Horizon has a new TA today. $90 an hour for first year FOs, $149.18 for first year captains. Looks like rates are slightly better than AA wholly owned but permanent. It’s very strange to see Mesa leading the pack. I copied this table from the Horizon forum as I think it deserves more attention, I hope more airlines follow the trend.

https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/attachments/horizon-air/7022d1662244386-mesa-100-hr-first-year-pay-a702ff74-249f-4185-bc64-f33e6f22c795.jpg

Also shrinking 50%

Sort of true. The elimination of the Q400 means are technically shrinking the overall fleet, but we also are taking delivery of 4 E175 this year and I believe 5 more by 2026.

As always, the situation is really dynamic.

Yes, Horizon management decided they would rather park the Q400s and slow hiring to a few pilot development students a month than compete for pilots during a pilot shortage. Horizon pilots later voted down their TA and have now gotten a presumably better TA; perhaps their attrition convinced management they need to actually pay to keep the pilots they still have. I wish I knew how many pilots Horizon has lost this year, I bet there are lots of demoralized Q400 pilots who decided to jump ship rather than be displaced and retrain on the E175. Perhaps some have collected another type rating and then left.

Mesa pilots voted down their TA and were recently offered industry leading pay. CommutAir pilots have been given a pay raise with an annual retention bonus partially to incentivize their pilots to stay and partially so they can revoke it at any time. SkyWest pulled their TA without a vote.

The more regional airlines that come out with good permanent pay rates like Mesa and Horizon the better it is for everyone else. I hope SkyWest and Republic will follow suit. It’s harder to take away regular pay rates than it is to remove signing and retention bonuses; definitely not impossible, but more difficult. And we now have two recent examples that good things come to those who vote down substandard TAs.

A correction: I believe we are receiving 4 E175 this year, 5 in 2023, and 11 or so more fir a total of 50 by 2026.

This is according to articles published on employee website

50 by 2026 is almost the 60 (30 E175s and 30 Q400s Horizon has been flying). That does not count the 30 additional E175s that Skywest is flying for Alaska.

Skywest is opening 2 or 3 e175 sims in SEA soon. Not sure if they are pursuing more Alaska flying or what, but the SEA base for OO is growing significantly

Actually the bonuses are in the contract.

I hear they are trying to drop all Alaska contracts because they pay the least

SkyWest is two months away from announcing their purchase of Horizon.