I do not think that is necessarily the fault of the cadet. The airline pays the bonus to recruit the new pilot to the airline as an incentive which is much cheaper than paying everyone more money. The cadets usually are coming from flight instructing an owing a large sum of money to pay back their cost of training. More than likely this will still not be enough to pay off the remainder of their debt but only help them continuing to make payments until they make a little bit more money. They will quickly be in the same boat as everyone else once their bonus is exhausted. If they hire 200 pilots this year maybe they pay out $2M in bonus money, if that money was spread through the entire company it would only be worth about a $50 dollar a month pay increase for every pilot.

I don't believe RPA has a bonus anymore. Only a couple of regionals do.

From what I seen it looks like they're still working through the cadets, but out of curiosity has anyone with a CJO received any first hand info from the company on a training date or when they might start allocating dates to us guys off the street? Last I heard they'd email me when they had more info. I figure I'll pester them again next week then start looking at interview elsewhere if I have to.

There will be a hiring bonus at Republic, the exact amount is still being discussed by management.

How do you know this?

Yea, so I have been told from the recruiting department before off the street hires get assigned dates, they will reassign all 2020 class dates, then all the cadets with ATP mins before taking on outside off the streets. So I would definitely start applying anywhere and everywhere.

How’s it going out there? Flight loads, training, general updates for us who are in the queue to join RPA?

For all intents and purposes we are back to normal. We are at pre COVID block hours. What isn't the same is the mass exodus of pilots we saw in 2019. So thus far the company has been able to keep up with the increased demand by bringing pilots on leave back to the line, bringing back the furlough trainees, and bringing in the LIFT Academy grads and the CJOs that were out pre COVID. I would expect interviews and classes to brand new people to start shortly. The target is 40 new hires a month for the rest of the year but that could go up as things change. Once the Majors start hiring like they were in 2019 it will be gangbusters again.

Glad to hear it! I had a previous CJO last year and am awaiting the call, being as patient as possible. Happy that the previous furloughees are back at it and even better that the loads are back to normal. 40/month is quite a bit and that gives some reassurance that we are needed. Thanks for the update!

So, I applied as an "off the street" applicant back in April when they opened the portal again and was curious if there is a way to keep updating my times? My guess is to just hang tight and wait to see if they will reach out for the latest information. I keep the airline app up to date, but not sure if they are linked.

I'm in no particular hurry since I won't come off active duty until December when I retire. Should have my ATP and 1600TT/750 ME by then, so sounds like my timing might be pretty good.