Upgrade times at ASA!

[PowerRanger]

Wondering if upgrade times at ASA have gone up rather signifigantly. Since people are jumping ship to SKYW or majors like rats on a sinking ship.

Call me crazy. But really hoping that ASA gets a contract and soon,as they're the regional that I most want to fly for.

An they must be getting desperate for pilots cause I heard they lowered their mins to 800/100.

 

[79%N1]

No....because as people are mass exodusing, we are losing airplanes to Skywest at the same rate. We have not hade a class of pure upgrades (FO to Capt.) in I dont know how long. If people were leaving that much, you would see upgrade classes to refill those Capt slots, but it hasnt happened. Dont get me wrong, they are leaving, but so is the flying.

 

[eagle06]

mins actually 800/50 now

 

[bamapilot]

Upgrade ....Whats that?

Im Sitting on 4.5 years and still 100ish numbers away from the ATR and and 130's from the RJ. So no upgrade in the forseeable future.

 

[ASAFOE120]

NO upgrades. As a matter of fact, I am an ATR CA that of Jan 1 will become an ATR FO (along with 6 other ATR CA's).
I would consider my long term goals before coming to ASA. If you plan on moving on from ASA to greener pastures, you need to go somewhere with faster upgrade times like maybe CHQ, Mesa, or SKYW. I know, I'll probably get slammed for recommending you go to these places but you have to look our for yourself cause no one else is going to.
121 PIC time is what its all about! PERIOD!
Good luck,
Former ASA ATR CA

 

[bailout]

Of the 87 pilots that left between Sept and Nov., 54 of them were F/Os. So not much movement on the CPT side. With the 70s going away, there will be more displacements. Even if we get the Comair 70s (which i dont like, but I cant control that) then it will be washout, so maybe 30-40 upgrades this year. There will easily be 7-8 year F/Os here.

 

[goahead]

NO upgrades. As a matter of fact, I am an ATR CA that of Jan 1 will become an ATR FO (along with 6 other ATR CA's).
I would consider my long term goals before coming to ASA. If you plan on moving on from ASA to greener pastures, you need to go somewhere with faster upgrade times like maybe CHQ, Mesa, or SKYW. I know, I'll probably get slammed for recommending you go to these places but you have to look our for yourself cause no one else is going to.
121 PIC time is what its all about! PERIOD!
Good luck,
Former ASA ATR CA

I don't know all I hear about from sch is how short staffed they are on ATR and CR7 Ca's. Good luck

 

[jstyle13]

Of the 87 pilots that left between Sept and Nov., 54 of them were F/Os. So not much movement on the CPT side. With the 70s going away, there will be more displacements. Even if we get the Comair 70s (which i dont like, but I cant control that) then it will be washout, so maybe 30-40 upgrades this year. There will easily be 7-8 year F/Os here.

I hate to sound like the eternal optimist here...but, I think the contract will be finished by March(yea I know...). Majors should start picking up with hiring pretty good in 07 and 08. I also think we will get some additional flying in the future. My guess is they know that we have been awarded some of the Comair RFP flying but the last thing they want to do is announce it right now before we get into the compensation neg's next month. Why have they been taking so long to announce who will be flying the 70's from Comair?

I could be totally wrong on all of this, only time will tell.

 

[Tarzan]

I hate to sound like the eternal optimist here...but, I think the contract will be finished by March(yea I know...). Majors should start picking up with hiring pretty good in 07 and 08. I also think we will get some additional flying in the future. My guess is they know that we have been awarded some of the Comair RFP flying but the last thing they want to do is announce it right now before we get into the compensation neg's next month. Why have they been taking so long to announce who will be flying the 70's from Comair?

I could be totally wrong on all of this, only time will tell.

How dare you sound optimistic when so many at ASA are so good at the opposite. However, I agree with your assessment. This may be a very good place to be once Delta starts hiring.

