Originally Posted by
Globemaster2827
Looking at Atlas going forward, I think if you're hired in the first 6 months of 2017 you'll be a 767 Captain in 5 years (maybe less if it's at the very beginning) and a 747 Captain in 10 (maybe longer...). If you're hired in the 2nd half of 2017 I think you can count on more like 8 years on the 767 and 15 years on the 747. Atlas is likely going to need an additional 500 pilots on our list next year to accommodate Amazon. That may mean 700 total spots for any new flying, Amazon, retirements, and attrition (which is supposed to hit a new record next year). Getting hired in the 2nd half of the year will mean that you missed the boat in my humble opinion.
Those upgrade times MAY be somewhat accurate....IF we get an amazing contract very soon...otherwise they will be significantly shorter, IMO.
We're not going to ADD 500 pilots next year. No way. At a class every 3 weeks on each fleet, 24 in the 747 classes and 12 in the 767 classes(which are the numbers they used up until recently, but now it seems 6 new hire/6 upgrade per 767 class) the grand total would be about 600. We will lose more than 100 during that time frame, and training can't keep up with that pace anyways.
For perspective, the most recent seniority list(10/30) shows 1457 pilots, the junior 747 Captain is 630(09/11 hire) and junior 767 Captain award is 735(01/13 hire).