Quote:
Originally Posted by DBono
I'm honestly foncused about what drives this disparity. Just to make sure I understand, this implies that those 03/2018 folks have been on reserve up to this point? Why did Envoy overstaff the 145 to this degree? Was there some expectation of growth that did not materialize? (yet?)
It is a complex situation with many moving parts. The growth has been on the 175. So, those FO's tended to fly more and upgrade faster than on the 145. This causes vacancies and consistent upward movement and relatively short reserve times.
The 145 bases have seen a lot of expansion and contraction in their flying and staffing. LGA used to be the fastest place to get a line as everybody wanted to transfer out. Now those lines have shrunk and we have enough people who want NY.
There was a backlog of 145 FOs for a while, with >100 on the reserve list in ORD alone. It has taken the typical 145 FO over 2 years to get the time to upgrade. Longer if the wanted to transfer to DFW, shorter if they got lines elsewhere.
Envoy keeps big reserve lists and is overstaffed because they want to keep the training pipeline full. The steady flow of people out has caused local staffing disruptions (such as on the CRJ when half the CAs flowed to AA in a couple months, or the shortage of qualified CAs forcing Envoy to hire DECs) and Envoy is just trying to have warm bodies on hand to fill the jets. The pipeline is full of cadets and RTP pilots, so Envoy will keep putting them in class.