A Review of Avantair

[fivefootnuthin]

The more things change, the more they stay the same hahahaha I haven't been on here in quite a while, but I see some of the same players. Bashers on one fringe, kool-aid drinkers on the other. Anyone reading these posts to try to determine Avantair as a place to invest their time would be wise to seek the middle. I was at Avantair for 3 years and have since left for greener pastures, but before i go on regarding my time at Avantair Im wondering -- is it true that theyre no longer using Flight Safety and have returned to in-house training?

 

[brewerdog]

FO pay raise as of this month, more to come next year

good on ya mates

 

[jaxpilot]

Ha, I figured that was the general concensus on the guy. Seen him in TLH and RSW with that thing on...

 

[learflyer]

Nothing wrong with wearing a hat to protect from the sun......fbo? Take it off!

 

[BeenThereDoneIt]

The big conference call did occur, and the FO pay was discussed. I expect a press release soon!

1) From what I understand (please correct this if I am wrong), 2nd year FO pay will increase to a whopping $40,000 on the next pay cycle.

2) Captain upgrades are now forecast to be between 36-48 months, according to company projections.!

3) Avantair will implement a 2-tier payscale for FO's. The current employees will get the raise that is mentioned above. New hires will be placed into the older payscale where they will NOT get the raise.

On the company forum.....Glasspilot is raising HELL about the new A/B pay scale for FO's. He thinks the company is making a big mistake. I agree with Glasspilot. Glass....good job for speaking up against such a thing.

 

[corpflunkie]

The big conference call did occur, and the FO pay was discussed. I expect a press release soon!
Thought you didn't work here anymore, so you wouldn't be privy to the call

1) From what I understand (please correct this if I am wrong), 2nd year FO pay will increase to a whopping $40,000 on the next pay cycle.
Jan 9th, 2010 it increases another $2000

2) Captain upgrades are now forecast to be between 36-48 months, according to company projections.!
I personally never heard 36-48 months. I did hear up to 30 upgrades in the next 12 months possible if we follow our delivery schedule

3) Avantair will implement a 2-tier payscale for FO's. The current employees will get the raise that is mentioned above. New hires will be placed into the older payscale where they will NOT get the raise
It is far from a perfect situation, but the goal was to help the pilots already on the seniority list. Nothing has been finalized as to how we are going to set the payscale when we do start hiring again.


On the company forum.....Glasspilot is raising HELL about the new A/B pay scale for FO's. He thinks the company is making a big mistake. I agree with Glasspilot. Glass....good job for speaking up against such a thing.
Once again, if you no longer work here, how do you know what is being posted on the company's PRIVATE sight? If you are who we all think (pretty sure) you are, get a grip and move on.

the fact that in this economy, Avantair was able to increase the pay for a group of it's CURRENT employees when everyone else in the industry is either furloughing or damn near begging for people to take unpaid leave or early retirement, should speak volumes.

 

[BeenThereDoneIt]

Heck....as long as you are verifying that newhires will be making $37,000 as second-year FO's.....that's good enough. I'm sure that a lot of people will appreciate your honesty. I certainly do. Good luck!

 

[glasspilot]

I've been vocal that I greatly disagree with a disgruntled former employee lashing back on his previous employer. It speaks volumes that BTDI acknowledges he would have stayed at such a horrible place if only he had upgraded.

It seems he still has friends in Denver who share the company forum news with him (since BTDI no longer has access to the forum himself). It is true that I have been vocal on the company forum on the FO pay subject in that I do not like that new raises are aimed solely at current pilots.

Here is the difference: I POSTED ON A COMPANY FORUM!!! Not a public site behind a fake name. Now that it has been made public by our very own Benedict Arnold I have to say that I firmly believe that the company will rectify this. I think it unlikely that any new hire will actually be paid their 2nd year under the old pay scale. We are a public company with a board that must approve all expenditures. While we (alone) have posted a profit this past quarter, we are still appreciative of the difficult economic conditions out there.

The reason for this FO pay policy is simply to limit future liability so as to get the raise approved. The feeling was that it would not be approved if it was open ended. As time goes on, with luck, we will continue our success and the raises will be permanent for ALL pilots. This current raise buys us a little over a year to sort it out as it only applies to 2nd year pay anyway, meaning a pilot hired today would not be affected for another year.

In short, I wish the raises were done differently, but I do not believe any new hire will be affected negatively by this short sighted FO pay policy. The company takes care of it's pilots. I have seen this time and time again. Myself included.

In fact, it is proof that Avantair management is open to opposing viewpoints that I am still employed after "raising HELL" on the company forum.

BTDI, thanks for caring so much. We all take forks in the road. You made a turn...now go see what's down there. Good luck on your adventures.

 

[HazMat]

Just so there is no misinformation anyone who has been given am offer will be subject to the new second year FO pay. The pilot group was asked to discuss pay for new hires. No decision was made on that issue. The company mentality is always to protect current employees before worrying about those who have not been offered a job. A decision will be made before new offers are made. Before being critical let's wait and see what happens.

 

[HazMat]

Btdi and whatever other name you are using you are the captain of misinformation. Noone said upgrades are forcast to take 3 to 4 years in fact the company said they expected 30 upgrades over the next year and more than 30 the following year as we are captain heavy right now.