ACA Hiring Projections

[Gator Aviator]

From the September 10 AIR, Inc. Airline Pilot Job Monthly Newsletter:

-ACA hired 296 total pilots through the end of July
-54 hired in August
-Forecast plans to hire 43 in Sep, 49 in Oct, & 514 in 2002 (total; works out to 93 for Nov & Dec combined)
-2002 Forecasts in July and Aug newsletters were 406 & 480, respectively, showing a definite increase in planned hiring over the last several months.

A check of archive newsletters shows that the month-to-month predictions have been right on the money.

Now if they would just schedule (& fill) the remainder of the 2002 class dates!

 

[kswhite]

Gator, That's great news about ACA. Do you know how competitive it is to get IAD as your base or what some of their other bases are? Are they done with LGA? What aircraft do they fly out of IAD? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[popilot78]

Bases are IAD , ORD, CVG, and BOS.. CRJ's based in IAD and ORD. J-41's based in IAD. 328's in BOS and CVG. As of Nov. 1 LGA will be closed. Used to be a 328 base. Looks like we will be getting a lot more routes out of CVG though.

 

[fly26]

How many total pilots does ACA have now?

From guys I talk to there, they seem generally happy. Anyone care to comment on the morale at ACA?

Thanks.

 

[JTrain]

Morale = mixed.

There's the Kit Darby Air Inc version, which would have you believe this place is utopia.

Right now it's the QOL thing thats bothering most ppl these days. The lines are so inconsistent it's hard to plan around them. Crew Schedulers are absolute morons. I think improving our reserve work rules + callout times could be greatly improved come next contract.

However there are upgrades for some on the horizon, including a lucky 3 at 6 months 1 week seniority. Don't know how much good PIC time will do you for the next 5 years though...

JTrain

 

[Beechnut]

I can't resist.

What good is a new contract if the company ignores it? I've seen an ORD RJ Bid package from my roommates and the contract violations were numerous. I've also heard about the 163 grievances ALPA has filed against ACA.

Any comments?

S.

 

[g159av8tor]

JTrain and Beechnut,

Can you expand on the contractual violations that you saw. I'm trying to put together the big picture and I want to know what to look for.

Tailwinds...

 

[AirBoard]

I've been with ACA for two years and can say morale is generally good. You have to ask yourself would I like to be somewhere else (besides a profitable major or a beach) and so far my answer is no. Most news for this company has been good while we see other regionals getting kicked around. The worst news for this company since i've been here is the insolvency of Fairchild-Dornier which really put an end to growth on the Delta side. There are only a handful of other regionals i could see myself happy with anyway.

On the negative side we've had problems with QOL wrt to the schedules. Crew Planning can't seem to get it right. You can either have a commutable line with low block - 75 hrs! or a 6 nights in the crashpad line worth 90 hrs! Perhaps our route structure (short flights, long sits) is not condusive to good line building - I'll let our new great $1million Crew Optimizer 3000 figure it out. Dropping a trip or round can be like pulling teeth. We're starting to get an adequate reserve level but it can all depend on the scheduler you talk to.

Ultimately, being at a airline where you can actually get some seniority is the best. At ACA this has definitely been the case - ask any new hire from this year with almost 500 already below them! Good Luck with the search.