450knotOffice

I'm only an outsider looking in, because I've got friends at SKW, but my experience in this business is that most FO's won't bid essentially laterally for a number of reasons: very little, if any, pay increase, two months in training (leading to no real gain in pay), perceived possible threat to their quality of life - all important. These are three that come to mind immediately.

saxman66

I like my QOL on the CRJ. The variety of trips is emense to where one trip I'm into the busiest airports to the next trip flying the milk runs into podunkville, USA. Right now the 175 is only going to a few cities and I get bored with that. As more come online, you'll see more senior FO's bid over to it. Right now the only reason for me to bid the 175 is so can I get my own FMS.

Jet87

People at SkyWest don't rave about the 175.. We care more about our domiciles and quality of life. The 175 doesn't offer any of that right now. (No offense to Chicago guys/gals)

SkyWest will be hiring 60 a month because they see attrition picking up. SkyWest does not want to park the Brasilia, they are buying 200s and we are picking up 40 new airplanes in the next year and half. Maybe they will need to hire even more then that.

rcfd13

A few reasons. The biggest is probably because it only has one base and that base is the most junior base at the company. There are only a handful of FOs who could bid it and not have to commute. A 6.4% pay raise probably isn't worth commuting across the country for. Second reason is that all E-175 pilots lose Delta benefits which is something that people really enjoy at Skywest. Third is probably because the routes and lines aren't finalized yet. There are a lot of unknowns and someone who bids it will have no idea what kind of schedules they'll be getting, or if they'll end up going back to reserve due to senior people bidding it over them.

My own personal reason for not bidding it is because I'm planning to move in about a year when my wife changes jobs. I'd like the flexibility to be able to move to wherever she finds a good job. I don't want to be tied down to ORD. If she gets a job in Chicago or they open more bases for the E175 then I'll probably bid it.

Seminole00

and it's not even like they have the contract in the bag already..

CBreezy

Thank you for explaining my point in the most literal way.

kfahmi

They've got to be the only airline doing so, yes? Everyone else is parking them. Unless I'm missing something...

air101

They see an advantage in increasing their at-risk/pro-rate flying, while at the same time strengthening their relationship with certain major partners. The AA flying out of ORD is all at-risk and they are looking to increase it. However, the performance of said flying hasn't been stellar to say the least since starting it. They must do a better job.

NVUS

50-seaters are a niche market, and SkyWest has cornered the niche market. It makes money when put on the right routes and doesn't count against scope (i.e. quantity limitations).

clearprop

That part of the equation is huge for some of us.