HAL
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2001
- Posts
- 733
At the moment, the 717 has become the junior aircraft, although that wasn't true in the past. I suspect you'd be able to bid for either aircraft within a year of being hired now, especially since there are strong rumors of more 767's coming. It's a matter of lifestyle choice - 717 is home every night, but you fly a lot more legs and usually more days per month. The 767 pays more, but you could be gone for several days in a row, and end up flying a lot of red-eyes. We hire into whichever aircraft has open spots after the vacancy bid moves the current pilots around.
SEA is still our other domicile, and is very senior. The junior FO there right now was hired in late '99, and has over 100 people junior to him on the overall seniority list. Hopefully there will be some movement in SEA as the expansion continues (for the large number of us who want SEA but can't hold it).
Those letters were a screw-up by our HR department. They didn't mean that they failed the application process (for most of them), but rather that they just hadn't been selected to come in for interviews yet. HR sent out the wrong letters. The new process is very different for us, being HR driven instead of flight-division driven, and we're still trying to come to grips with how it works. The one class we've had so far was 8 ex-AQ, and 4 others. I'd expect the classes coming up to have about the same ratio.
Yes, you still have to have some sort of internal recommendation to get a shot at an interview, but we have such a huge tidal wave of applications we have to weed them out somehow.
HAL
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From what I've heard the new planes should start arriving around September. Getting four planes instead of five, eliminating the need for a separate group of check airmen and a full complement of reserves will change the hiring numbers a little, probably more like 30 or so instead of 42 for the new interisland planes. But there is still hiring and growth ahead, and since we'll still have just two types it will make life around here easier too.
