Omni Air
06-04-2022, 09:20 PM
#3632
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2009
Posts: 841
I don't see HNL on the list but you can certainly commute from there to a gateway. We operate there a fair amount it could work out well depending. We have a guy who lives in Germany and another guy somewhere out in Asia. They make it work.
06-06-2022, 07:12 AM
#3633
Line Holder
Joined APC: Jun 2015
Posts: 80
Originally Posted by JohnBurke
Sounds very much like you're saying something along the lines of "tell me why I should work at Omni. Give me one good reason."
What could you learn to live with? What could you overlook in order to settle, and allow Omni to be graced by your presence?
I suspect that Omni has plenty of applicants beating down the door (someone mentioned two showed out of something like a class of eight, recently?), despite any shift in the industry leading the less than. honorable to accept a class and then welch out on it when a shinier penny comes along.
Others seem to have provided plenty of reasons; good pay, easy work, few hours, good time at home, based from your house, good company, variety, go see the world, yada, yada. I've been at several employers who said outright in initial: if you want to be here, we welcome you with open arms. If you dont, then go; we don't want anyone here who doesn't really want to be here. I doubt Omni is any different. I see several posters have called it the best-kept secret.
Every operator has it's good and bad, shine and warts. One might have great maintenance, another poor. One might have great communication, another the worst. I suspect that Omni, like nearly any other operator, there are both highs and lows. It sounds like you're asking which lows you might over look and still take the job. My experience with numerous operators over the years has been that it doesn't take long for the honeymoon to end and the realities to be visible; all the cracks, wear points, and the daily grit: it is a job, after all. One pilot's ceiling is another's floor, and all that. What bothers you may attract the next guy; what drives him nuts may be your cup of tea. Any operator will be great at some area, and less desirable at another.
Omni seems to be a fairly even-keeled place with a lot of seniority list that has been with them for a long time, and enough newer employees to show growth, if not in terms of aircraft, perhaps in work, income, demand, whatever. Others can provide their specifics.
Years ago, a quick search of Kalitta would show an engine falling off in Lake Michigan, gear parts in Scotland, multiple engines flaming out in Colombia, a runway overrun and destroyed airplane in Brussels, etc. National has their moment in Afghanistan. Western Global numerous air turnbacks, large percentages of their fleet AOG on any given day, and so on. Omni, a gear collapse, something here, something there. Omni has also been doing a lot of DoD flights for a lot of years; there's a client that uses them heavily and continues to use them all over the globe, and to me, that speaks volumes about how they're viewed by an organization that regularly evaluates them. I've parked next to Omni airplanes all over the planet, for a long time. They've become a constant presence, many places I've been. They're not a large company, but they have longevity, and it would appear that their clients are satisfied. I believe that's worth taking note.
Someone said a three year upgrade, but it's worth noting that with Covid, Omni (like many operators) reduced their hiring, resulting in a period of a year or two gap...what happens when upgrades hit that gap...perhaps someone can jump in on that. Do the upgrade times drop to a year or two as applicants bridge it from one hire date to the next, a year or two later? Maybe. Even three years is good. Some have opined that home basing is worth it's weight in gold, others that it doesn't matter. I'd submit that having been home based, it's worth a lot to me, and I suspect to most of those at Omni.
Sixteen or seventeen days on the road is standard fare for most of the ACMI and charter operators working internationally. It's not that long to be gone from home, especially if you consider taking two weeks off without interruption. Compare that to commuting with three days off in between trips elsewhere, and two of those three spent getting to and from the job. Personally, I'd much rather have someone buy me a ticket to work, stay there for a couple of weeks, get a ticket home, and have my own time off. I've had a lot of years with ten months on the road, which is to say, get out of bed one day, and don't return to it until ten months later. From my perspective, a couple of weeks on the road is nothing. Nothing at all, especially when the time at home is uninterrupted. Perspective.
If I have to look at a job and ask what I have to overlook in order to settle for taking the job, I look for a different job. Someone described Omni as the Island of Misfit Toys. I'd say that description is apt for a number of the charter and ACMI operators out there; aircraft from a variety of operators, pilots from every walk of life. Military, corporate, regional, charter, whatever. Lots of experience levels and backgrounds. Sounds like something for everyone, but also that the job may not be for everyone. That might be anyone out there. I suspect you'd never be a cookie cutter there. I suspect you'd find it's a place where those around you care more about whether they can get along with you for a week together, than where you've been or what you've done, and I suspect that like many places, most of the pilots will bend over backward to help you, and a few won't. For a best kept secret, they seem fairly open-book. You pays your fare, you takes your chances. I don't hear a lot of complaining about the place. Probably a good thing.
What could you learn to live with? What could you overlook in order to settle, and allow Omni to be graced by your presence?
I suspect that Omni has plenty of applicants beating down the door (someone mentioned two showed out of something like a class of eight, recently?), despite any shift in the industry leading the less than. honorable to accept a class and then welch out on it when a shinier penny comes along.
Others seem to have provided plenty of reasons; good pay, easy work, few hours, good time at home, based from your house, good company, variety, go see the world, yada, yada. I've been at several employers who said outright in initial: if you want to be here, we welcome you with open arms. If you dont, then go; we don't want anyone here who doesn't really want to be here. I doubt Omni is any different. I see several posters have called it the best-kept secret.
