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Looks good for airline wannabes
- Thread starter S.O.B.
- Start date
Keep in mind that the shortage to which they speak are in the regionals and other low paying jobs. Most of those jobs are not where a guy will spend a career. At the major airline level, there are some jobs for guys moving up from the regionals or getting out of the military. But most of those jobs are going to furloughed pilots sitting on the beach. There must be 3000 laid off pilots that will get their jobs back before anyone off the street is hired. Those guys simply will not take a job at a regional. Bottom line, the pilot shortage is only in jobs that the best qualified pilots will not take. When experienced pilots sit on the side line and jobs go unfilled is that a shortage of pilots or a shortage of reasonable pay and benefits to lure qualified pilots?
The problem is, there is always someone who will do the job for less. First there was SWA (ironically, now the highest paid airline pilots based on equipment) then JetBlue.
I'm not a big union fan, but ALPA used to be a union with some balls and some clout. Now it is run by jackasses with agendas who are helping airline management tear down the profession.
Here is the problem - guys/gals with no experience are fine when it comes to everyday operations, but when the plane is upside down, most of them are useless. Sadly, Americans who will jump to another airline to save $2 will eventually get what they pay for.
True enough. Aircrew experience, investment in optional on board safety equipment, depth of systems operation control, optional in house weather service, turbulence tracking and management systems, training in excess of FAA minimums, innovative safety programs, etc, are not depicted on Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline or any on line reservation site. But the majority of passengers will jump on the airline with a $2.00 savings in fare not knowing what that $2.00 is buying them at another airline. In my view, it is worth every penny.
Without extensive research, there is NO WAY anyone off the street could know any of that, not to mention understand what it means. Maybe someone should start a website.
^ No one wants to hear it. They just want to save their $2. Pax haven't paid the true cost of their ticket for years. What makes you think they will to start paying it now?
As Wink said, there is no shortage at the majors and the new age 65 law will ensure there is no shortage in the near future. All hiring will have to come through expansion and with the current capacities the majors have, it will be a while before there is true expansion. What is going on now is mostly a reshuffling of destinations (principally domestic to international). International flying does take more pilots per flight (average) because of the longer flight times and longer layovers.
Delta will continue hiring because most of their near 60 Captains already bailed before they lost their retirement buy-outs. Continental has already announced they will be drastically reducing hiring. United has said they will reduce hiring. Meanwhile the regionals can not get enough pilots. 250 hours, a commercial multi/instrument ticket and a pulse will get you that $18k/year job and food stamps.
As Wink said, there is no shortage at the majors and the new age 65 law will ensure there is no shortage in the near future. All hiring will have to come through expansion and with the current capacities the majors have, it will be a while before there is true expansion. What is going on now is mostly a reshuffling of destinations (principally domestic to international). International flying does take more pilots per flight (average) because of the longer flight times and longer layovers.
Delta will continue hiring because most of their near 60 Captains already bailed before they lost their retirement buy-outs. Continental has already announced they will be drastically reducing hiring. United has said they will reduce hiring. Meanwhile the regionals can not get enough pilots. 250 hours, a commercial multi/instrument ticket and a pulse will get you that $18k/year job and food stamps.
I can forsee myself applying...Even as a rotor head. I'll have ~2700 hrs total with about 50-70 ME and an ATP on the helicopter side. I don't know if it'll be good in 2021, but we'll see....I figure the retirement pay of an O-4 w/20 would supplement that 18K nicely...
I believe the regional airlines are less safe than the major airlines. For the most part, their pilots do not have the experience of the major airline pilots and they will not attract/keep experienced pilots with their crappy pay and work rules.
You get nothing for free. If they charge less then they have reduced costs somewhere. Sometimes that is in all those optional features, and more, I noted above. Sometimes it is in the salaries for employees. Does that make them unsafe? People make mistakes whether they work for a low cost carrier or a legacy carrier. At some airlines mistakes are avoided or a mistake is absorbed by the features I listed above. At other airlines a mistake can become an unbroken link in a chain leading to mishap because they have not invested in the costly extras. You can't just look at accidents or fatalities. Most large legacy airlines fly in very high threat environments like South America, Africa and Asia. The ATC is often poor to unsafe. Mountains, poor charting, language barriers, poor weather services, crew fatigue, and more make that kind a flying more challenging then flying up and down the west coast for five legs and laying over in Portland. Not really fair to compare apples to oranges.
Absolutely ... anyone who thinks otherwise is in serious denial.
