Originally Posted by
IllinoisDavidson
Upon first glance, you are right, a lot of these 'flow through' programs don't really 'flow.' I keep reading about how desperate the aviation business is becoming in the US, with the mass exodus of highly experienced captains retiring at one time; but I guess they aren't that desperate enough to make these programs more streamlined between the regionals and the majors.
ID,
Yes, there has been much said about the "shortage" here but there
isn't one at the level your husband is targeting. To the contrary, there's a huge abundance of qualified applicants which makes getting on a tough nut to crack. So much so the HR droids have cooked up lots of claptrap and hurdles to jump just to sort out the large number of well qualified applicants.
There are lots of of retirements at the legacy level but there will be no problem filling these slots assuming they even need to be filled (recession, economic upheaval, etc). In a crunch, airlines can just slow down or stop hiring and let age-related attrition shrink the airline to the size needed to deal with whatever the situation is. That's very hypothetical though...but not implausible.
As for these
pathways from regional to legacy, many people say that they are just schemes to attract pilots to a sector of aviation that might not otherwise draw the necessary numbers...and keep them there as long as possible at reduced pay rates by "dangling the carrot". The regionals do a very large percentage of mainline flying under the mainline umbrella...as much as 40%. The numbers are fluid but large. So mainline
NEEDS regional feed and at the lowest operating cost.
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be hard data about how these schemes are administered or the success rate. Lots of anecdotal chatter about it though. I'm a devoted cynic and tend to agree about the purpose of them but my opinion is only worth what you paid for it.
Tell your husband to include the LCCs, UPS and FedEx in his targets. They seem to be just as tough to get on with but just might be a decent place to be long term.