Great Lakes STL flying?

[gliderguider]

Just out of curiosity, I was wondering if anybody knows when Great Lakes will begin their flying out STL that was previously done by RegionsAir. I checked out their website and it basically had no time frame listed. Anybody on the inside know?

 

[Boris Badenov]

Last I heard it had been put off indefinitely due to crew shortage. I'd love to hear differently...

 

[Way2Broke]

I would love to hear that they are giving you guys a raise because management finally wised up over there and realized that in the current hiring situation no one is going to work for those awful wages. Even Mesa management was smart enough to know this when they downsized air midwest recently because they knew they couldn't staff the 1900. Things will continue to get worse, because this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the pilot shortage. You have to pay to play in the aviation game.

 

[thepotato232]

The only idea more laughable than management telling us exactly when STL's starting is the idea of them giving us a raise.

It's true that STL's been put off indefinitely. We've got lots of annoyed future customers who are understandably impatient that Lakes isn't fulfilling their EAS contracts. Management's made no secret of the pilot shortage here -
hiring street captains, junior manning, etc. We're having trouble keeping DEN staffed as it is. The new rumor is August, but there's nothing to back that up.

 

[Berkut]

Uh oh. Are they going to be the next RegionsAir?

 

[Way2Broke]

Uh oh. Are they going to be the next RegionsAir?

Its either increase the pay and QOL or the answer to that question is going to be yes. This isn't a rip on the pilot group over there, its just the facts. The low paying regionals will all be out of business if things keep up at the rate they are at now. Its not just GLA.

 

[Trogdor]

When armageddon happens, there will be three things still in existance on the Earth:

Cockroaches
Twinkies
Great Lakes Airlines

 

[Cardinal]

Its either increase the pay and QOL or the answer to that question is going to be yes. This isn't a rip on the pilot group over there, its just the facts. The low paying regionals will all be out of business if things keep up at the rate they are at now. Its not just GLA.

I do seriously wonder how a schedule of any viability will be maintained in the next year or two. Completion factor numbers are kept high with continual unscheduled flagstops and equipment downgrades. The margin in the schedule is sucked out each and every day. As it is upgrade classes are going unfilled. I don't know where newhires will come from, and even then they won't have the time to upgrade when necessary. This could probably be said of many regionals, but at 16/hr and lacking that SJS lure, I dunno how it's gonna work out.

I just keep reminding myself that Lakes kept operating through the high attrition years of the late '90s, and they'll find a way to do it again.

 

[thepotato232]

As long as they keep it legal, anyway.

During the high attrition years of the late 90s, there was a very healthy supply of new pilots coming up from GA to Lakes. These days, all of the low-pay regionals are having trouble meeting their new hire requirements. It's likely got to do with the fact that prospective pilots could look at the airline industry in the late 90s and be fairly confident that their hard work in the regionals would pay off with a career at a legacy carrier (or wherever). I'm not one of those guys running around screaming "pilot shortage," but if there really is one, it'll be felt here at Lakes first.

 

[cale42]

Is Lakes hiring street captains?? Would a new hire captain be able to hold DEN? Whats reserve like?

As long as they keep it legal, anyway.

During the high attrition years of the late 90s, there was a very healthy supply of new pilots coming up from GA to Lakes. These days, all of the low-pay regionals are having trouble meeting their new hire requirements. It's likely got to do with the fact that prospective pilots could look at the airline industry in the late 90s and be fairly confident that their hard work in the regionals would pay off with a career at a legacy carrier (or wherever). I'm not one of those guys running around screaming "pilot shortage," but if there really is one, it'll be felt here at Lakes first.