When will hiring start back up?
 

Anyone have any idea when off the street hiring will start back up? I'm looking to get in with SWA.

2026 at the earliest. No classes other than D225 cadets, and even then I think they're only planning on running a few classes of 20-30 through the end of the 2025.

And aside from D225, there were about 300 pilots with CJOs that are still waiting as well.

Agreed that it will be well into 2026 before anything significant happens and even then, it’s all relative.

The real answer is nobody knows. The folks at the training center say 2026, but they have lied before. If you look at simple math, the retirements in this place really crank up the next few years, so their hand will be forced eventually. Assuming 1 to 2 percent growth a year average, they will probably start having regular hiring mid next year or so.

Everything i have heard says 225 this year then 300-600 new hires and roughly 300 upgrades next year. All for retirement replacements.
I think if the red eye flying takes off there might be another ~100 new hires/upgrades.

So not the end of the world but displaced pilots can probably see it from there

"this year" has 6 months left.

remove 2 weeks near Christmas, 1 week at Thanksgiving, one week for good measure somewhere else, and HR/corporate has 5 months to make LUV happen again

Is this contingent on the Max-7 getting certified by the end of 2025? I’ve been hearing rumours for early 2026, but just curious to see whether retirements alone will be reason enough for them to start hiring again.

The Max 7 is not in the company's plans for 2026 at all. They are operating under the assumption that certification will not be done.
I personally think the company has completely soured on the Max 7. It is a niche aircraft and the only thing it really brings to the table is range, but in a very marginal way. I am sure they will take some of them since they are supposed to be the launch customer and have the biggest order, but I am willing to bet it is way less than originally planned.

yeah even watterson stated they wanted less of them but the number isn’t 0.