Best Regionals To Work For

[~~~^~~~]

If the current plans pan out ASA would have to once again be at the top of the list. We are supposed to hire another 1,500 by 2004 - 2005 and are getting a steady flow of CRJ700's which pulls pilots up from the smaller aircraft. After all, each 700 creates as many as 8 openings as pilots upgrade.

(As everyone who reads this board with any frequency knows - I believe ALPA will do everything in their power to stop this growth, or take the jets to mainline. Our growth while mainline furloughs in untenable to ALPA.)

Combine this with industry leading pay rates (even as our contract expires in the next few weeks) and the expected benefits in our new contract - this is a good place to be. Expecially if you can be number 1,500 on the list with another 1,500 coming behind you.

Aside from the numbers we have a good management team & good local ALPA folks - it is pleasant working environment.

ASA is at the top of my list again....until the Empire Strikes Back...

 

[KFFA]

It depends on what your top priority is? Pay, bases, benefits, equipment, cash on hand to help through tough times, relations with the papa carrier, routes, schedules, work rules, attitude at company. You have to look at all these questions to get an honnest answear. And to each pilot, one may put upgrade as #1, another pay, and another, schedule? I can only be up front with the airline that I work for, SkyWest.

EMB FO 1st yr 2ndyr max CPT 2ndyr 5yr max
Pay- $19.02 $27 $31 $45 $50 $68

RJ FO 2nd 5th max CPT 2nd 5yth max

$34 $37 $41 $56 $62 $90

Bases-EMB-Salt Lake City, Denver, Portland, Fresno, Santa Barbra, Sacramento, Monterey, Palm Springs, San Diego and one or two more I missed in CA.
RJ-Salt Lake, Fresno, Tuscon, and I am guessing down the road Denver and/or LA just depends what will happen with United???

Benifits-Your normal health, dental, vision, 401k, stock options, etc. For travel-free on United(what good this will be in a few months???) and ID100's on Delta for you your family and your folks but they only get ID 90's on Delta.

Cash on hand-$350mil in the bank with $150mil at a bank in Canada for down payments for RJs.

Relations with Papa carriers-Delta side strong. They would like to have us get 70 seat RJs for next year but that could change. United-Strong also my guess is that we will get more of there routes if the file.

Routes-From San Diego to Vancuver Canada to Fargo ND(starting in Oct.) to Dallas up to Memphis over to Greensboro NC and Pensacola FL. Go to the web site for it all.


Schedules-EMB for Sept. highest pay 100 hours, lowest line, 80hr. This month about half are three day trips with four off. we have two day back-to-backs, locals, standups and a handfull of four day trips. RJ-Mostly 4 day and 5 day trips with 4 or 5 days off. Things will get better when Tuscon opens in Nov.

Upgrade-Thats a tough one things have been slow the last six months, but on the books there will be 3 new hire classes by the end of the year, two upgrade classes and 5 RJ classes. So things are picking back up in this department.

Overall attitude-Very positive, you ask any SkyWest employee, they will tell you that they would rather be here then anywhere except maybe that United 747-400 Capt. that retires today!!! Managment is fair and honnest, with a well defined business plan for the future. As of today 15 RJs for the end of 2002 and 35 for next year with a retirment of about 8-10 EMBs by end of next year. 15 new destinations out of Denver by Nov. 1 along with the new base out of Tuscon. Again this is of today, next week it could change. A CEO that loves his job and smiles while walking around the company. Yes there are some things that go wrong, but overall SkyWest is number one on the list!

I hope this helps. I am not trying to come across as aragent(SP) at all. Just when you look for your future in this company and you want to go after one airline as your top pick then you need to look at the whole picture. I have friends at Eagle, COEX, TSA, ACA, ASA, and Mesaba. Almost all of them wanted or have tried to get on with SkyWest. Who knows maybe they wanted to live closer to there family's for all I know. Things will get brighter this industry goes in phases. You like wild rides well come aboard!

 

[cheezpilot]

"15 new destinations out of Denver by Nov."

Could you clarify this a little more. Is this supposed to be by this year, or next, or by 2004? Also, another thread no too long ago said no new class dates till January, so some people would be in the pool for over a year. I am confused.

 

[Freight Dog]

Gotta hand it down to the above mentioned top 5, but personally... I couldn't be happier anywhere but here at Island Air.

Here's why:

- home every night, makes it a very family-friendly job (weird for an airline).
- duty day is rarely over 9 hours
- had a line almost immediately out of training (right around 9/11).
- upgraded to captain in 14 months (awarded the bid as I was getting off probation) in the post-9/11 era.
- can't beat living in Hawaii though as the cost of living is actually very similar to California.
- can't beat the year-around 78-80 degree ocean water temperature.
- can't beat the surf when it hits.

Sure, there are things to improve, but I am ONE happy camper here. Many of my friends who went elsewhere at about the same time I came here are still furloughed. The few that got recalled are still looking at years to upgrade.

Livin' the dream.........

