Skywest is a great company! I've been here a little over five years now and still love going to work! We're expanding quite a bit so there is lots of movement. This expansion actually began 3-4 years ago. At that time we had less than 20 RJs, now we've got over 100 of them.
Depending on where you are based and what aircraft you're flying you could do anywhere from locals to 4-day trips. On the RJs, I'd say it's 60% 4-days with a mix of others in there for the rest. I'm in the top third of the seniority list where I'm based and can pretty much hold locals or back-to-back 2-day trips. My average pay values are up in the high 80s with some months going up over 90 hours. There is plenty of extra time to pick up for overtime pay (last week I picked up a quick LAX round-trip that paid 4.5 hours of overtime).
The goods:
-Great equipment. Our maintenance department is top-notch. They keep the airplanes running like they should.
-Great crews. Just about everyone I fly with are very happy to be here and make the most out of their jobs. We get up in the air and talk about family, friends, etc. instead of b*tching about the company.
-Great schedules. Not too many regional airlines where you can literally go coast to coast in one trip. While it's hard to get 100% good, consistent trips, our planners do try to make them good (Delta and United change our schedules- that has a big affect on us).
-Great training dept. Their goal is to see you pass, not wash you out.
-Great management. Open communication. They try to tell us what's going on and keep everyone in the loop.
-Plenty of movement. I just looked at the seniority list. The most junior captain in the Brasilia was hired 8/11/2003 and on the RJ was hired 8/1/2001.
The bad:
-First year pay! Ugh! No pay during training (you are provided a hotel room). This is something that would be a show-stopper for someone with an established family. I was fortunate enough to get hired early on in my marriage and didn't have kids so my wife was able to work. Do a search on regional pay and you'll see what I got paid my first couple years here. We're due to get a raise this year, but not sure how much. It's a competetive world with other regionals all trying to get United and Delta's flying. That trickles down to us...
-This "bad" goes with any airline you work for. Seniority is everything and you start out at the bottom. That means sitting on reserve for possibly a couple months; you'll most likely be working weekends and holidays. Your schedule won't be awarded until the 17th of the month prior. Vacation (outside the master bid) right now at Skywest is pretty hard to get because we're short pilots.
All-in-all, Skywest is a great company with some good potential. We'll never get major airline pay unless we start flying something with more than 100 seats. We are at the mercy of United and Delta whose futures are uncertain.
Hope this helps your decision...
