Average time to upgrade at Spirit?
 

Just curious. Thinking about making an LCC like Spirit my goal as I'm 50 years young and getting back into aviation after an extended layoff.

Basically weighing time and earnings as an FO and CA at an LCC versus a major over the next 13 or so years.

Thanks in advance.

It’s 3.5-4 years “now” however, without another airplane order, you may never upgrade. Start with this:

https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/s...er-spirit.html

Thanks, appreciate it.

Lots of 4-5 year captains at delta on the 80 and 717. LCCs don’t have a time to upgrade advantage at this time.

That absolutely all depends on where you live and if you want to commute or not. DTW 717 captain is about 11-12 years.

Only in New York. Atlana MD-88 captain hit the bottom of the Delta list at one point, but that fleet is getting parked and those junior captains are getting displaced. Captain at the big D is still well over a decade unless based in NYC.

I’d commute or move to NY if it meant an extra $150k plus 16% of that plus profit sharing on it as well. It’s not like our new upgrades at spirit can get any base they want either.

I think that is a number/time span that is going to rapidly change.

As stated earlier, without another aircraft order and based solely on retirements, at your age you would never upgrade.

But even with sustained growth, say hiring 300 and upgrading 150 per year, an FO hired today is looking closer to 6-7 years, unless there is several consecutive years of explosive growth.

This of course does not factor in economic cycles.

You’d be in the vast minority, and the fact that those slots were going so junior speaks to that.

I’m sure they were going jr but I’d take the upgrade and commute too.


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