The pay figure quoted to me at an AIRinc circle jerk was $85 an hour for a Check Airman - I can hardly imagine how low line pilot pay will be. Before I get flamed, I only talked to them 'cause the hiring chick was pretty hot.
Heh heh... you think so, huh?
I stopped by at the Air, Inc in ATL in early Jan this year when I was working for PCL and they had a booth; I wasn't especially impressed, but dropped a resume and told them I'd be interested if the CA pay was going to be decent and I could get hired into the CA's seat, then they quoted that figure and I said something about "Good luck with that." and mosied on over to the airTran table next door.
They did send me a personal thank-you letter in the mail that was actually tailored to me, my resume, and our talk and personally signed which I thought was a nice touch and I kept it for giggles, but then again I keep everything I've ever sent out as a memento to just how difficult this career is so when my kids decide they want to be a pilot, I can show them how much sh*t I went through and watch them graduate med school later on.
I didn't think she was that hot, but I'm a little biased, my wife is smokin'!
Incidentally, the pay sucks the big one, and I'm not talking a cohiba... But there are literally THOUSANDS of regional pilots out there who will max out at $85-90 an hour at their airline and a max pay range of $100 an hour or so will sound pretty good to someone who is beginning to get worried about making it to a major or wants to use them as a stepping stone.
Like someone said, the line will probably be out the door and around the block (towards the closest Starbuck's of course).