 

[TOOL CRIB]

I think ASA is the place to be right now. This industry has always been one of ebbs and flows. Right now ASA is in an ebb, with a flow to follow next year (or is it the other way around?). There are a lot if indicaters pointing to a lot of hiring next year. Every day without announcements about all these RFP's out there is more than likely because ASA will get their fair share, and they wont give us anything until we get a new contract. Early next year will be a fun time. Or I could be all wrong.

There is one thing for certain. Do not ever bet on current upgrade times. Just because you are hired at a place with 2 year upgrades doesn't mean you'll get a two year upgrade. Why don't people understand this?! Morons!! And #$%#4@# airplanes have "brakes", not "breaks"!!!!!!! Learn to spell in the maintenance can people!!

 

[pilotnbr1]

Everyone always looks at the hire date of the most junior captain. Take Skywest for example, I believe the most junior RJ captain was a 2004 new hire. The people that are chasing the upgrade don't realise that there are probably 1000 plus FOs between them and that captain and the upgrade time will have to go up as long as they operate the same number of aircraft. Theres no way that attrition at Skywest is ALL on the captains side and will continue to keep pace with the rate they are hiring. ASA was hiring street captains 6 years ago and look how it stagnated here. Things can change quickly and if you are chasing a quick upgrade chances are that you will get hired on at the tail end of the movement. Its all about being at the right place before the growth happens not after and chasing it.

 

[~~~^~~~]

On the most recent Preliminary Awards (which don't matter but give us insight into what awards would be given if Finals were awarded right now) the most junior award for CA is 6/29/01 on the 200 and 8/31/2000 on the CR7.

I do not share your optimism for ASA just being in a cycle. If you look around the industry the highest paid on any type is either gone, or going away. We have no power to hold up our pay rates without scope that binds the Company to its pilots. This is especially true for ASA.

ASA's future does depend on what gets negotiated in this contract and the better the contract, the worse our future will be. I trust our current Reps to find that balance - but - absolutely do not trust ALPA national. ALPA would just as well push us over the cliff to say they held up pay rates while the airplanes are transferred off to SkyWest, or mainline.

Many of us would say "good" if the airplanes went back to mainline, but it will be for less pay and that is the reason why they would be moving airplanes. Further, the question was about ASA and I'm replying from an ASA perspective.

 

[atlcrjdriver]

I hate to sound like the eternal optimist here...but, I think the contract will be finished by March(yea I know...). Majors should start picking up with hiring pretty good in 07 and 08. I also think we will get some additional flying in the future. My guess is they know that we have been awarded some of the Comair RFP flying but the last thing they want to do is announce it right now before we get into the compensation neg's next month. Why have they been taking so long to announce who will be flying the 70's from Comair?

I could be totally wrong on all of this, only time will tell.

Looking at the industry cycle, barring another major event like 9/11 the majors are prime to continue/begin hiring in '07. From CAL and LUV to FDX and UPS with the legacy carriers to kick in as well w/ DL and NW. From this hiring cycle alot of the ASA Cpts will leave for greener pastures thus reducing the upgrade times. Once our contract is completed, I agree that we will pick up new flying and not shrink as some will say.

The only x-factor in this will be the merger frenzy and only time will tell how that turn out.

 

[IFLYASA]

And what about this so called Frontier flying out of Denver? Even Jerry adimitted Skywest can't fly it so ASA would have to do it. Could this be the driving force to get the contract done? If so, ASA won't be so bad after all.

 

[~~~^~~~]

Atlcrjdriver:

Well you said it. The merger frenzy will make a lot of these jobs less desireable & the industry a hell of lot less stable in the short term.

AirTran is set to acquire Midway whuch will be great for the company, but lousy for those of us who were thinking AirTran would be a good airline to work for out of Atlanta. Now it will be a good airline to work for out of Milwaukee

ASA has no scope and no merger and fragmentation protections - NONE. ASA has at least 40 CR2's that remain on Delta's paper in bankruptcy. If Delta lines up with a dance partner ASA is in a real risky position. SkyWest could pull the plug and backfill the very instant ASA's cash cow status dries up.

