HR is notoriously slow. Then again I won’t lie. The “interim” training manager already has one foot out the door to head back to Delta. So that could possibly explain any delays applicants are experiencing on hearing anything back.

Regarding contract nothing new to report. Still under an interim MEC with plans to begin spooling up soon for them.

Company is exploring options with 757 but former CEO in charge of that. So we don’t know if, when or what will happen on that front. He’s not a great negotiator and under his watch we lost 8 possible 763 acquisitions due to inefficiency. So take it with a grain of salt and believe it when on the property. I want to be optimistic but also a realist when I see who’s tasked with it.

Home basing is desired by many on property but currently still bound by a Miami centric mindset. Contract talks most likely is where that will be tackled and not sooner. Right now working on payroll and scheduling issues.

Swapped from Teamsters in October 2020 to ALPA. Now known as Local 134.

While no commuter clause many of our pilots hired since May 2020 are not local or meet the requirements sold. They’re making it work. The business model is moving far away from the day trips to San Juan. Just need to be flexible and creative. We want home basing long term and then it won’t much matter.

Right now we operate on bidding days off. It’s highly ineffective but it’s what we do. Only “lines” are thru an existing LOA we have for temp basing. Those are as close to home basing as we have currently. These lines depending on credit value go senior. Especially the PHL postal runs. But guys make it work. They bid their work days in a string. We are evaluating the process and union working on better resource management. Again most likely contract talks for line bidding system.

If you’re awaiting an answer my recommendation would be to follow up with BV in HR or JE from Training if he did your interview. Be persistent and good luck. We are short staffed and would love to hire more. Just don’t be a management kiss ass to BB and you’ll fit in here just fine. Good luck.

Contract negotiations will be resumed after we have an election of a permanent MEC.

Yeah what he said!! Specially the kiss ass part!

Understand. We can’t thank you enough for the update there just isn’t a whole lot of info on AJT out there. What are the current upgrade time like? During the interview the impression was new aircraft were all but a done deal. I know you mentioned don’t believe it until it’s on property but if you had to guess would you forecast growth in the new year?

Relatively short upgrade times due to aircraft acquisition. Two years or so. But also you need to take into account a few things. First off background of applicant. Some guys here came here with prior heavy jet experience or command experience. While PIC time is nice and the pay is a little better you can’t rush an upgrade in this aircraft in my personal opinion. So if it takes someone longer to feel comfortable that’s ok.

Growth. We will be getting two more 200s this month. Up to 4 more IF DHL decides it. CEO openly stated in our monthly pilot town hall he wants 18 aircraft and approximately 250 pilots by 4th quarter 2021. In other words our company could double in size this year as we’ve remained relatively small since we retired the 727 fleet.

Here’s the thing about JE or the Bobs. They’re clueless. One has his apps out everywhere and openly talks of his return to his legacy. He’s not invested here. Same thing about the Bobs. They really don’t know anything about our ops or a “day in the life.” It’s why we are pushing to have active line pilots and our own chief pilot returned to the process with a more active say in pilot recruitment. Mind you these are just my personal opinions. But I know many here who share a similar sentiment.

I am truly optimistic we will be turning the corner soon and hopefully bring great things here. We have some great folks in our ranks. We can’t control all the flawed logic or the BS. But we are fighting that good fight daily. So if you come here you’ll definitely need some patience. But hopefully in the long run it’s all going to pay off with an industry leading contract and improved benefits, quality of life and salary.

I believe you were told wrong on a lot of that, but things like this happen when the people that are doing the interviews are not that people that ever flew the line here. I will try and answer your questions though...

We are NOT home based, not yet at least, but many many people commute. If you can get the SMF or ONT temporary bases then it is quasi-home based and they airline you from your home to work and home again. These go VERY senior on the Captain side, but many of the FO bids for those have went junior. Section 6 has not started yet due to ALPA officer elections, but I think I speak for everybody when I say that home basing will be one of centerpieces of the next CBA.

Whoever told you that you had to live in MIA flat out misspoke, and there are several pilots here that never see Miami except for training. Our flying is kind of all over the place, and more than half of it is outside of Miami, so having I live there is simply not true.

With the exception of the poorly executed temporary base LOA, we don’t have bid lines at Amerijet. You work 16 days and have 12 days off. Sometimes in a row and sometimes not, depending on how you bid. The SMF and ONT temporary bases do more of a traditional two weeks on/two weeks off schedule, but the Miami guys really don’t work any kind of set schedule. I can’t speak for the future, but I don’t believe a 2-3 day trip like you see at the pax airlines is something we are looking to do for the next CBA and bid lines will definitely be in the next contract.

We did switch from IBT local 769 to ALPA, and are still in the process of officer elections. Once that is over expect you see things kick into high gear. Committees are being formed now and the plan is to hit the ground running once officer elections are over.

More airplanes are on the way, and the third of four DHL owned 767-200 showed up in MIA this weekend. Strong possibility of 757’s, however I never believe anything until I’m sitting in the seat. The former CEO is brokering the deal on the 757’s, but his track record for aircraft acquisitions down right sucks, so I’m not holding my breath if he’s involved in any way. Current fleet is 7 767-300’s, and 4 767-200’s, with one additional 767-200 from DHL known to be on the way.

Same here, was told that it would be about two weeks, but they hoped to get back sooner. Might be worth trying to get in touch with HR- especially if they are trying for a 1/18/21 class.

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I didn't make the January 4th class and haven't heard back yet from a mid-December interview. The latest candidate I've heard of that made the Jan 4th class interviewed on 12/10/2020.

I have no idea how many interviews were held in the last half of December, but with each class holding 15 seats there is bound to be a selection process of some sort.

HR (BT really) isn’t very good at communicating after the initial interview, and that has been brought up to management. There were some people that interviewed in August, that never heard a peep after they interviewed, that’s in the class that just started. If it weren’t for current pilots pushing for them they would have just fallen through the cracks and been forgotten.

So who should we contact to make sure we don't fall through the cracks?