HOW MANY more is Mesaba going to hire

[xjhawk]

a few months ago i head 50 total then 65 now i have heard 100 and also "classes scheduled until next MArch." i hate rumors, has anyone heard anything form a reliable source? all my information as aof lately is second hand info!

 

[othello]

I just looked at our internal www and they have removed the FO's needed from the job openings section?

The only thing that has been posted is that there are 16 Newhires scheduled for a May 4th class. I dont know if they have interview for those slots yet or not.

Anything beyond that is nothing but a roumor as far as I can tell. But we have been holding 1 newhire class a month for 3 months in a row now.

 

[CWASaab]

I think that they removed the posting for pilots from the internal web sited quite some time ago.

As far as numbers go, all anyone knows for sure is what they announce with the vacancy notices, 16 more to start class in May. I have heard it said that our increased flying this summer will put the pinch on staffing, also that we actually turned down a bunch of flying NW wanted us to do this summer due to lack of staffing. Possibly just rumor mill fodder.


CWASaab

 

[fly4ever]

Rumor has it that vacancy 04-04 will be the last one until attrition picks up. Which it will and the company will once again be way short as opposed to just a little short. Take it for what it's worth.

C-Ya!

 

[captpetefam]

Straight from the CP

I interviewed with Mesaba on April 2nd. When the CP asked if I had any questions I said that I have a few friends that were hired shortly before 9/11/01 and they have been furloughed twice. I wondered how an airline could go from furloughing twice in two & a half years to hiring so much. He said it was a good question and then explained why. In his explination, he said that basically they will need 90-100 in the next twelve months and they already have about 30 of those spots filled. I've been tracking and have found that they have been interviewing 20-25 a month and hiring 14-16 per month. I think, as off May 1st, they will still need another 45-55 pilots (based on the CP's numbers).

He also mentioned that Mesaba is in a great spot to pick up the 100 CRJ's that NWA is thinking of exercising their options on. If that happens, they will be in a world of hurt; they will need to hire about 900-1000 pilots! That might be speculation but this WAS coming straight from the CP. Let's hope is right on! He seemed pretty straight up. For sure, they will be needing another 50 or so.

Can't wait to start May 3rd! Blue Side Up!

Captpetefam

 

[smokey999]

Sounds like Mr J was tellin' ya what ya wanted to hear. No matter what he told you in the interview, be prepared to sit MEM or DTW reserve a few years. I really do hope XJ gets some crj orders from whatever options are left after PCL gets theirs, but in my opinion(which by all means is not that educated) Mesaba's going to be(or already is rather)looking elsewhere for some flying. Good luck in class, Mesaba's a good company to be with for the long haul!!

 

[othello]

captpetefam,

I hope everything you were told all comes true, But dont bet on it. It would not be the first time that something someone was told in an interview failed to be the truth.

When I interview Feb 01, I was told that Mesaba was going to hire 30 a month for the rest of the year and that I would be a capt in 2 yrs. Not only was my class the last one to go through for months but I am still on Reserve as an FO more than 3 years since my hire date, and as far from being a Capt as the day I was hired.

Paul Foley has been our CEO for like 5 years and we have not had 1 single new plane since he took over.

Welcome abord and good luck in trainning.

What plane did you get?

 

[cvoav8r]

So let me get this straight othello, you have been on reserve in the Saab 340 since FEB 01? What does that mean for guys coming aboard right now?

 

[xjhawk]

the horror or Mem and DTW

i have heard the horor story "i have been on researve in meme for two years!" "You will too!" Well, how come there are people junior to me getting MSP? How come I was only a coulpe numbers away from getting MSP? Well, lets just say, just because things happened in the past, does not mean its going to be 100% the same again! I respect those who have sat researve for two years, but stop commplaining already and stop reminding me again and again! Heck! i was flight instructing and working construction waiting to get hired since pre 9/11 do you hear me complaining about that! i have respect for what you people have been doing, but jeese! you had an airline job when thousands could not get one! And maybe we as a company are swinging around for the better and maybe will get more a/c. I am prepared for a year or two in Memphis, but have a positive attitude for a line or a spot in mpls! Good luck to all the new hires Don't think they are kidding when they say study your a$$es off!

 

[othello]

Yes I have been on the sf-340 for over 3 years and have never been off reserve. Not saying that is how it is going to be for the new guys, I hope we will all move up. But don't trust what you are told in the interview. "it is subject to change"

You may get MSP as a new hire or shortly there after but it will take you even longer to get off reserve. I am about 10 from the bottom in DTW there are like 20 reserve lines. If I was in MSP I would be 3-4 from the bottom. With a March/01 hire date

 

[SpocksBeard]

I also have to second what was said above - don't believe anything they tell you in the interview. I can't really say that I was lied to exactly but I was told that they were probably getting CRJs and that they needed me because the avros were going to be flying much more. That was in August of last year. Halfway through systems ground school NWA made the announcement that all the CRJs were going to Pinnacle. The day of my checkride NWA made the announcement that they were very likely going to park the avros in the desert. A couple weeks later, they gave me my official furlough notice effective after being employed three months with them. At least the contract is taken care of for better or worse. That was probably a major player in my roller coaster ride at XJ. Hopefully it works out better for those new hires starting in the last couple of months. The few XJ guys I got the chance to fly with were great.

 

[PDTGIMP]

Are there really 100 CRJ options NWA can exercise, or is it just a ploy to keep morale up?

 

[cvoav8r]

So given the possibility fo sitting reserve FO for months if not years, It might be better to stay flying corporate at this time logging PIC and SIC turbojet?

