Hello everyone I was curious if anybody had a recent schedule for Skywest airlines I am currently in my crew phase of training and looking into Commutair or Skywest and would love any feed back or info you all have. My wife and I are wondering what the typical FO schedule looks like. Thanks
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Hey Corey - I am former SkyWest. It varies greatly depending on base, time of year, aircraft, and a ton of other factors. I would count on maybe 11-12 days off a month. Trip lengths are anywhere from 1-4 days. I don’t have anything recent but happy to answer any questions if you have them. I absolutely loved my time there. Good luck
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10 Month SKW CRJ FO Living In Base @ ORD
Here is my schedule. I usually try to get a chunk of time off to visit family or go on vacation which means the rest of the month has little down time.
Like person above said, it varies based off a lot of factors. But you have some control.
Last month I did mostly “Standups” (overnights &home during the day) just to try out a month on the backside of the clock but being home a lot more days.
I get 14-8 days off depending on if I pick up or drop trips.
Chris
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Chris,
Thank you for posting your schedule!
Chris
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Hello,
I hear people on here talking about dropping and adding trips frequently. I was just curious if airlines have a minimum amount of hours you have to work per month? Thanks in advance.
Josh
I believe it is 50 hours at my airline, but most people fly about 80 hours.
Joshua,
Mine the min is 70hrs. As you can see it varies.
Adam
There is no minimum at my airline.
We are allowed to drop to zero as well. Our benefits are tied to our employment status, not hours flown. However, if we receive $0 for that month, then we have no income to draw from to pay for our benefits. So, even though our benefits would not be lost for that month, we would have to pay for them out of pocket.
All that said, I have been unable to drop a trip or parts of a trip since upgrading.
Tory
Tory,
I read an article once about an FO who had started such a successful side business that he only flew one trip a month. Does that limit your advancement at all or is it based solely on time spent employed with the airline?
Anderson,
Yes. I have not met this FO, but that would delay their cumulative flight time required for upgrade, but it sounds like this particular FO doesn’t mind.
Tory
It depends where he was at in his career. Likely if he was at a major airline, he already met the upgrade requirement when he was hired. So he was literally just biding time and it would not delay his upgrade at all.
My upstairs neighbor is an AA FO that flys for fun and bids min credit.
His main income is a personal business.
A senior Capt @ SkyWest is a financial advisor.
And a mid level SKW Capt I know does Computer Programing part time for a firm.
Many pilots dabble in the stock market for fun.
A lot of pilots have a “side hustle” or another whole professional career. You choose how it fits into aviation career.
Chris
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Thank you for your helpful information I really appreciate it. How long did it take you to upgrade? It seems like the schedule is similar to a lot of other regionals.
Thanks for sharing your schedule, it is a little confusing to understand but it seems like you can get some chunk days off like you said so that is nice, what is the expected upgrade time looking like?
I took 3 years to upgrade because I was doing special projects on the more senior airplane. I could’ve upgraded in a year and half if I had taken the first available. I believe the upgrade is still that short over at SkyWest. There is a tab on the careers website where you can see the date of hire of the most junior FO/CA at every single base to determine when you can hold each base/seat.
Upgrade time is about 1.5yr on the CRJ (2.5 months of training and then 13-15 months building hours).
Like Jordan mentioned, some people wait to upgrade so they get the base they want, or skip being on reserve as a Capt or enjoy being a senior FO.
Basically taking “First Available” upgrade means you could be at any base & on reserve. It can take a few months before holding a slot at the Domicile you want and even longer to not be on reserve.
In my case, I like Chicago so likely will get a slot there right away or within a month. Reserve as a Capt will likely be 5-7months but CRJ pilots get called a lot to fly.
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