Airtran?

[dedazo]

Does anyone know if Airtran is hiring 2008? and how many? and how long is the upgrade there now?

 

[Old Crow]

10 airplanes to be delivered prior to Dec. 31st 2008. 12 pilots per aircraft.

Math says 3.5 to 4.5 years depending on luck to upgrade.

 

[CatfishVT9]

I think the number is actually 8 737s for this year. That was straight from the new CEO at the last "Town hall" meeting in late October.

 

[Jet41]

280 for '08 the last I heard

 

[CaptainZero]

Last I heard was 300 in 08. Upgrades in the 5 to 6 year range.

 

[RIDETHELIGHTING]

Its 10 from the last earning reports

 

[Dashcaptain]

12 actual 737s this year. The last two are to come in late Dec and not into service until Jan 09. So it is supposed to be a total of 10 this year. Chief pilot said around 270-300 this year.

 

[GuppyWN]

How do you hire 300 pilots when you are only taking 10 jets? That many retirements or guys quitting?

Gup

 

[maxblast72]

Your are right. We only need about 11 pilots per airplane for a total of 110 new pilots this year. We were going to retire 15 in 2008. That number is probably 0 now.

The rest of the new hires is for attrition between 5 and 15 per month. I imagine that number may decrease if the DAL, UAL, CAL, and NWA start the merger process. Now that SWA and FDX won't be hiring much in 2008, that will also decrease the number slightly.

 

[Lear70]

How do you hire 300 pilots when you are only taking 10 jets? That many retirements or guys quitting?

Gup

It's attrition-driven as well as new aircraft deliveries.

There *WERE* 20 or so retirements slated for 2008. They are, of course, questionable whether or not they are going to happen, but are so few in number not to factor into it.

I think that number will decrease significantly with a merger/acquisition with one of the Legacies, if it happens, as that is where many of the people leaving are going, plus Southwest has stopped hiring, as has FedEx and UPS, albeit temporarily.

Training got into a bind last year by not foreseeing the big rise in attrition from Legacy hiring and had to play catchup. Now it's the opposite; they're geared to hire 300 and will likely only need about 200 or so.

I'm betting they'll hire a bunch leading up to summer, complete the summer flying rampup, then likely stop hiring the rest of the year when they see attrition lower than anticipated.