Shuttle America

[flyboy]

Any info on this company? Future, pay, upgrade, etc.

 

[chperplt]

The search function... what a terrible thing to waste.

 

[flyboy]

thanx homer

 

[chperplt]

thanx homer

Glad I could help you out there Timmay!

 

[shuttlecraft]

flyboyAny info on this company? Future, pay, upgrade, etc.

company:

- wexford capital owned. same investors who ownes republic holdings aka chautauqua airlines and republic airlines.
- operates as usairways express and united express.
- 20 saab340....very nice plane
- iad, pit, fwa base.
- "shuttlecraft" call sign

future:

- october 2, 2004 midnight. contract ends with usairways
- december 31, 2005 midnight. contract ends with united
- jan 1, 2006 and beyond. uncertain
- half of the saab430 a/c will be returned as the lease is up...
- by the end of 2005, a few a/c remains in property.
- attrition high.

pay:

- 22/hr 1st yr. $1 increase yearly. 72 min gar.

upgrade:

- uncertain. maybe 12 months or more.

people:

- very good folks.

all above as far as i can remeber.

rumor:

-wrong rumor...then
- jets are uncertain


the rest who knows...maybe someone knows more

if someone could pls double check for accuracy ...

 

[tyuwerty]

rumor:

- under notice from united for performance issue. i believe 2 months.
- jets are uncertain.

Well If Shuttle is on warning then every other UAL express carrier in IAD must be also. Shuttle has been consistently at the top for weeks now. Perhaps you should be sniffing around DGS and MESA if you are looking for companies on warning.

 

[FmrFreightDog]

pay:

- 22/hr 1st yr. $1 increase yearly. 72 min gar.

You've got to be kidding......... Low first year pay is one thing, but $1 a year??? Tell me that's a typo.

 

[tyuwerty]

Word in the OO man, is that they are buying back some of the lease return A/C.

 

[BendOverAgain?]

You've got to be kidding......... Low first year pay is one thing, but $1 a year??? Tell me that's a typo.

Low first year pay? Show me a turboprop operator that you start off with $22 per hour and perdiem. The list is far greater with lower pay.

And for the last 3+ years the average time to upgrade varies between 1 - 2 years. Show me another regional with upgrades that fast, once again it is easier to find those that take longer.

Flight time. Consistantly 85 - 99 hrs per month. Quality of life had been an issue, but with the new DO in place quality of life has improved and expetations are will continue to improve with his lead. And depending on seniority one can expect 10 - 16 days off per month. Seniority moves fairly well. bottom Dawg today is around middle Dawg in about a year. Attrition in past due to quality of life issues and obtaining flight time/experience and moving up to better/bigger times. Attrition is now starting to vear more towards those moving up - with some impatient and leaving I believe hastedly towards other companies with no brighter or guarranteed future.

 

[I.P. Freley]

Well If Shuttle is on warning then every other UAL express carrier in IAD must be also. Shuttle has been consistently at the top for weeks now. Perhaps you should be sniffing around DGS and MESA if you are looking for companies on warning.<<<

Amen. We are not "on warning", no matter what the AirWisc CP has been telling their new-hires (heard this from one of our former FO's who is in GS there).

If you want to figure out who SHOULD be "on warning" from U, look no further than the people who run the circus (and I use that term loosely) at the G-Gates in Dulles.

 

[cargoflyr69]

as a shuttle pilot I agree that the 2nd year-on-up F/O pay is very lousy. Yeah we may may a few bucks an hour more right off the bat than the other guy's company, but I think we are the only ones that have a buck an hour bump for year 2. I think that prospective new hires see this and are maybe scared off because of more money to be had at other places that are hiring... They may not get the picture that upgrade could be way faster than they ever thought. The last couple upgrade classes averaged 1-1.5 years seniority. I even think there was one guy in the last class that was only on line for 9months before upgrading. Who knows what future upgrading will be like, but it HAS been faster than industry average ever since shuttle got bought by Wexford Mgmt (2001)
Maybe Shuttle will have trouble hiring pilots? Could this be why the new hire class was pushed back a week, or so I heard? Just thinking out loud ofcourse

I do agree that the new DO will be doing his part in turning this ship around. There have already been some visible changes since his arrival here and I am keeping the faith that there will be better things coming for us. We are already a pretty darn good turbo-prop operator, just gettin better. Look at the recent UAL stats if ya don't believe me.

Jets on the otherhand.... yeah right.... we still got lots of changin' that needs to be done before anyone will let us fly jets!

 

[IndyGTP]

On a maintenance side of things... how long do you think they will continue to re-position planes to FWA?

