I'm pleased to see pilots HELPING pilots with minimal sniping. I'm guilty of my share of mud slinging during the hard times we've been through, and I had stopped reading this forum some time ago. Arguing with strangers (instead of in-laws) wasn't helping anyone, so I stopped.
Training historically HAS slowed during the summer because the IPs are flying the increased block hours and keeping up with needed recurrent training. I don't know what this summer will bring.
We've got a new Director of Training starting Monday. He's a long time F9 pilot, and a good guy. I expect progress from the training department with him at the helm. The fellow who is retiring from that position has a well earned reputation of starting rumors, so; while I believe there will be growth, the numbers I've seen (102 to be hired in a given year???) should be taken for what their worth - a guess. (Would you tell the biggest leaker anything of import)? Also, keep in mind that a hiring forecast is a lot like a 10 day weather forecast. Find the best looking weather reader but understand that they don't really have a clue past 12 hours (and in Denver cut that to about :30 minutes).
I feel better about the future of F9 now than I have in over a decade. We've done as best we could, lost some battles, but have gotten lucky when it counted, and are getting stronger by the day. If F9 folded I planned to leave aviation since I don't fit in with most of the other airlines' cultures. I was hired when the Chief Pilot described Frontier as "the land of misfit toys." Our diversity has turned out to be one of our chief strengths, and it makes for some very interesting cockpit conversation!
About a year after I was hired at F9 (4500TT, two types, FE, degrees, etc. - all civilian) the US was attacked and the airline industry didn't know how to react. We were just beginning to take delivery of owned Airbi, and the knee jerk reaction from Potter and Tate (CEO & CFO) was to furlough.
My fellow FAPA pilots stepped up and offered a temporary 11 or 12% pay cut to avoid the furloughs. The vote passed in the 80-90% range - I, and a large lump of new hires, was/were on probation and couldn't vote but would have been the ones on the street. It turned out that we didn't need to furlough and the company made a show of repaying the pilots with stock options (that never managed to be in the money
), but the camaraderie of senior pilots giving up some of their money for guys they hardly knew bonded the pilot group and turned a stepping stone carrier into a career for me.
I don't have any info about current or future hiring for you. I just want to thank you all for returning APC to what it's supposed to be - pilots helping pilots get ahead in this effed up industry.
Cheers, mahalo & good luck!
Oh, I don't know if this indicates the status of the hiring window, but the flyfrontier.com site lists pilot as a position we are currently hiring for:
https://rn21.ultipro.com/FRO1003/Job...4FA606B0440A11