Every operator has it's good and bad, shine and warts. One might have great maintenance, another poor. One might have great communication, another the worst. I suspect that Omni, like nearly any other operator, there are both highs and lows. It sounds like you're asking which lows you might over look and still take the job. My experience with numerous operators over the years has been that it doesn't take long for the honeymoon to end and the realities to be visible; all the cracks, wear points, and the daily grit: it is a job, after all. One pilot's ceiling is another's floor, and all that. What bothers you may attract the next guy; what drives him nuts may be your cup of tea. Any operator will be great at some area, and less desirable at another.
Omni seems to be a fairly even-keeled place with a lot of seniority list that has been with them for a long time, and enough newer employees to show growth, if not in terms of aircraft, perhaps in work, income, demand, whatever. Others can provide their specifics.
Years ago, a quick search of Kalitta would show an engine falling off in Lake Michigan, gear parts in Scotland, multiple engines flaming out in Colombia, a runway overrun and destroyed airplane in Brussels, etc. National has their moment in Afghanistan. Western Global numerous air turnbacks, large percentages of their fleet AOG on any given day, and so on. Omni, a gear collapse, something here, something there. Omni has also been doing a lot of DoD flights for a lot of years; there's a client that uses them heavily and continues to use them all over the globe, and to me, that speaks volumes about how they're viewed by an organization that regularly evaluates them. I've parked next to Omni airplanes all over the planet, for a long time. They've become a constant presence, many places I've been. They're not a large company, but they have longevity, and it would appear that their clients are satisfied. I believe that's worth taking note.
Someone said a three year upgrade, but it's worth noting that with Covid, Omni (like many operators) reduced their hiring, resulting in a period of a year or two gap...what happens when upgrades hit that gap...perhaps someone can jump in on that. Do the upgrade times drop to a year or two as applicants bridge it from one hire date to the next, a year or two later? Maybe. Even three years is good. Some have opined that home basing is worth it's weight in gold, others that it doesn't matter. I'd submit that having been home based, it's worth a lot to me, and I suspect to most of those at Omni.
Sixteen or seventeen days on the road is standard fare for most of the ACMI and charter operators working internationally. It's not that long to be gone from home, especially if you consider taking two weeks off without interruption. Compare that to commuting with three days off in between trips elsewhere, and two of those three spent getting to and from the job. Personally, I'd much rather have someone buy me a ticket to work, stay there for a couple of weeks, get a ticket home, and have my own time off. I've had a lot of years with ten months on the road, which is to say, get out of bed one day, and don't return to it until ten months later. From my perspective, a couple of weeks on the road is nothing. Nothing at all, especially when the time at home is uninterrupted. Perspective.
If I have to look at a job and ask what I have to overlook in order to settle for taking the job, I look for a different job. Someone described Omni as the Island of Misfit Toys. I'd say that description is apt for a number of the charter and ACMI operators out there; aircraft from a variety of operators, pilots from every walk of life. Military, corporate, regional, charter, whatever. Lots of experience levels and backgrounds. Sounds like something for everyone, but also that the job may not be for everyone. That might be anyone out there. I suspect you'd never be a cookie cutter there. I suspect you'd find it's a place where those around you care more about whether they can get along with you for a week together, than where you've been or what you've done, and I suspect that like many places, most of the pilots will bend over backward to help you, and a few won't. For a best kept secret, they seem fairly open-book. You pays your fare, you takes your chances. I don't hear a lot of complaining about the place. Probably a good thing.
06-06-2022, 04:33 PM
#3635
On Reserve
Joined APC: May 2019
Posts: 23
Originally Posted by pitchtrim
I don't see HNL on the list but you can certainly commute from there to a gateway. We operate there a fair amount it could work out well depending. We have a guy who lives in Germany and another guy somewhere out in Asia. They make it work.
06-07-2022, 09:57 AM
#3636
On Reserve
Joined APC: Nov 2012
Position: Flunky
Posts: 12
Originally Posted by Clcoregon
Also interested about any comments on CBA negotiations...is there any ?
06-07-2022, 02:24 PM
#3638
Just Plane Stupid
Joined APC: Feb 2006
Position: Captain
Posts: 458
Originally Posted by Turboqv
Omni Management is talking concessions! Stonewalling is an Omni trademark as well as not negotiating in “good faith.” They are wanting to remove the “free breakfast” and “business travel”already in the 2nd CBA! A new VP of Flight Ops was hired with a background of union busting.
06-07-2022, 02:57 PM
#3639
New Hire
Joined APC: Mar 2019
Posts: 2
Originally Posted by Turboqv
Omni Management is talking concessions! Stonewalling is an Omni trademark as well as not negotiating in “good faith.” They are wanting to remove the “free breakfast” and “business travel”already in the 2nd CBA! A new VP of Flight Ops was hired with a background of union busting.
that being said a big part of draw towards Omni is the culture. I legitimately had lots of other options but gravitated here because it was the best fit.
I don’t see how any of the above would aid in recruiting or retention esp. during the mist of the biggest pilot shortage in decades.
I would HOPE that’s not true (for both the pilots and the companies sakes) but who knows…stranger things have happened.
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