 

[KFFA]

Cheezhead,

Here are most of the destinations I think I am missing 1 or two.
All by Oct 31, 2002

Hayden CO
Springfield MO
El Paso TX
Pasco WA
Santa Barbara CA
Austin TX
Ontario CA
St Lousie MO
Tucson AZ
Nashville TN
Bozmam MT

and yes to the training questions. As of Tuesday they are planning on 2 upgrade classes, 5 transition classes and 3 newhire classes by Dec 31, 2002

 

[I.P. Freley]

Pickle, you are quite a riot.

Let me get this straight... You heard a CommutAir pilot refer to his own company as Commodeair and that makes it alright for you to spout off with the term on your own and not have anyone call you to the carpet for it? Without getting into specific examples, I guess this means it would be okay for you to use any of the well-known ethnic slurs when referring to certain minorities since you may have heard them used by members of those minorites? Not too much of a stretch of the imagination using your skewed logic. You may not like the point, but wrap your mind around that one a little bit and think about it.

Thank you for pointing out how uneducated I am as pertains to the collective psyches of CommutAir pilots and ExpressJet pilots. I guess the half-dozen close personal friends of mine at CommutAir with whom I speak on a regular basis are totally different people than the hundreds of CommutAir jumpseaters you've had are on completely different wavelengths. I worked there for a year and a half, was there when the blood started flowing, and practically noone ever used the term "commodeair" and they STILL don't. If you choose to extrapolate one person saying that to you into "they all call it that", well, I could point you in the direction of a number of textbooks that explain logical thought processes... It seems you might have something to learn in this area.

You say I still have something to learn about ExpressJet pilots' "true" attitude towards CommutAir pilots, yet where do you think it is that I got the impression that EJ pilots are browned off that CA is doing "their" flying? Well in the same manner that it is that you decided that all CA pilots fear for their jobs... By talking to and having interactions with the other pilot group. I was treated far, far better by Continental's mainline pilots than CoEx pilots when I was jumpseating, I talked to CoEx pilots in breakrooms, in passing at lunch, while having a cigarette break, in the cabin while non-revving. Do you think I just made it up?

You still didn't answer the question... Do you want to be smug about your hundreds-strong all-jet fleet and concede that some flying must be outsourced to prop operators, or do you want to dump on 1900 drivers? You say you don't have anything against CommutAir since you so graciously offer the jumpseat (and you really WOULD be supremely arrogant if you didn't allow a suitably dressed individual with a Continental ID that seat), yet you call the company names?

You can get all blue in the face about Gulfstream, but to what end? Why are you so personally offended by someone who has the means and is willing to pay for that right seat? Didn't YOU pay for training at CoEx way-back-when?

The point was, and still IS, that you chose to stoop to the lowest level and make grade-school level "jokes" about a company just for the sake of drawing a few dimwits into fits of giggling. To me, as a former employee of the company (with fond memories of "the way things used to be"), this is insulting adds nothing to the discussion. To anyone else? Well THEY can be the judge.

I guess I also shouldn't have been too surprised that you chose to call me names. I thought maybe you could rein yourself in and attack concepts and words without resorting to name-calling... Your ridiculously fake magnanimousness in "attempting to resist the urge" to lash out with a personal attack (and accept absolutely no complicity in the fact that the only reason I was calling you on any of this was a direct result of your being deliberately insulting to start with) really is quite funny.

Thank you for the laugh.

 

[cheezpilot]

"Here are most of the destinations I think I am missing 1 or two.
All by Oct 31, 2002

Hayden CO
Springfield MO
El Paso TX
Pasco WA
Santa Barbara CA
Austin TX
Ontario CA
St Lousie MO
Tucson AZ
Nashville TN
Bozmam MT "

KFFA,
At least five of those destinations are Air Wisconsin destinations out of Denver. I dont think we are pulling out of them but we could be sharing them like we just started doing with you in Durango, Montrose, and Grand Junction. I think United has some sort of plan to overlap express carriers so that if one of us for some reason strikes then coverage is not lost. That is a lot of destinations for only getting a few RJ's a month? We usually only get about one new destination per airplane. We start Winnipeg out of DEN and ORD to COS in Oct. No news of losing Hayden, Pasco, Nashville, Springfield,MO or Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara is our bridge city for some of the stuff we do out of LAX, like SLC, San Jose, so I think if might be a slim chance of totally losing it. Maybe you know something I don't know. Cheez

 

[cheezpilot]

I missed El Paso.We fly to El Paso also. Who knows? I had heard we were going to strengthen ORD some more but that would mean moving 6 rj's to ORD and we don't have the staffing for that. We just had a huge RJ realignment and not too many ORD spots opened up. However, we had a gob of DEN RJ spots open.

 

[rightrudder]

I've never heard of St. Lousie or Bozmam before. Are those new cities?

 

[cheezpilot]

KFFA,
It looks like we are sharing the load with you to SBA, SGF, ELP, HDN, FAR , and Nashville out of Denver. I guess you are sharing the load with us out of LAX to COS and from DEN-TUS. Those are the ones I can remember but maybe United is trying to cover all its express destinations with two carriers?

