QRH Bingo

The bleeding of regional captains will not stop until majors stop hiring FO's who have never upgraded along with low time captains. It's simple market dynamics that have just been turned on its head recently. So, it is quite challenging to fix something that is outside your control as a company. In the past (as we all know) you needed 1,000+ hrs of PIC to be hired at a major which kept regional captains in the left set. Regionals need not do anything to incentivize upgrading and/or staying as it was built into the business model. That has changed and I understand RPA is attempting to adjust how they do business going forward. However, they went for the headshot and asked WAY more than a simple "training contact". I am not opposed to reasonable training contracts even if it is unlikely I would ever sign one. However, I am against forced upgrades and do not believe that is a viable long-term solution. I am quite curious how these forced upgrades play out over the next few years.

Finally, the union had previously asked a question to the pilot group asking what factors would help incentivize upgrading, wonder what the results of that survey were.

Bricky

So what is the solution? How do regionals make and keep captains in this environment?

Do you know how much is spent on a new hire? I have no idea. Salary of $7,000 per month + instructor salaries (?) + facilities (?) + FFT (I heard that is $1,000-$2,000 an hour) + office workers (?) + taxes and other expenses. That is a lot of money.

Do you know how much is spent on a new hire? I have no idea. Is $100,000 to much? It sure sounds like it.

Are you talking about Skywest? There's no forced upgrades at Republic. Are there are folks that knowingly signed the contract to become captains. Yes.

Justabusdriver1

the only people who would want to stick around are those living locally in an outstation and/or people who really never intended to leave and planned or don’t mind staying at the regional for life. I’d say 80-90% of pilots going to a regional intend to or want to go to a legacy and getting there as soon as possible because the regional is a stepping stone. There’s nothing you can do to prevent someone from leaving a stepping stone job to pursue their end career goal.

you can stop people from going from one stepping stone to another ala LCC by financially incentivizing them and being as competitive financially as them so it’s a lateral move to jump to the lcc and helping them progress in their career by helping get to the legacy. People left because flying slowed and stop to the point it would take years to get to a legacy instead of under 1 year at an lcc with the amount of flying you can do there.

punishing and disincentivizing potential employees and pilots for leaving to pursue something better looks bad from a marketing stand point.

QRH Bingo

I am very aware of the work rules at Republic so yes, I was speaking about any other regional with forced upgrades. I can still have an opinion on the matter and be against it regardless of who I work for. There are serious issues that have yet to fully manifest with the practice.

I do not know how much it costs to train someone, nor do I care. I am well aware that a good round number is "a lot" and I understand what ROI is and how it affects a business so please don't feel the need to explain. But requesting someone to pay back $100,000 is a bit extreme (along with many other issues included), when you are the first in the business to go that route.

I do not have a viable, long-term solution to the captain problem and I'll repeat my opinion that it will not stop until majors stop hiring low time captains and FO's.

Bricky

This is their solution until that happens. Will it work? I don't know, but FOs and DECs are being hired, upgrades are happening and paychecks are going out. I guess we'll see.

Justabusdriver1

how much has the company shrunk in the last 18 months pilot wise and flying wise.

QRH Bingo

We all understand this is their solution to the problem and many have vocal opinions about it. They are allowed to have those opinions. Likewise, anyone who wishes to engage in this agreement is free to do so. It is very possible that someone might be tied down to a specific RPA base for whatever the reason (wife, kids, etc.) and believe they can commit to being there for 5 years and see it through.
My concern, and likely others, is that the company is taking advantage of some who may be young, naive, and feeling desperate to get hired anywhere - likely not understanding the potential ramifications. You are working hard to defend this training contract and if it works for you, great. But it's okay for many to be very skeptical of it.

QRH Bingo

My guess for 18 months would be around 500 overall. YTD is around 250 overall with a stabilizing trend. The FO/CA split was around +400 at its peak and that's dropped to just around +100. Flying hours is not that much less now than 18 months ago I believe, but I don't currently have hard numbers for that.

Bricky

Woah, I'm not defending it. I think it is what the industry has to do though.

If you're concerned about new hires then you should want them to be employed. Could they be tied to Republic for 5 years, sure. Will they lose our on seniority they could have received at a major, possibly (depends on what happens and when PIC time becomes a requirement again). But will they make $100,000 to over $200,000 a year, yes.

There aren't a lot of other options anymore, but at least this one pays really well and they're hiring.

FlyinCat

There’s better ways to go about business. For me, at this point the only things that might get me to stay would be a seniority number at a major. If I had that locked in, honestly I don’t care what type plane I fly or what paint is on the side. That’s why everyone thinks regionals will eventually go in-house and wholly owned companies will have the upper hand. I’m not sure what will happen to third parties like YX. They better be ready to evolve or turn into an LCC or something. Or maybe the majors will still contract with them but the pilots will all be the folks that couldn’t get to the majors in time.