Management says our only scope protection is to have the lowest cost and I will go on record and say that they are correct. While I would love to see "industry leading" the fact SkyWest's pilots have not voted in ALPA means that nobody has our back.

If ASA is around in three years, it will be a pleasant surprise. In the mean time we can't all get hired at FedEx Express, Southwest, Continental and UPS. There is a glut of RJ pilots with several thousand hours of PIC looking for a decent shot at a middle six figure job and one uniform jacket until they retire.

 

[737 Pylt]

Atlcrjdriver:

Well you said it. The merger frenzy will make a lot of these jobs less desireable & the industry a hell of lot less stable in the short term.

AirTran is set to acquire Midway whuch will be great for the company, but lousy for those of us who were thinking AirTran would be a good airline to work for out of Atlanta. Now it will be a good airline to work for out of Milwaukee

ASA has no scope and no merger and fragmentation protections - NONE. ASA has at least 40 CR2's that remain on Delta's paper in bankruptcy. If Delta lines up with a dance partner ASA is in a real risky position. SkyWest could pull the plug and backfill the very instant ASA's cash cow status dries up.

Management says our only scope protection is to have the lowest cost and I will go on record and say that they are correct. While I would love to see "industry leading" the fact SkyWest's pilots have not voted in ALPA means that nobody has our back.

If ASA is around in three years, it will be a pleasant surprise. In the mean time we can't all get hired at FedEx Express, Southwest, Continental and UPS. There is a glut of RJ pilots with several thousand hours of PIC looking for a decent shot at a middle six figure job and one uniform jacket until they retire.

Fins:
Nicely put. If I might add. I don't know anywhere where you'll make in the mid six figure range except for UPS, Fed Ex, or Southwest.
That being said, there's no such thing as only having 1 uniform jacket. I already have 4 and probably will have another one or two before this is over.
Also, the legacy's are not what they used to be, but it will still beat a regional any day!
Just my .02

737

 

[Kerveball]

Anybody see the new position notice that came out yesterday (12/14/2006)

10 CA's on the 200
10 CA's on the 700
10 FO's on the 700

My guess is we are getting those 700's from Comair for the "Denver flying".

Thoughts?

 

[Kerveball]

If you want to see the notice go to OurAsa and follow these steps:

Documents - Forms - Crew Resources - Crew Members - Awards - Rosters - Preliminary Award - Its the last preliminary award at the bottom

This is the first jet CA vacancies I have seen (other than the LAX ones) since May.

 

[Medeco]

Anybody see the new position notice that came out yesterday (12/14/2006)

10 CA's on the 200
10 CA's on the 700
10 FO's on the 700

My guess is we are getting those 700's from Comair for the "Denver flying".

Thoughts?

The Denver flying is for FRONTIER, the COMAIR CR7's are for DELTA, Delta has re assigned these aircraft to another DCI partner. They did not sell these aircraft to Skywest so they could go use them elsewhere.

Medeco

 

[JettBoii]

Do yourself a favor and go Part 135. Get your time and go to UPS/FedEx or Southwest. Bypass the regionals.

 

[PowerRanger]

Do yourself a favor and go Part 135. Get your time and go to UPS/FedEx or Southwest. Bypass the regionals.

Smarter words have never been uttered. Definately taking that and other options into consideration. We will see in a few months. This has been a rare informative post on FI thanks guys and keep it coming!

 

[JettBoii]

The problem with that is that most part 135 companies want ATP minimums and the regionals will pick you up with 600/100; much easier to get out of instructing that way.

 

[Turtlesfly]

Hey, when/if you ASA guys get a new contract, are you going to get one mudda f'ing huge back pay check?

 

[TOOL CRIB]

Hey, when/if you ASA guys get a new contract, are you going to get one mudda f'ing huge back pay check?

You bet. With mine I'm gonna buy all the Mesa FO's a tent so they can sleep in peace and dryness when the jetway they have to sleep in starts leaking during a night rainstorm.