 

[KFFA]

Cheezpilot,

That was what I was thinking that United was trying to do about overlapping. I just didn't know if these were routes that you guys did or are the 737 or 319 routes that we (both SkyWest and Airwisky) have taken over? We are not Union so I don't see us going on strike any time soon, but what about your contract when is that up? By the way do you guys have a good layover in SLC that you guys can do some skiing this winter, let me know I have some good spots to rent skiis.

 

[KFFA]

Rightrudder,

Whats up? How s life treating ya? Havent herd from you in a awhile?

 

[rightrudder]

KFFA,

Absolutely fabulous, thanks for asking!

RR

 

[cheezpilot]

No contract talks till 2005. I don't know if you have other work groups that are union, and maybe they could slow the airline down? You never know what might happen.

 

[Wasatch CFI]

KFFA,

You mention 15 RJ's for this year. Of that number, how many have already been delivered?

I'm just trying to do some fuzzy math and see how many openings for new hires could solidify over the next six months or so. I've heard that there are 60 or so in the pool, and maybe with three classes they'll be gone. Possible interviews this fall?

 

[KFFA]

Wasatch CFI,

The 15 RJs are coming from Aug 1. through Dec. 31st. I believe that 9 are going to United and 6 are going to Delta. I think that we are taking off line 3-4 EMB's. Just a caution about the classes coming. They could be as little as 10 people or as large as 30. Good luck hope you get called real soon.

 

[ATRCA]

Ok, Ok, Lets take a deep breath here.

I.P. Freley,

I will agree that the "commode" comment was in poor taste, and I can say that I have never had anything but good experiences with the CA folks that I have run into (which are many since we share many stations).

You seem to have a bit of a chip on your shoulder. I have NEVER heard any of my coworkers at XJT say anything derogatory about CA. I have also NEVER heard or observed any ugly behavior coming my direction either. You seem to infer that there is some sort of bitterness between our groups. I think their is none. I'm sorry if you may have had a bad experience with someone from XJT, as there are bad apples on everyones list. I would venture to say however, that the majority of us have no beef with CA or its employees.

Sure, maybee WE (XJT) could be doing the flying, but our mgt has decided that they no longer want props. Thats fine with me. I was sad to hear a while back that CA was letting folks go, and I'm glad to see things are better there now.

One last thing, PFT is not what GIA is. We all know the difference. Paying for training is different than renting the seat for a specified period of time. I did not PFT at XJT, however had I done so, I would have more than made my 10K back by now, plus some.

See yah.

 

[mckpickle]

dear I.P FREELY,

Well anyone who knows me knows I would never say anything about anyone and not be willing to say it to their face.

So 1. You ARE acting like a j@ckass.

2. The fact that you spent SO much of your time in response sheds light that you may have some disorder.

3. Thank who ever bought you the thesaurus for a gift as it has come in handy and served you well.

4. Never try to deny me my potty humor, for to do so denies me my right to be myself.


As for the rest you and your posts are not worth my time. I wish you health and peace of mind.

 

[bobbysamd]

Best regionals

This is an interesting discussion to me because of my early nineties perspective. I'm amazed, but not all that surprised, that most of the best commuters for which to work back then are the same ones now.

In my day, nearly everyone wanted to work for Horizon. SkyWest was also popular. I know of one whom Comair picked up. I believe he wanted to work there because he was from Florida or something. Then, I recall a couple who got on with COEX. Also, believe it or not, Mesa was popular. I believe it was because it liked ERAU-Prescott people and was close to Arizona. Off the top of my head, I can think of about ten folks who got on with Mesa.

For what it's worth, some of the old commuters, such as WestAir/United Express and WingsWest, were also popular. WingsWest was absorbed into the Eagle system.

 

[Rottweiller]

KFFA,
It looks like we are sharing the load with you to SBA, SGF, ELP, HDN, FAR , and Nashville out of Denver. I guess you are sharing the load with us out of LAX to COS and from DEN-TUS. Those are the ones I can remember but maybe United is trying to cover all its express destinations with two carriers?

Added and deleted routes / frequencies at AWAC (deleted flights don't mean a total pull out):

On October 31, we will be adding service in the following markets (flights added); ORD-ABE (3 RT), COS-LAX (2 RT), COS-ORD (3 RT), DEN-MKE (1 OW), DEN-MTJ (1 RT), LAX-SJC (1 RT), MKE-ORD (1.5 RT), MLI-ORD (1 RT), MSN-ORD (3 RT), ORD-STL (1 RT).

We will be deleting the following trips in these markets (flights deleted); BZN-DEN (2 RT), DEN-DRO (1 RT), DEN-ELP (2 RT), DEN-FAR (2 RT), DEN-HDN (1 RT), OMA-ORD (1 OW), DEN-PSC (3 RT), DEN-SBA ( 1 RT), DEN-SGF (2 RT), ORD-SBN (2 RT).