Airtran

[corky]

Hello,

Looking for info on life at Airtran. Is ATL the only domicile still and any talk of others soon? Does Airtran allow commuters?
What kind of time does the average new hire have these days??

thanks

Corky

 

[Beantown]

Corky,
You have 1400 hrs and a 717 type? Where do you work now? -Bean

 

[Saluki Dawg]

I don't think you have enough TT to meet their requirements. www.airtran.com has all their hiring info. Good Luck.

 

[Saluki Dawg]

I would definitely send them your resume. I know that they are hiring right now, and the fact that you have type ratings in both the aircraft they fly might cause them to overlook your TT. I'm not sure that I would want to leave such a great job at Boeing. Are they cutting back on pilots or are you just looking to make the jump to 121?

 

[-9Capt]

airtran info

Atlanta is the only crew base. Rumors of a BWI base have been going around lately, PIT and PHL bases were hot rumors last year.

More than half of the pilots commute, myself included.

Hiring has stopped for now, the training dept needs time to get caught up before hiring will resume, probably some time in the late summer/fall??

I spoke with Jill Nidiffer (HR lady) about 2 months ago while on an MCO overnight. She showed me the resume file and I can tell you IT IS HUGE. Recommendations are just about manditory, so is 121 PIC time. If you have both, you go into the to be called file, which was a stack about 5 inches thick. If you have no recommendation (even with type ratings and ten thousand hours heavy jet 121 PIC) you go in the file with everyone else, which she estimates at about 5000.

Competitive times have doubled since 9/11. The minimums remain 2500TT and 1000PIC but are just that, minimums. To my knowlege no one has been hired this year with anything near those times.

Upgrade remains very fast, around a year recently. No more newhires/upgrades are going into the dc-9's, all B-717 for now on, or so they say. New cities are being added (see airtran.com and click on "about us" for the latest).

F/O pay is $37.50/hr 1st year, mid $50's 2nd year and low $60's 3rd year topping out about $80/hr in the 8th year.

Junior capt pay is around $100/hr and tops out in the $150's after 12 years.

Company paid B-fund maxes out at 10.5% of your gross income and a pilot paid 401(k) retirement.

Trip rig, duty rig, minimum daily guarantees, staffing formula, excellent schedule adjustment opportunities.

We've had our troubles in the past, as some people on this board are quick to remind everybody, but in the 4 years I've been here this is by far the best it's ever been. The training dept could use some help and the VP of Flt Ops isn't the best liked person but it is certianly a liveable place to hang your hat. Moral is pretty high right now.

 

[BoxFlyr]

the last mins i heard,and i think it was on this board was 1000PIC 121 time and a ref from an airtran pilot!

 

[Old Crow]

You couldn't be refering to Klaus the mouse could you???

A real asset to the AirTran success. Not...!

 

[TurboS7]

I flew a lot of AirTran trips in May but stayed away from them this Feb March and April. As life would have it I flew one the other night, it went really well. The airplane(737-800 160 seats with 1st class) was packed, not one seat left. We put an extra FA on the FA jumpseat so we could fit an Airtran pilot in. Obviously we couldn't put him on the flight deck, but I did try with a call to the chief pilot.(blast those terrorist)Bummer when you can't jump on one of your own airline's routes. Anyway things went really well, Airtran has come a long way.

 

[cmrflyer]

When did AirTran get 737s? The only planes I have ever seen in their colors are DC9s and 717s.
Are you sure you know what you are talking about.

 

[SaabStory]

Citrus 737-800's?? When were those delivered? I'm not sure what the "Turbo" is talking about, he must know something new. Anyone else shed some light on his very enigmatic post?

 

[DCitrus9]

AirTran has used Miami air and others to cover flying and expansion while the airline grows to the size of marketings route structure. It has worked out fairly well when we needed it, but it won't happen again for awhile due to an improved training pipeline as well as contract restrictions.
Thanks for the help turbo.