Reserve
 

Hi all!

I've got an interview with Atlas coming next month and I was wondering for a new hire, how long the period is sitting reserve.

Im pretty junior at my regional and it seems they have hired so many FOs that we are all sitting around waiting on reserve, and with the codeshares starting to slim down a bit of our flying and limited captains I have a feeling I'll be stuck on reserve for a while. (I don't live in any of the bases).

Any insight would be great! I think the 737 is still pretty light on the flying compared to wide body fleets from what I have been told.

The 737 is not light on flying per se, it’s just not a crj/erj doing 5 legs a day. Not a time building type of job.

For the most part “Reserve” at Atlas means you do not have a proposed schedule to fly for the month. Most likely, you will have flying assigned to you before you even leave home. Very rarely do fleets have extra pilots sitting in base just waiting to cover trips. Scheduling would love to have that, but we do not have enough pilots. Many times line holders have modifications to their bid lines and by the end of the month their actual flying barely resembles what they thought they were going to fly. Sometimes a reserve line will result in a better pattern and pay vs a regular line.

Hi, good luck on your upcoming interview! They will want to see that you have done some research on the company and how it operates. If you go to the Atlas website, you will be able to find this information. Make note of the Gateway program. I think looking at this will help answer your question and also help you understand why reserve tends to go senior. For the time being there is plenty of OT to be picked up if you want to do a lot flying. Capt upgrade is quick in the 73 and the seat lock is only 2 years if you want to move up to a widebody.