A friend of mine who flies for Compass just sent me a letter he received announcing that Delta will not be renewing their flying beyond 2020. While the letter also mentions the airline is “confident and excited” about new opportunities, he’s more concerned about his flow to Delta. While he hasn’t heard anything definitive I think it’s safe to say no more relationship with Delta means no more flow. Fortunately he has a degree, a clean record and many letters of recommendation. I’m certain that once he builds sufficient time he can still apply and has as good a shot as anyone of moving up the food chain.
I’m writing this post because I’ve heard from many aspiring pilots on this forum “I don’t need a degree because I’m just going to flow to the Majors so why waste my time and money?”. This my friends is why. Because while I love my job this industry is always changing and can be quite fickle at times. It’s NEVER a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket. Rather then seeking to just meet the mins, if you want to be successful you need to be as competitive as possible. If not and you end up “stuck” it’s no one’s fault but your own.
It’s very interesting to see/hear developments like this. I’m sure the Compass contract and the Delta Connection network it builds is no small potatoes. I wonder if they are going to build that network themselves, which I doubt for smaller airports, or if they are going to award a even bigger contract to another regional which will then need to hire that many more pilots on top of those naturally leaving for the majors and other attrition. If they don’t do either, the Delta network will just shrink which I’m sure will not be good for their mainline operations without that passenger flow from smaller cities.
Delta’s not shrinking their network or their flying. Their simply aligning themselves with other Regional carriers. This is about pilot flows to Delta not passengers.
So if your a pilot at one of those other Regional carries that will get those new Delta contracts, your flow to Delta just got better I’d assume…at the expense of those pilots from Compass. Would that be a correct statement? Either way, I get that luck will have a HUGE impact on this industry and it’s always good to have a Plan B regardless of what you do.
No it’s not. There’s nothing saying any of the other carriers Delta uses (or will use) in the future have or will have a flow-thru so no nothing gotten better or worse for anyone else. It also has nothing to do with luck.
Thanks for sharing Adam, it certainly puts things in perspective as to how quickly things in the industry change, and reminds one that there is no guarantees.
Republic seems to have (and continues to increase) a lot of Delta routes in the last year or so.
I’m certainly getting way ahead of myself, but Delta has been on my back burner as a possible goal for legacy carriers, if/when that day ever comes, but I guess I’ll have to choose wisely!
There hasn’t been any kind of flow or guaranteed interview between Compass and Delta for quite some years. Mind expanding? I know they used to have some kind of partnership - but last I heard, the last person grandfathered into that old program was done a while ago.
Yeah I have a ton of friends there. Heard from 3 of them today - one a CKAM. Definitely some nerves with this announcement. Hoping they pull though - and curious what the “future opportunity with a very specific major” is all about.