Excargodog

I’d phrase it differently. The only major airline that I believe there might be ANY advantage to flying for Horizon is Alaska … but that’s a two edged sword. Alaska is one of the few majors around with no scope whatsoever, and they appear to be expanding their regional coverage right now at the expense of their major coverage. Yes, Horizon is supposed to get eight additional aircraft which typically would require the expansion of the Horizon pilot numbers by a hundred pilots or so, but Alaska is expanding its OO regional flying even more, while at mainline they are looking at replacing older jets with newer jets with more seats, but not really growing much. And while a few years ago turboprop vs jet regional experience really didn’t make that much difference at the major level, it seems to be starting to make a difference now.

But the other reason I’d go OO if I were you is the pay. QX lures new hires in with the bonus money, but then you are sitting at $52 an hour, with only a 70 hour guarantee as a line holder, fir a long long time.

YMMV, but I’d go OO if I were you.

amcnd

I will agree with the fact reserve pilots at QX don’t seem to fly. So if your looking to build time then QX will be a long wait for that.. but i would still go there for the safety of the PNW..

Bearhawk23

Thankfully and I could be blowing sand right now... but I believe I’m coming in at a very lucky time where I’m ahead of the curve a little bit and holding a line from what recruitment has said it should only take a few months to half a year IF hiring goes as planned to be able to hold a line. But I am slightly taking that with a grain of salt because who really knows what happens until it happens!


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stang

It's all down to if you want to make sure you are PNW based. QX will provide that and trust me after the initial excitement of the new job - commuting to a regional with not great commuter policy to sit reserve is no fun. It doesnt matter which one you go to for moving on to another location and plenty of QX pilots are getting the hours in. For me it would be a no brainer - take QX and stay close to home.

Turbosina

100 percent agreed, and I work at OO...

RIPV3

Since you don't plan to stay at a regional and want to move on, I'd go where ever got me the most flight time and fastest upgrade. Yes commuting sucks, but seniority is the name of the game so sacrifice QOL now if you must in order to get to your desired air carrier the fastest. It'll be worth it.

rswitz

All regionals are the same. Go with the one that requires the least amount of BS to get to work.

KirillTheThrill

They are not “all the same”. We have 3 shutdowns already in the last 2 years and the body count looks like it may just increase with the recent UA news.

You should never commute to a regional. Which means you have decisions to make. Stay in the PNW and fly for Horizon, or pack your bags and move to a growing SkyWest domicile (DEN).

A lot of new pilots who took the advice of “every regional is the same” decided the company doesn’t matter, only the commute time from their current residency are out of a job, or will be soon. If you don’t make sacrifices in this industry you’re at risk to getting absolutely burned.

Dream

I’m always welcome to more people under my seniority number as long as you’re rolling coal.

Bearhawk23

Thanks again everyone for the replies! Unfortunately post Covid information about how fast upgrade times, reserve times, ability to pick up flying has been pretty limited for me to find that’s anything but speculation at this point.

From what I understand both OO and QX are hiring at a rate that reserve times should be short, and the ability to pick up open time should be available if I’d like it!

This is definitely getting me start to ask more question to pilots I know at both companies about how much flying I’ll have the ability to pick up because I 100% agree these are not going to be places I spend a career at and are just a stepping stone for a major.

Would anyone be able to talk about the open time available at Skywest to pick up out of PDX or SEA for an FO / Captain?


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