Lets put a bow on this thread and chalk the last half of the thread to "don't judge a company by a single angry poster".
What many pilots who read these forums are looking for are leads on job opportunities, hiring trends and other info that would be helpful to choosing what company one wishes to pursue.
I know when I was researching for my next career, APF comments were very helpful in making the decision about choosing
XO over other companies. I say that not to disparage other 135 operators...everyone has a different culture and your priorities will vary compared to mine.
One has to weed through posters to determine the value of their opinions and reach out to those who are working at the company you wish to fly for to truly determine for yourself from "real people" what life at any company is like.
Anyone thinking of applying to XO in the future that advice still stands...send a PM to any of those who have commented on this thread and get their opinions...include anyone who demonstrates a depth of knowledge in their opinions about that specific company. Persons have a good cross section of posters to choose from and I'm sure they would respond with their experiences.
For those who are looking for positions, as of 14 March, the info below should help you...good luck...if you have any follow up questions, feel free to ask.
The operations of XO (formerly XOJET, JetSmarter) post job openings on the
FlyXO website.
There are no pending announcements about hiring on the X or 300 that I'm aware of planned for the next few months but things change quite frequently. We've been told there are enough apps on file for any pop up opportunities to be filled from the talent pool on file.
The only opening being advertised is a
Global 5000 Chief Pilot filling a vacancy that came open when the previous person has moved to Red Wing Aviation leadership.
Red Wing Aviation shows both Citation Ultra Captain and First Officer positions open and can be found at this
link. Not sure how many positions are needing to be filled but the plan is to grow the "Light" fleet from 15 to 50 airplanes.
Requirements/Compensation for FO are
here.
Requirements/Compensation for CA are
here.
Talon Air Jet has also been acquired by XO with their fleet of mid, super mid and long range aircraft. They are not posting any job opportunities at this time from this
page. This
page has their fleet composition.
At this time hiring, compensation and work rules remain as they were before the XO acquisition. Some aspects of mx and ops have been combined such as client services and tracking of aircraft and as time goes on, more of the ops is "predicted" to fall under XO but those details have not been shared completely with the pilots to my knowledge (which is as a line pilot).
Vista US (their operations in Malta is still controlled from there obviously) has different work rules and compensation plans but are fully explained when applicants seek those details.
Despite the "drama" of the last page or two, I think interested parties will find XO is doing just fine (good work culture in place) and has a good plan going forward to make Vista/XO a great place to continue a great career in aviation.