Dugie8 said:
I ask this honestly, whom do you think is responsible for the current state of the industry?
I think it's a combination of numerous things from the past and continuing today. I think the biggest contributors are the Majors and ALPA/APA. Back in the day, there were good jobs at the majors. They all looked down upon the regionals and said we'll gladly give you those small planes (50 and less seats). I was interning at AA at the time this was going on. At the time, the regionals were a stepping stone, and required 135 minimums.
Then, word found it's way to airline mgmt that pilots would "pay for training" and "pay for jobs", with shirts everywhere that said "I will fly for food", etc. Most regionals started requiring people to pay for their own training, which was a very bad thing for the industry, because it reinforced to mgmt that pilots really will do anything to fly for an airline.
Of course, the people entering the industry at the time (my age group) gladly paid the money because the regionals were just a stepping stone. They were using the regionals to get that coveted job at a Major. The regionals were getting a great deal, since the pilot groups were paying for their jobs and/or training, depending on how you look at it. Everybody was using each other.
Enter the RJ's. Now, everybody knows that they aren't efficient, but they still dominate the regionals, and for years. Why? I am still trying to figure that one out. The majors, seeing how everybody was jumping on each other to get the jobs, and knowing what the pilots did at the time to get the jobs, looked at it as a way to decrease pilot pay. The majors had some very senior pilots getting paid very well. How do they get rid of this? Enter the regionals. Now, most of the regionals had a decent sized fleet of RJ's. More and more flying starts going to the regionals. The pilots at majors start seeing the light, but too late. Now, everybody is screaming bloody murder about the RJ's. The major pilots are watching their flying go to the regionals more and more. Mgmt now comes and says, either take a pay cut or we'll give more flying to the small guys. The majors are locked in to their brand of flying, due to being very senior, since airline mismanagement prior to 9/11 already washed out most of the junior guys/gals at the airlines. 9/11 just amplified a bad situation and helped the airline management's cause.
Now, you have major airline pilots adamant about getting back the flying they gave up a long time ago. You have regional guys/gals that bought their jobs back in the day, who are now the senior people at the regionals saying screw the majors...we're stuck here. Let's get as much flying here as we can and hold on to our jobs. And you have these flight schools tripping over each other to get the business to get these low-timers into the cockpits.
As far as the low-timers...remember, I said the regionals used to have normal flight time requirements to get hired on? Well, most regionals ended up being in a MAJOR airline status (see airlinepilotcentral.com). This, along with the regionals fighting over each other for flying rights for each major, led to lower and lower pay. When you lower pay, you have to look for lower qualifications. It's been discussed on here with other threads how I believe it was Pinnacle didn't pay for training costs, but once they stopped hiring from Gulfstream, they had to start doing something, a la pay for housing, etc, during training to get people in the door. This is them raising the bar after hitting rock bottom. Scary, isn't it?
So, to answer your questions, the demise is caused be each and every one of us. We're the ones who fly for lower and lower wages. Why do you think the regionals keep lowering their mins? Does everybody think there aren't enough qualified pilots out there?
Just my observations...
TX