I've heard it costs anywhere from $3-5,000 in landing fees and fuel. With the cost of fuel being so high, its just a matter of time till they shut down the FWA hanger and offer (or lay-off) all the mechanics jobs in Dayton or IAD. How long do you think this re-po thing will last...

 

[tyuwerty]

If you average the first and second year FO rates, then compare them against most regionals they are as good and better than some. Keep in mind that there are no FO's on a pay rate higher than year 2. As for repos, how do you figure 3000-5000??? If that was the case no turbo prop would ever make a cent. Costs for a Saab are more likely in line with other Turbo-props around 800-1250 and hour. If they are paying 5000 for a 20 minute flight between DAY and FWA, then we are all screwed. Come on now, get real!

 

[I.P. Freley]

You forgot about the $3500 landing fee in FWA, tyuwerty.

 

[Ace McCoy]

Low first year pay? Show me a turboprop operator that you start off with $22 per hour and perdiem.

This is not a promotion for Mesaba because the upgrade time is somewhere around forever but $23 to start and $28 in year 2. Per Diem too.

Again just want to show you another turboprop operator that starts good. As far as after that...not so strong.

 

[I.P. Freley]

OTOH... As Saab rates go...

Surprisingly, Captain Pay is almost exactly the same as AmEagle, year for year, at least through the first five, with the same guarantee. Didn't look at anything beyond that. Looks like Mesaba pays about 10% more and has a higher guarantee. And both of those companies also have 401k matching, which we don't. We apparently make $1/hr less than Colgan as captains, but $1/hr more as FO's. Don't know about Chicago Express, tho. As other 30-seaters go, looks like we're about $1/hr less'n TransStates.

Strangely, our hourly rates are HIGHER than Dash 8's at Horizon and Mesa. We're about 10% lower than the rates for small turboprops at Skyway and Skywest.

At least as far as Cap'n pay goes, we're not far off and actually higher than some in larger aircraft... Go figger.

All this according to www.airlinepilotpay.com. Great site.

 

[StuckInASaab]

3000-5000 per repot

Captain = $40.56 * 1.5 (Jr. Man) = $60.84 per hr
First Officer = $23.00 *1.5 (Jr. Man) = $34.50 per hr
Flight Attendant = $18.00 / 2 (DH) = $9.00 per hr
Fuel = $2.00 per gal @ 149 gal per hr = $298 per hr
Landing fees, handling fees for United, nothing on the FWA end that you wont be paying anyway = $200 Appx.

MAX Repo Cost = $593.34 Avg. Repo Cost Without Jr. Man @ 30 min = $421.56

@ The savings that we get for using the FWA hangar over some overpriced city in the south, I can almost guarantee that we will be repositioning the saab's from Dayton for a while.

 

[IndyGTP]

Thats good to hear from a maintenance side of things. A hangar supervisor told me the $3k in fees and I thought that seemed a bit high!

 

[ABQPilot]

From this FWA Journal article, I would say it does not look real good for Shuttle America in Fort Wayne.

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/9552944.htm

Terry

 

[tyuwerty]

Doesn't look good, ABQPilot? Why? because they terminated there usair contract like they have been saying for the several months? The Incentives to stay in FWA outway the cost of not serving the city. Where would they move corporate to? IAD? To expensive. Even if they found a better deal in another city, a move would probably burn up any savings for a years to come. I just can't see them moving again so soon.

 

[BendOverAgain?]

From this FWA Journal article, I would say it does not look real good for Shuttle America in Fort Wayne.

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/9552944.htm

Terry

"READ THE ARITCLE"! It doesn't look real good for US Airways. Shuttle America is breaking away from US Airways because they weren't making money with them, so they switched to United and started making a profit immediately with them. US Airways didn't drop Shuttle America, Shuttle America dropped US Airways and is presently amongst United's Top Dawg's as far as performance flying from their IAD hub.

Watch and see, Shuttle America will be growing again under the United flag by spring when pax loads start rebounding after the traditional winter low loads!

 

[ABQPilot]

I hope you both are right and that Shuttle can stay in the air. Flying for two airlines that are not doing well (US Airways and United) just seemed to be stacking the deck against them.



Yes I know that the entire industry is down for the most part and the big guys are going to have to get into a mindset/business model more like SWA and some of the other low cost carriers if they want to compete. Whether it has been the shareholders (profits) or the unions (wages/benefits) that have driven up the cost of doing business, (quarterly losses) unless the upward spiral stops no one will be making any money in aviation except the bankruptcy lawyers.



Terry

 

[StuckInASaab]

New Hires...

Class starts for 14 new hires on wednesday...

 

[T-Gates]

StuckInASaab.....you win for SCARIEST avatar EVER!