 

[FN FAL]

Are there really 100 CRJ options NWA can exercise, or is it just a ploy to keep morale up?

I think the 100 CRJ options they are talking about at XJ are the 100 options seemingly available to the bottom 250 mesaba seniority numbers at other airlines after those pilots finish their one year commitment.

It sure seems like those bottom 250 XJ numbers get re-cycled a lot.

 

[smokey999]

Re: the horror or Mem and DTW

i have heard the horor story "i have been on researve in meme for two years!" "You will too!" Well, how come there are people junior to me getting MSP? How come I was only a coulpe numbers away from getting MSP? Well, lets just say, just because things happened in the past, does not mean its going to be 100% the same again! I respect those who have sat researve for two years, but stop commplaining already and stop reminding me again and again! Heck! i was flight instructing and working construction waiting to get hired since pre 9/11 do you hear me complaining about that! i have respect for what you people have been doing, but jeese! you had an airline job when thousands could not get one! And maybe we as a company are swinging around for the better and maybe will get more a/c. I am prepared for a year or two in Memphis, but have a positive attitude for a line or a spot in mpls! Good luck to all the new hires Don't think they are kidding when they say study your a$$es off!

I hear what your sayn' dude. Hopefully XJ is makn' some deals, and things will improve. For now though, and all we REALLY know is what is happening right now, Mesaba looks like a long term investment at best. Good company to possibly retire with, but maybe not the best for getting some quality time Things change quick though and who knows???

 

[xjhawk]

dont believe?

Hey now, i have something to tell all of you that do not believe what you are told in interviews. If you are taking what is said at face value, I.E it's prob the best case scenerio, good job! But if you are taking it as a contract, spoken as law and must be upheld, than you are an idiot! And if you are so distrusting of those that are interviewing you , why in gods name are you interviewing for a job for people you do not trust and feel are telling you lies and setting you up for failure! Now i know spocks beard, and if you read this, are you thinking that your current management lied to you and screwed you over because they said they had a contract for flying out of Atlanta with _____? Airlines, but have since lost the contract? Did they tell you they would be hireing to cover that flying and the United contract? And now may have to scale back the flying to compensate for the loss of flying all those routes?

My point is, for those of you that are bitter because someone tells you something and it does not come true, learn that what is always said, does not happen, especially during contract negotiations! The chief pilots are more than likely not makeing up lies to impress a possible new hire, if you believe that, you are thinking way too much of yourselves!

 

[SpocksBeard]

Dude - I was strictly speaking from my XJ experience. My current management has nothing to do with it. They have not lied to me or misrepresented their motives in any way. Atlanta was never a sure thing and our hiring is not to cover anything down there and never was. They are still hiring - the only thing losing atlanta will do is cause some displacements and mess up people's lives who have moved down there. Those airplanes will be absorbed by United. It has all been due to United expanding. Notice in my above post I said "I can't really say that I was lied to exactly." I don't believe Dan or anybody else was really clued in to what was going on with the contract at the time and were just repeating what they had been told by those above them. I was only cautioning people from believing stuff they are told at interviews - especially with a publicly held company like XJ. There is always a certain amount of Kool-aid involved. Especially under the umbrella of the NWA whipsaw. I don't believe everything I was told in my interview with my current company either - I don't believe upgrade will take 5 to 8 years! (I think it might be closer to 4.5 ) The other guys in my indoc class had it far worse than I did (xjhawk) - becase i was on the SAAB I got to finish training before they told me I was out of a job - the avro guys didn't even get to finish their training and they were sent home. I'm not bitter; I wouldn't have changed anything that has happened with my career lately. I was just trying to illustrate an extreme example of how buying into an interviewer's sales pitch can really screw you over. It turned out well for me but it doesn't always go that way.

 

[Simon Says]

Are there really 100 CRJ options NWA can exercise, or is it just a ploy to keep morale up?

There are really 129 Crj options.

 

[TurboAWD]

actually, 129 is the number of AC PCL will have on line in about 12 months (there are about 90 right now).

NWA has, if I recall correctly, 175 options in addition to the 129. 75 of those already have financing taken care of. Who will get them? Nobody knows, and anyone who claims to know is probably full of it. Could be PCL. Could be mesaba. Could even someone not currently flying Airlink (Horizon, Skywest,?).

I really hope that NWA doesn't add an additional Airlink partner, but it wouldn't surprise me.

We probably won't know untill mainline ALPA and the company figure out the concessions. But I bet we all know by the end of the year.

 

[T-handle]

I hope MGT is not feeding an overdosage of Kool Aid to the prosective pilots in the interviews. It all sounds good when you hear things like 100+ CRJs, prospective growth, etc... Sure Mesaba is a fun place to work, but I've heard some fairly outlandish stories that new hires are telling us. Like 8-9 month upgrades??? uh no.. sorry to burst your bubble, but the most junior captain award at the moment is around "5 years". And yes we're in good position to receive CRJs.... but so is Pinnacle, Mesa, Skywest... anyone that decides to underbid us is in good position. Sure the most logical choice would be us, but just remember nothing is guaranteed in this business.

On the hiring note, straight from the training center's mouth, May is most likely the last 15 newhire class and they plan to trickle it down to 5 per month after that, or 5 every other month, indefinitely. Attrition is expected to pickup as a handful of pilots are expecting class dates at greener pastures this summer.

And because attrition is virtually non existent, the only "movement" we'll ever see is due to growth=new airplanes. Expect reserve for quite some time.