Comair was a regional airline formerly operated by Delta which ceased operations on September 29th of this year. Headquartered in Cincinnati at KCVG, Comair's first aircraft were two Piper Navajos. In 1984, Comair became a Delta Connections Carrier. In 2001, just 2 years after Comair became fully owned by Delta at a price of over $2 Billion, the Comair pilots went on strike which grounded the entire fleet of aircraft for almost 3 full months. Because of opening a new base at JFK in 2006, Comair had the worst record of on time flight in the entire United States. In 2010 Comair stated it would start decreasing it's fleet by removing all of the Bombardier CRJ100/200 series aircraft. Finally on September 29th, Comair ceased operations for good.
So why did Comair cease operations? Well, according to Delta, the company plans to reduce it's fleet of regional aircraft from 350 to 125 or fewer, and focus more attention towards mainline flights.
You may be thinking, what is the overall status of the regional airlines industry? Well it is not very good. With some closing operations and others frequently furloughing pilots, it is quiet obvious that they are not very successful right now. According to USATODAY, the average salary of a regional airline co-pilot is roughly $21,000. In my opinion, this is absolutely pathetic considering the amount of training that a person has to go through to become a pilot.
It seems as though since a lot of the major airlines are ceasing their regional operations, jobs for regional carriers will be very hard to come by, and even if you get one, chances are you won't keep it for very long!
Now heres a good question, are any regional airlines hiring currently? According to AirlinePilotCentral, ExpressJet is currently hiring. With minimum requirements of 1200TT and 50ME, the guaranteed 75 hours a month at $23 an hour does not sound very enticing.
I agree that the starting pay is far too low, considering what we go through. However, I think that the regionals are going to be around for a while (successful or not).
ReplyDeleteWhat are the specific reasons why the regionals are not doing so well right now? Also, what is the solution to low pilot pay at the regionals. If they are already struggling, where does that money come from to pay pilots more?
ReplyDeleteI have to agree that the regionals are not in a prime position. Additionally $23 an hour with just over $20,000 before taxes doesn't sound enticing at all.
ReplyDeleteSnagging a regional job and holding on to it may be difficult. I think it is important that if you go the regional route, use the job for the hours and any stability it can offer. When it is time, jump and take the better offer.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that may be higher than ones that I found. If I saw the post for $23 per hour, I would definitely take it over $16. It's amazing to see how much effort is put into flight training and the little it starts paying.
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