k well good talk

That's L-XJT problem. Because ASA took the Expressjet name they have forgotten that the pilot group already put one company out of business, and that same pilot group is going to put another company out of business trying to prove you can put a square peg through a round hole.

Mods. Request considering closing this totally flame-bate thread.

ladies and gents, having come from a really crappy regional to the ASA side of ExpressJet, I can say that this airline does not deserve to fade away into the history books. The training was fantastic compared to the airlines that farm it out to Flight Safety, who only teach you to pass the checkride. The support from HR when you have a payroll question or benefits help is way better than the regional I worked for before. The bottom feeders that hire anybody with a heartbeat and are hostile to their employees are the ones that deserve to go under. I know the mainline partners could care less about quality as long as the price is right, but this place is doing the best they can for the pilots and other employees given what they have to work with. From my understanding, the L-XJT side of the house is also a very classy operation and if we ever get the two sides under one roof, we will have one fantastic airline (until the next regime change that is). I hope that 2018 will not be the end of this place. They have trained and will continue to train and employ a great pilot group.

Doesn't matter in 3 to 5 years the whole pilot group will be flying under the name Skywest or maybe they could revisit the name SureJet.

I personally know several people that will give you the high brow and then unpolitely tell you how naive an full of crap this is. You ever wonder why Compass has up'd their hiring mins lately?

Well said and very true.

One gets the sense SGU is desperately trying to extricate themselves from the mess that is XJT. This isn't a dig at the pilots, I recognize SGU signed onto some pretty crappy deals. But they have a bad taste in their mouths and they just want out of the 145s and the headaches. Most people around here think ASA will continue to thrive and will be one of the last regionals standing. If I had to bet, SGU wants the money from XJT to canibalize the smaller regionals pilots and in a few years there will be just a very few regionals at all.

Long story short-

As it stands now:
L-XJT - dead by 2018
L-ASA - Not dead in 2018 or in the foreseeable future.

It's not ASA vs XJT. It's just how the cards are falling. It's not political at the pilot group level.

Sadly all of this doesn't mean squat to mainline management, particularly UAL. Mainline carriers have gradually manipulated regionals to the point where they are not honest to god airlines anymore but providers of crews and seperate ground operations. This started in the late 90s with fee for departure when these companies stopped issuing their own tickets and has accelerated since. Now they can plug one operation out and another one in very easily. based on cost. These contracts have more holes than a swiss cheese so if you are looking beyond 2-3 years it is a waste of time. I defy anyone who has witnessed what is going on with UALs ground operations to tell me they give one crap about customer service in comparison to cost. These outsourced operations are horrible and getting worse, and UALs response is to outsource more to the same inept companies. The only silver lining to all of this is a growing shortage of people willing to invest the money required to get into this career, which may result in moving more of this flying to mainline. Other than that its not a great outlook for any of us on the regional side.