My nephew flies for the AA regional Piedmont. He got a signing bonus as a new hire in November, 2019. He was never furloughed despite the fact that it was the Rona and we were all gonna die. Now Piedmont is offering this:
Piedmont Retention Bonus. I worked in the US regional airline industry from 1989-1997. There was nothing like this. Nothing but pauper's wages. "Paying our dues". In fact starting in 1993 or so my regional required new hires to pay 10,000 dollars for training. They could opt out halfway through and get 5K back if they were failing. There was a pilot surplus, but now, in the US at least, there is indeed a shortage. My nephew will go further faster than I ever dreamed of, and thank God he has never mentioned Cathay.