Airtran??

[another cfii]

Or build a variety of reserve lines, some with more days off i.e. 15, and some down to minimum of 12, and award the 15 days off reserve to pick-up open time at premium pay. There has to be some sort of middle ground.

I always wonder why Flica won't allow trips to be dissected, so people can just pick up 2 day out of a 4 day?? It'll boost productivity, in my opinion. Oh well, what do i know...

 

[CatfishVT9]

You are going to be on reserve 2 - 2 1/2 years, that's a long time with only 12-13 days off, although with the way you pick up time, I don't suspect days off are as big a deal to you as they are to me with kids and such at home and living out of base.

Not so fast my friend! CA reserve length is kind of fluid right now. That number is probably correct for the 737 since 717 CAs are coming over in droves (worried about being fired when SWA buys us). As a result, 717 reserve will be down to about 18 months.

I'm hoping the pendulum swings back the other way soon. But on the plus side, when you're on the bottom of the list it only takes about 10 minutes to do your bids.

 

[Lear70]

Ha! True enough,,,

I noticed a BIG increase of senior pilots bidding to the 737 when the announcement about Midwest came out, guess people are still merger-concerned, or the trips just got that much better than the 717 the last few months...?

 

[Alchemy]

Any updates on hiring in the near future? Do you stand any kind of chance without a reccomendation? Will 1000 RJ PIC get you anywhere or are you just another piece of paper in the stack?

 

[PCL_128]

Any updates on hiring in the near future? Do you stand any kind of chance without a reccomendation? Will 1000 RJ PIC get you anywhere or are you just another piece of paper in the stack?

Apparently still expecting to hire over 200 pilots next year. Without a recommendation, your best chance is to go to the career fairs. They actually interviewed a few guys on the spot at the last career fair in ATL. I think there's another AirInc fair in DFW next month. They usually prefer to see 1500+ PIC, but they've been getting less picky lately as hiring's picked up everywhere. If you go to the career fair and make a good impression, then I think you'd have a decent chance. Good luck.

 

[maxblast72]

The hiring numbers at Airtran aren't going to change much due to the age 60 rule change. Airtran was only supposed to retire less than 4% (about 50 guys) over the next 5 years. Compared to other airlines that were expected 15-20% of the work force to retire over the next 5 years, Airtran's career expectations will change the least due to the age 60 rule change.

As long as the 10 deliveries for 2008 still come we still should need about 200 pilots. The wildcard is how many FO's decide to leave for other places but that may slow a little due to age 60 rule change which will cause slower career progression at other places.

 

[DonVerita]

(worried about being fired when SWA buys us).

I know this is off-topic, but why the defeatism in your quote above?

If we merge with SWA, or even if SWA buys AirTran outright, do you actually think they are going to park (87) B-717's? If they were to merge/buy AirTran, they inherit the entire route system. By removing 87 aircraft overnight, that route system will collapse and they'll be in bankruptcy by the end of the week. This is not an ATA deal, nor is it a TWA type deal where both of those carriers were on Liquidation's doorstep. AirTran is a profitable company with new aircraft. That puts them in a totally different league from ATA and TWA.

There is no reason why SWA would not welcome a fuel efficient, state of the art airplane like the B-717 into its fleet. If anything, the B-717 pilots would be a protected group. Do you think SWA is going to allow their own B-737 pilots to bid over to the B-717 and incur all those training costs...at least during the first two years?

 

[RIDETHELIGHTING]

swa is down to 5 deliveries in 08. They are not going to buy us. People need to get over it, it isn't going to happen.
But, hey it is crazy business.:beer:

 

[Max Powers]

My sources say other wise......And remember Chief pilots are the last to know. But Secretaries that work in offices are usually the first.

 

[Alchemy]

Apparently still expecting to hire over 200 pilots next year. Without a recommendation, your best chance is to go to the career fairs. They actually interviewed a few guys on the spot at the last career fair in ATL. I think there's another AirInc fair in DFW next month. They usually prefer to see 1500+ PIC, but they've been getting less picky lately as hiring's picked up everywhere. If you go to the career fair and make a good impression, then I think you'd have a decent chance. Good luck.

Thanks for the advice, obviously I would really like a shot at a job at AT and will definitely try and make it to the DFW job fair.