Tester130

Retention bonus pays out. All pilots on property get the bonus. Right now you figure that the bonus is the only thing holding them here. They will need some of news of a future beyond January to keep another wave of pilots from leaving.


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sweetholyjesus

APC quick take: "$33,000 sign on bonus. Highest in the industry. First installment of $15,000 to be paid upon completion of IOE. Second installment of $10,000 to be paid 12 months after completion of IOE. The remaining $8,000 is to be paid out quarterly throughout year 3 of employment as an FO"

AWAC website: "First Officer starting pay at $35/hour as well as $33,000 in sign-on bonuses which is among the highest in the industry! These enhanced recruiting incentives will secure our ability to attract experienced pilots capable of quickly transitioning from First Officer to Captain."

These two statements seem to contradict each other. I guess nowadays people will say anything to get you through the door..

sweetholyjesus

And I'm surprised they are able to offer a "signing" bonus that is stretched over 3 years when the LOA is good for only one year? Yes everything but the retention bonuses run concurrent with our current expired contract, but that could all change with a new contract. Maybe that means they don't expect to have a new contract within the next few years? Or ever?

PS: $33,000 spread out over 3 years is not the highest in the industry

squib

Retention bonuses only apply to those on the seniority list December last year. Does not include new hires today.

Tester130

Yep...you are correct. The new hires get the sign on bonus spread out over three years and if the airline is still around the will upgrade to captain two years after the bonus runs out.


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squib

Not sure if you're saying that's how it's actually going to pan out or not so this isn't directed at you, but break out a calculator let's all sit down for math class.

Roughly 250 FO's on property, whom most of which where also told "2-3 year upgrade," yet 4 years later are still pulling gear for exCA146.

Let's say Joe Pilot gets hired tomorrow and expects worst case 3 year upgrade. Again, ignoring the fact that there is no foreseeable future beyond a year from now, and the other 250 pilots need to upgrade first. 36 months divided by 250 pilots ahead of Joe would tell us that roughly 7 pilots a month need to upgrade, indefinitely.

There's already not enough FO's to cover current flying so the upgrade can't begin yet. Let's entertain the other point of view and say "well when the announcement comes out, things will rapidly change." Let's reset that calculator. Wait until fall for the announcement, it's still going to be 3 months to get new guys on the line, and in the meantime everyone has been leaving for other opportunities. But let's do math again.

Hopefully assume 250 FO's are still on property (likely not past May 16th), still awaiting their 2-3 yr upgrade they were told to anticipate now 4.5-5 years later, meanwhile the guys hired today are 6 months into their 2 year upgrade but still waiting with 250 ahead of them.

There's been a giant stagnation and unless it's an announcement of additional aircraft and not just an extension to the current fleet that is currently being parked, the attrition isn't going to hold up the expectations.

Tester130

Agreed, they have lots of problems to solve, upgrade time being one of them. A bonus that runs out at three years when everyone looking at the situation knows upgrades are going to take much longer isn't going to get guys in the door. They were out of time months ago and the hole keeps getting deeper.


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VoiceOfReason

You're speaking logic. Not sure that's allowed here.

Day4mx

Alot of smoke coming out of appletonia but I ain't seeing no fire quite yet.

sweetholyjesus

ARW never fails to approve crappy language. They should have put a realistic time limit on the signing bonus before they signed their balls away. Never before have I seen a "signing" bonus stretched out to 3 YEARS. That's 3x longer than our actual retention bonuses

Just take one guess what happens to all that promised money if they close the doors... $15,000 gets you to warm the seat just long enough for them to ride into the sunset. You could get the same money at Gojet ffs...with a faster upgrade and a future.

But at least the FOs are getting paid. And the captains are......