you break it up by type and seat. For example Mesa is way short on 175 CA but fat on FO. Understaffed overall on CRJ side.

When you consider pilots per plane the magic number seems to be 10-12 per plane. Is that 10-12 crews or 5-6 crews of 2?

#22

dera , 03-11-2019 07:40 PM

In a land of unicorns

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyboy68

I know bud, I'm not planning on it.

But we all know commuting to reserve sucks the big one, so I'd like to do it as little as possible. And logging TPIC is the goal, not just getting hired and sitting reserve.

Thanks for the info as usual. Cheers.

Commuting to junior lines ain't a cakewalk either.
In many cases, it's better to commute to senior reserve (when you can get trips that open up etc) than to commute to a junior line with lost day trips in BFE, Missouri.

#23

Flyboy68 , 03-11-2019 08:22 PM

Gets Weekends Off

Quote:

Originally Posted by pangolin

I like this analysis but you can get better numbers if you break it up by type and seat. For example Mesa is way short on 175 CA but fat on FO. Understaffed overall on CRJ side.

How?

Quote:
When you consider pilots per plane the magic number seems to be 10-12 per plane. Is that 10-12 crews or 5-6 crews of 2?

It's just number of pilots per aircraft, not crews. I just divided the total pilots by total aircraft. Crude, but gives a glimpse of over/understaffed.

#24

Flyboy68 , 03-11-2019 08:24 PM

Gets Weekends Off

Quote:

Originally Posted by dera

I'm not familiar with this airport. Good base?

#25

pangolin , 03-20-2019 06:18 AM

Gets Weekends Off

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyboy68

How?
It's just number of pilots per aircraft, not crews. I just divided the total pilots by total aircraft. Crude, but gives a glimpse of over/understaffed.

People are not upgrading or are failing upgrade.

#26

Flyboy68 , 03-20-2019 12:55 PM

Gets Weekends Off

Quote:

Originally Posted by pangolin

People are not upgrading or are failing upgrade.

Yeah, they just announced they're hiring 20 street CA's.

#27

pangolin , 03-20-2019 09:00 PM

Gets Weekends Off

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyboy68

Yeah, they just announced they're hiring 20 street CA's.

They ought to hire 40 in order to get 20 through.