Southwest/ATA hiring info

[bluestreaking]

DOT Grants Approval for Southwest-ATA Code Share Posted on Fri, 01/07/05 00:00 The Department of Transportation (DOT) has concluded its review of our code share agreement with ATA Airlines, allowing us to put the agreement into service. Specific code share destinations and schedules will be released later this month.

"We are pleased that we can now move forward with this exciting opportunity," said CEO Gary Kelly. "We think travelers will love the destinations that will be added to the Southwest route map through the code share." You may have heard that ATA is announcing furloughs of employees in various locations, with a large number of those being in Chicago. Because we recently signed a code share agreement with ATA, some of you want to know whether or not Southwest will be interviewing and/or hiring any of them. Southwest has not agreed to hire any ATA employees. However, qualified ATA employees will be interviewed only after Southwest's normal internal bidding and internal interview process has occurred. Southwest will continue to fill open positions with internal Southwest applicants through the "Going Where We're Growing" initiative. Displaced ATA employees will be given first priority to interview only over other external candidates for positions that have gone unfilled after all other internal Southwest processes have been exhausted. In other words, the order of interviewing for open positions will be: 1. Southwest internal applicants, 2. ATA employees who qualify for the position for which they are applying, and 3. Other external applicants.

 

[Jim Smyth]

Sounds pretty good to me. You get a shot at a good job and if you are currently furloughed it's a win,win. Best of luck to the ATA folks making the switch.

 

[jetdawg]

it does sound good. not quite like the airtran offer (only chicago residents,which I think would have been anyone qualified outside of chitown) but even if airtran had gotten all the gates we had wanted and we put a press release like this out peeps would be squawking about how unfair it is.


My plan was not to start a fire, but it would have gone something like this, "your telling me I have to wait for a interview after all internal recomendations? Airtran has over 1000 pilots and if every pilot has a pilot friend he or she wants to get on I will be 1001 to be interviewed, I hate this. Airtran is unfair and on and on and on.

 

[flyhard]

jetdawg,

I am not sure what you were getting at? The fact that we possibly might be #2 in the WN interview list? I think I would rather be number 1001 than number 10001. Like Jim said it is a heck of oppurtunity anyway you look at it. I am not going to start a piss on Airtran thread, so we can have 145 replies of bs. The fact is that WN seems to be moving ATA is a positive direction even if it does mean furloughs over the next few months (myself included). I look at it as I either get a shot with SWA or come back to a much healthier ATA.

 

[bluestreaking]

The way I read it is that ATA pilots that meet SWA mins will be put at the front of the interview list. Internal applicants aren't really an issue, that pertains to jobs like inflight, rampers, CSAs, etc...

Good luck to all!!!

 

[Guam360]

I talked to a person at K&S and that person said that ATA pilots were flocking the place, the phone was ringing off the hook for non-737 type rated pilots seeking their type to get in line, apparently they are given preferintial, I guess that means with the type.

 

[HAL]

Can any ATA guys out there let us know how many pilots are getting furloughed now? Thanks.


HAL

 

[Pickle]

There are currently 2 pilots and 4 F/Es furloughed. Another 32 pilots will be furloughed at the end of this bid period, which is January 30. With more to come, you can be sure.