EAA Progression to QF
Adam210,
There is no formal progression arrangement from Eastern or Sunstate into the Mainline operation. Any pilot wanting to go to mainline goes through the exact same application and screening process as someone applying off the street.
There are various issues that occured in the past that are partly to blame for this, and i'm sure other PPRuNer's more clued up on these issues will no doubt post the reasons here later.
I understand that within the last two years there have been but two Eastern pilots go into mainline. As to how many actually applied, I don't know.
At the end of the day, like it or not, fair or not, they are separate operations with a separate AOC and that's not changing anytime soon. And as Dr Shmoo said, there's been little recruitment at Mainline irrespective of where you're from.