New NWA Furloughs

[flighter]

Satpak77, most pilots on this board are avowed republicans. Show some rugged individualism and pick yourself up by your boot straps. (dripping with sarcasm)Good luck NWA guys.

 

[Matt777]

So when there are a bunch of furloughs like this do these furloughed pilots ever go apply at regionals or do they just find another career because flying at a regional is not an enjoyable experience compared to flying at a major?

I'm curious because I am just about to go off to an academy (ATP) and this thread has me wondering if furloughed pilots go for the positions at regionals that new guys in training (or flight instructing) thought might be available for them.

It seems odd that while many majors are going into bankruptcy and now furloughing pilots- that regionals are hiring like crazy.

When a major has financial troubles and has to park airplanes, furlough pilots and abondon markets do the regionals then just jump in and snap up those routes? Is that the explanantion for all the regional expansion?
Or are there simply more people flying then there were 5 years ago?

thanks for any insight!

 

[Dangerkitty]

So when there are a bunch of furloughs like this do these furloughed pilots ever go apply at regionals or do they just find another career because flying at a regional is not an enjoyable experience compared to flying at a major?

I'm curious because I am just about to go off to an academy (ATP) and this thread has me wondering if furloughed pilots go for the positions at regionals that new guys in training (or flight instructing) thought might be available for them.

It seems odd that while many majors are going into bankruptcy and now furloughing pilots- that regionals are hiring like crazy.

When a major has financial troubles and has to park airplanes, furlough pilots and abondon markets do the regionals then just jump in and snap up those routes? Is that the explanantion for all the regional expansion?
Or are there simply more people flying then there were 5 years ago?

thanks for any insight!

Matt,

When I got furloughed from AA a very few folks I know went to the right seat of a regional but the vast majority did not. I was offered a few interviews at some regionals but didn't go. There was no way in heck that I could go from $100,000 a year to $20,000 a year. Many of the folks I know either went to Southwest, Jetblue or Airtran, or got into Corporate. We did have a few get hired at FedEx and UPS. Some are even flying overseas. I briefly got out of the flying business all together but hopped back in when a "too good to pass up"
offer came my way flying Corporate.

Regionals do suck up routes and markets left by the majors but in my opinion that will start to come to an end in the coming years. IMHO, the boom of the RJ is over and regional carriers not heavily tied in with a Major Airline will try to get rid of their RJ's post haste. In the coming years many a boneyard will be host to EMB's and Canadairs that noone wants or can operate. Again, this is just my opinion and is subject to much debate. However, with fuel costs being the way they are the RJ just cannot make money in this environment. (IE Independence Air)

The RJ's heyday is coming to an end.

 

[Draginass]

Don't worry . . . as long as there are young pilots willing to start work for the equivilent of $10 an hour, that's what they'll pay.

The RJs flown by regionals are very high cost airplanes to operate. The reason these regional companies make profits is through a "fee for departure" scheme where the Daddy major airline guarantees them a profit. Standing alone and operating apart from a major would be disaster . . . witness FLYi.

The present trend now is for the very senior pilots at the legacy airlines to give away their narrow body 100 seat flying to regionals in return for a few more years of good pay until they can retire. Of course, these louts care nothing for anybody junior to them, or the profession as a whole. US Air ALPA has been the vanguard of this movement.

So, take a good look at the payscales at the regionals . . . because that's what you'll be getting for a very very long time.

 

[fogrunner]

70 for Nov 1
150 Jan 1, 2006 and
Approx 180 more in early quarter 2006
a total of 400 more in addition to the 500 or so.
That is the latest from ALPA.

So the most senior furloughed person would have been hired when?

 

[NYCPilot]

Matt777

A lot of regionals are cautious about hiring furloughed pilots as they may quickly pickup and leave to something better due to their experience level or that potential return to the major carrier. This would incur a higher training expense for the regional.

 

[Skyline]

NYCPilot

What do you mean by "Run your life like a corporation" ?

 

[Snakum]

What do you mean by "Run your life like a corporation" ?

Squeeze every last ounce of sweat out of yourself, berate and demean yourself till you have no self-respect left, cut your own pay to the bone during hard times, plead poverty during the good times to prevent sharing or giving back, and set yourself up with a golden parachute for when you bail on yourself?

:tongue:


Minh