tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9023417.post3695394044025122223..comments2024-03-27T10:02:37.532-05:00Comments on This Is Your Captain Speaking: Shifting Currents: Will Regional Airlines Survive?The Captainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03919928014165571837noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9023417.post-44488865437233478322015-12-10T18:25:52.894-06:002015-12-10T18:25:52.894-06:00Hi Sherman,
Thanks for the kind words. Yes, I'...Hi Sherman,<br /><br />Thanks for the kind words. Yes, I'll be getting the popcorn as this show promises to be a good one! From my perch, it appears that pilots will go where there is the fastest upgrade along with the greatest odds that the airline will stay in business. <br /><br />Right now it appears that American looks good as all the USAir East guys will retire soon. Virgin has a quick upgrade and deep pockets mean they're in it for the long run. Southwest is printing money right now but their upgrade times are pushing 15 years which is a drawback.<br /><br />For current regional pilots with 2000+ turbine hours, the world is their oyster. It's nice to be wanted.<br /><br />Take careThe Captainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03919928014165571837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9023417.post-84701264806420598522015-12-10T08:11:12.028-06:002015-12-10T08:11:12.028-06:00Excellent article, thanks!
The regional airline c...Excellent article, thanks!<br /><br />The regional airline concept grew as a response to competition from LCCs after deregulation, and from new powers given major airlines over labor by a change to the Railway Labor Act in 1981. Had the majors not grown these ultra-low-cost partners, and kept control of them with capacity purchase agreements, the majors would have lost the battle. The LCCs were crushing them in small markets everywhere.<br /><br />Regional and ULCC airlines are losing pilots quickly, they might last another couple years in their current form. What happens next will be the real excitement. The major airlines will see their networks crippled, while smaller U.S. LCC airlines will do well and be poised to take advantage of opportunities. This could go very badly for the major airlines, and the pilot supply will be the key.<br /><br />Pilots are major airlines are operating under onerous contracts, pay is modest, conditions are grim, and quality of work life is suffering. Major airlines are still cutting every cost aggressively and desperately. Smaller LCC airlines are becoming pretty good places to work by comparison, they treat their workers well, and pilots advance quickly to higher positions. There are a large number of pilots at smaller airlines who chose not to go back to the majors when they were recalled from furlough. That is important.<br /><br />Major airlines are not poaching any significant number of pilots from the smaller airlines, they are almost exclusively coming from regionals. The majors are cannibalizing from their own networks by doing this, damaging the one thing they still have of value. The majors are easily hiring over 3,000 pilots/year from the regionals, which have around 16,000 pilots left. The unknown and very important question is: will the majors be able to hire from the big LCC with such ease? If not, the majors are in real trouble.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com