Have they ever run 200 in December with the holidays? Seems like a lot to squeeze in

 

summer hiring/classes are always slower… ramp up after summer through late Spring.

 

nov/dec nearly 9 weeks, typically 3 non-class days. 400/6 =67 per class.

not unprecedented but close.

 

The brand new H building can hold 150 in room they use for new hires. Last December was the first year the building was open, so for future we could certainly do 100/100 each in the first 2 weeks of December.

 

Yes. But Also, we've taken delivery of 4 789s this year without any real FO vacancies to go with... so the overstaffing is thinning, but not gone?

The FO backfills are minimal and, of course, only in certain bases. Also they are going far senior to the junior pilots on the fleet, of course. Might be a little while until we see new hires offered it again...

 

Per the Apr 15, 2025 8-K filing, and using delivery counts:
We've taken just 4 787s this year and are only supposed to take 5 more to bring the count from 78 (current) to 83 at YE.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for next year, after this weak start...

 

The HOT rumor is they have upped the hiring to 3000 for 2026 (See Nov Dec 2025 projections of 200 each month) United was able to get additional 787 slots from Boeing due to the Chinese saying they did not want to take planes. The number I heard from the TK meeting was over 35 787's in 2026/Spring 2027 Now does this replace the aging 767-300's who knows. Anyway for now full steam a head on hiring..

 

Only 3 of the 7 787 FO bases are overstaffed according to the MIX/MAX and last vacancy bid. The other 4 are staffed at the MIN which is why they backfilled. And the overstaffing isn't substantial. Of the 1,340 FOs prior to the bid the required staffing was 1,290. So overstaffed by a whopping 3.8% before the bid closed. Also we had 30 FOs bid OUT of their seats, so now overstaffed by 20 which is 1.5%.

I bet we have vacancies on the very next bid for 787 FOs.

 

3 in 2024
4 thus far in 2025

Currently Boeing is delivering about 5/month across all orders.

Our next build is underway but is 14 down the list from the last delivered, so likely won't be here till mid/late Aug. Boeing is going to have to do better than 5/month to get us 5 more this year (or juggle the delivery orders)

We have 11 aircraft in the next 80 orders, so at the current pace we would be at 89 by the end of the summer of 2026. Hopefully, Boeing can increase production or juggle some slots to improve that.

Barring a change in deliveries or parking some of our current 777s, the 787 fleet won't pass the 777 until late 2026 or early 2027 (currently have 94 777s)

With some of the 767s turning 34 this year and some of the 777s turning 30, we are definitely going to need Boeing to do something to improve the delivery rate. By the end of 2026 12 of our current 777s and 20 of our current 767s will be over the age of 30, so we better be getting 787s at a much faster rate than we are now.

 

meaning the hiring rumors dont make sense?