Originally Posted by
watch
Thanks. How many total FO lines is that, if there are 7 more than last month?
Roughly 90 lines best I can tell. There are 147 FOs on the line for October in EWR so the difference (57) is on reserve. For a small company that's a large number and that explains why reserves aren't, as a whole, flying much.
This is also why we have practically stopped hiring FOs at this point. I heard the last class was 8 (small, even for us) and only 2 were FOs. Once we get more CAs onboard and balance the CA:FO ratio we'll be able to accept all the flying and aircraft the mothership wants us to take and the number of lines should increase.
Despite this constraint the company is still growing. 225 more block hours in EWR and another aircraft (#38) just arrived for conformance. That puts us +9 over the last 11 months I've been keeping records -- almost one a month. Not bad IMO.
That said, anyone who does come here as an FO is probably looking at 6 or more months of reserve. That's a guess on my part and based on nothing but my own experience -- I was hired before the wave of FOs and did 4 months. Can't imagine it being better / faster for current FOs. If coming here as a CA, expect to get a line much faster.