Originally Posted by
golfingboy
Programs like this one really benefits mainline and exacerbates the hiring/retention problem for regionals.
It gets worse than guaranteed interviews. In the link above, it states AS guarantees at least 1/3 of their annual new hires will be from QX.
On the other hand, while not great for long term staffing, it can be a recruiting tool to get pilots into the door at QX in the first place versus another regional. Really, the pay structure incentivizes pilots to either move up to captain positions or to AS. First officer pay progression is essentially flat.
Originally Posted by
WebTraveler
what Alaska needs to do is start poaching from competitors to help free some of this up.
Hah! My last AA flight was sitting next to a pilot reviewing training material on his tablet. He'd just moved to AA from QX.