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Why don't American full service major airlines like Delta and AA own other low cost airlines?
Air France has Transavia France. Lufthansa has Germanwings. Korean Air has Jin Air Cathay Pacific owns Cathay Dragon. Qantas owns Jetstar But why are all low cost airlines and full service legacy airlines seperated in the US? Virgin Australia has Tigerair Australia ANA has Vanilla airlines JAL has Jetstar Japan Is it because they own the A320 only and Boeing 737 only? PhotonX American Eagle and Delta Connection are "regional airline" brands, not low cost airlines. Like Air Frances owns a regional airline called Air France Regional and a low cost airline called "Transavia France" Qantas owns both a regional airline brand Qantas Link and a low cost airline Jetstar. Delta and AA only have regional airline brands but no low cost brands.
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The answer is a bit complex. To a degree, what you hear is correct - but it does not quite mean what you might otherwise think it means.
Consider your first job (maybe while in high school), working the drive-thru at McDonalds. It's a honest job, but most folks (especially youngsters) don't intend to do it for the rest of their lives. The expectations are that you will change jobs a number of times (hopefully for better jobs with better pay) before you are finally established in a career. Pilots are in a similar situation.
For many pilot jobs, especially with getting to the airlines, it is all about the hours. Those hours represent both experience (and some hours are better than other - twin engine hours are better than single, and jet is better than piston). But paying for the hours yourself is beyond the reach of most people. So pilots who want a career with the airlines usually have to start at the bottom. They scrape up enough money to get their commercial license and instructor rating, and start instructing - often in a rental plane older than they are, and for so little money that they too are working the drive-thru at McDonalds.
They accumulate enough hours (and contacts) to start helping out with late night freight delivery (called being a freight dog). Maybe get some charter work. Than a full time charter job. Move up from there to a small regional carrier or one of the charter jet companies. Then finally, if they are lucky, to the majors. And yes, this means changing jobs several times.
Now understand, some pilots love instructing and may do that for their entire time. But for most, instructing and hauling freight and the rest are just stepping stones to their "dream job."
Once with a major carrier they typically stay with that carrier if at all possible. Within the carrier, the pay and job quality and other perks are determined to a large degree by seniority. Switch to another carrier and you may lose all that hard earned seniority. [Pilots generally hate mergers and acquisitions, since that may affect their seniority, without them having any choice in the matter.]
So yes, a freshly licensed commercial pilot may indeed change jobs a number of times on the way up - but probably no worse than a lot of other career paths.
There are some speed limits for certain types of airspace. Airliners are always in contact with air traffic control and in order to keep the required separation of aircraft sometimes the controllers will ask the pilot to maintain an airspeed. More than likely you experienced a slowdown while your plane was beginning an approach, During approach controllers have to maintain specific spacing between aircraft and often must slow them down behind slower aircraft. Your plane very likely was slowing down from approx 570 knots to 250 knots or less for the approach.
Not likely. Flight schools get paid for teaching people how to fly. If they paid you for learning how to fly, they would go out of business. If you worked for them you could gain flight hours teaching others to fly, but you need hundreds of hours before you can become a flight instructor.
Many colleges offer flight training. Two that come to mind are UND and University of Cincinnati but there are many others. You might look into that as most airlines want a degree also. Regional airlines pay is garbage but you get raises pretty quickly as your time builds.
FAA Multi-Engine Airline Transport Certificate or Restricted Multi-Engine Airline Pilot Certificate
2500+ hours of total time minimum.
If Military: >1000 hrs. Total Time. Turbine and PIC are flexible.
1500 turbine (jet) flight time min.
500 PIC turbine (jet) flight time min.
Current FAA Class 1 Medical Certificate
FCC Radio License
No restrictions on International Travel
Current US Passport
Ability to pass a 10-year security background check and pre-employment **** and Alcohol test
Those are the minimum requirements for kalitta. As you can see with 6500TT & 4000+ CRJ time you meet the requirements. It all really comes down to the interview and the impression you leave with the interviewer. I'm with United and it was not so easy to get with them. But once you're in its good.
Becoming a commercial pilot does not *require* a college degree. And many folks are out there crop dusting, performing aerial photography, even teaching flying - all without a higher degree (and some probably without a high school diploma). However, it is NOT the path I would recommend. The higher up the ranks you climb, the more likely any particular institution (whether airline or other) is to want one - even if it really is not directly related to your flying work. With lots of entry level applications, it is just an easy way to weed out the bottom tiers. This is especially true of the airlines.
Also, do not forget that every commercial pilot flies at the risk of their Class II or Class I (the latter required for ATP "airline" flying) medical. I highly recommend that all pilots have a "backup" life plan for the day when they are no longer able to fly commercially.
There are two traditional routes to flying - military and civilian. The military will pay for you to learn to fly, and it is an excellent opportunity and career. But, you have to be accepted by them - and that means good physical and mental condition. And they are most likely going to want to see that you are on at least a path towards a college degree (ROTC, for example). Of course, they are also going to want a long-term commitment from you as well.
Civilian is usually "pay your own way" - at least for the beginning. You can get a pilot's license by working the drive-thru window at McDonalds (to pay for flight school), but it's a tough way to do it. And merely having a license is not enough - you need lots of hours (preferably in jets) to get hired by the major airlines. So that's a lot of time at low wages and strange times - or pay for more of your own training.
Lastly, some airlines do offer ab initio training (training from the beginning), but that is usually foreign (non-US) airlines offering jobs for their own countrymen. Lots of applicants, for a relatively few slots.
Bottom line: Flying is a wonderful career, but like anything else worthwhile - it takes lots of time and effort. If it is something you want to pursue, then don't be afraid of working long hours at perhaps multiple jobs to earn enough money to start getting your license. And then more hours and strange times at relatively low wages to make it into the airlines.
Embry Riddle is one of the most expensive colleges you can attend for flight. There are many others such as University of Cincinnati and University of North Dakota that offer college programs in flight and aviation. Airlines do want college degrees so it's really a pretty good idea. I'd check out tuitions at other colleges that offer aviation.
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