With Republic having no junior manning, no ready reserve, 200% open time, non base discriminatory travel benefits, union lawyer protection, adequate staffing so they don’t only get 12 days off month after month, and shiny jets. How does Skywest plan to stay competitive hiring pilots in the future?

 

Why don’t you ask the 200+/month guys & gals that have filled the classes until December.

 

They have us beat good when you compare contracts, no debate, CA pay rate as well (that needs to change or OO should expect serious attrition). But guess who has the faster upgrade and more desired domiciles? SkyWest was an easy choice for me. My priority was domicile (MSP) and quick upgrade. I came from 141 with less that 1,000 hours and upgraded in a year and 7 months because I lived in base so I flew my rear end off as an FO. SkyWest was not only the easy choice, but the correct choice. I have every intention to move on to better things, but I have enjoyed my time so far working for this company. I will say this though, the contract is not good enough, open time pickup pay increase is crap, reserve rules crap, and the CA pay does not compete with RPA or 9E. Although remember who has the faster upgrade, hence faster opportunity to move up.

It was easier to complain less about it prior to COVID-19 because those pilot bonus’s were paying out nicely.

 

My friend just upgraded to captain at republic right before covid after 3.5 years at the company. That's the issue with places like endeavor and republic. They have great contracts, but their upgrade times are rough and usually youre stuck at the bottom of the totem pole a lot longer.

 

3.5 years is not relatively long.

 

Love how 3.5 years is now a long upgrade time:

 

It’s 3.5+ right now at Skywest sooooo

 

3.5 to upgrade "rough" lol.

back in my day.......I kid but.......Yea.

 

Not too many years ago (at the end of the lost decade) upgrades commonly were 12 years. Amazing how mentalities have changed.

 

Yeah that’s COVID upgrade time. After it’s all said and done, I bet it adds 2+ years to everyone who was unable to upgrade prior.

If you’re a NH at SkyWest I’d expect upgrades to go back down. It just depends on the next 6 months.

I had an great discussion with a UAL guy I was sitting next to on a DH (He’s been through it all). Long story short, the airlines are the first to get hit and last to recover. I expect upgrade opportunities will be increasing steadily, but don’t expect it to be like 2017-2019 anytime soon.

Sadly, legacy training departments are proving right now they can’t handle training 1,000+ NH’s a year.