I believe a mass of training captains left at the same time as friends joining this airline. The result... Pilots on days off for 5 months until training capacity is available for type rating. Once type rating complete (in sim) a further 3-4 months on days off (full pay), followed by a recurrency sim and then 1-2 line training flights a week. As previously stated, 12
months from joining until check to
line. No F/O’s sticking around until captains. Fleets of 6 aeroplanes with 4-5 captains, less then one captai per aeroplane. Must be costing the airline significant $$$$ on top of already parking aeroplanes/cross hiring due insufficient crewing.
Not sustainable.
One must worry about regional airlines moving forward. The answer? Pay more? Yes - But pilot syndrome of bigger is better will always take precedence. Especially when regional airlines won’t be able to match or even come close to the pay of big airlines without even considering additional perks such as staff travel and massive over time $$.
One has to worry about the sustainability of regional airlines given the current job market.
Interesting times ahead...