Originally Posted by fosters
Here are the mins:
- 1,500 hours fixed-wing total flight time
- 1,000 hours fixed-wing PIC time, or 500 hours PIC time and 500 hours SIC time in a turbojet
- 1,000 hours fixed-wing turbine time
- 1,000 hours fixed-wing multi-engine time (civilian or military) or 1,000 hours single-engine military fighter jet time
- A current ATP written exam
- A current first class FAA medical
- A current passport
- A Bachelor's degree is highly desired
Of course, mins are just mins. However CAL doesn't specifiy TPIC at all. I do not know if they were interns. I'd guess most of the people hired have internal recs...
With very few exceptions will need to know someone to get hired at ANY major airline. Start networking immediately, your student or FO might beat you to the majors, then you'll be glad you were nice to him or her (especially her).
AWA & CAL have recently hired folks with less than 1000 TPIC. CAL seems to prefer that you upgrade to CA, then they will scoop you up. The reason for this is historical...back in the hiring boom in the nineties, the lower-tier majors were losing THEIR pilots to DAL, AA, UAL, FEDEX, UPS. They figured out that if they hire folks who are short of TPIC, then they get to keep them for a long time, because they can't get TPIC until they upgrade (which takes a long time at any major).