Gawd, I hope not that!

GF

Different strokes for different folks. I left a halfway decent 91/135 gig for a national airline. It was a good job, but with one crew per airframe, I was tied to my cell phone, and that got old as I got older, got married, and so on.

There are fantastic corporate jobs out there. Jobs that I'd forgo Delta for (I'm a Delta wannabe). But for every one of those, there are a thousand less than desirable ones. I just got tired of waiting. I agree with everything FTB wrote (he and I seemed to have very similar corporate jobs) with the exception of airplane size. Anyone qualified enough to make a choice between a good corporate job and a company like Delta has long since given any kind of **** about equipment.

Personally, the hardest part of going 121 was becoming a number. I went from being King of the World to a situation where my quality as a pilot has absolutely no bearing on the operation unless I do something unusually stupid. On the flip side, becoming a number is also the reason my QOL has improved so much (as FTB showed). I don't regret the move at all.

Your mileage may vary.

We are a 91 operation with FO manual that consists of 135 and some 121 (mainly crew rest) provisions. We currently have a CP, 8 flight ops, 4 PIC's and 4 SIC's for 2 G-550's with a G-650 to be delivered in October. We fly mostly to Asia (China and Singapore) and Europe. The PIC's came from 121 (1), 135(2), military (1). The PIC's have been with is since we established flight operations 3 years ago. We have had 2 SIC's leave for the majors (we know SIC's join us because they want to build hours. We help them with this and when they are ready to move, we support them). We have FA's but we don't call them that. They have much broader responsibilities such as dealing with Collins Ascend to arrange catering, handling, transportation, language services, etc.

If all eight pilots left tomorrow, we could back-fill almost immediately (within reason). We know a lot of qualified people and hiring is a non-issue. We pay equal or better than legacy. We have set work schedules and involve our flight people in our company operation (CP is a VP, PIC's are Directors). Retention and hiring are the least of our problems and I would expect it to remain that way.

biigD,

I got a decent one, but I wouldn't pass up DL, except for being 60 and the retirement bulge coming isn't gonna help moi

GF

That sucks, but otherwise it sounds like you have a good thing, man. I've got 30 years to go, and I just hope to have half the career you've had. :)

Curious--- what do you think the demand in 3 years will be for g550/global pilots? Will those wages increase? I'd think with the retirements of the long time corporate pilots in these jobs + the airlines sucking a few thousand guys, it could be a pretty tight market for guys that can do that work.....

It's sort of independent of airline hiring; the population of G550/Global pilots isn't a direct subset of the airline pilot application pool. Most of that end of corporates are older, more settled and career corporate oriented. Most likely because of the last 12 years of stagnation in airline hiring, but also somewhat generational, baby boomers are heavily represented. A lot of thes pilots are "leftovers" from the airline demises of the '80s or missed the hiring then and never looked back at airlines.

That said, they are an aging group that will be turning over rapidly, just like the AA, USAirways pilot pool.

Pay may increase, but it has been on an upward trend line for the last decade. Guys flying their private planes are willing to pay for experienced pilots, at least in the US. Their pay is a tiny factor in their business' overall costs, unlike the airlines where any reduction in pay is a huge change in the cost structure.

GF

I get that the G5 drivers aren't a subset of the airline pool.
I'd think the top end 91 corporate jobs (hedge funds, Fortune 100, super wealthy etc) that have the 80's airline leftover flying will have a tough time filling that need. Most corporate people agree that you don't take a 777 airline captain, F-15 pilot, or King Air charter pilot and make them a G5 International Captain overnight. The guys 30-45 in a respectable 91 international job should end up in demand for those jobs, and hopefully can finally charge a premium....

Not sure what a premium is, but qualified Global/G5/7X Captains can get 160k+ to start pretty easily....it's been that way for a long time.

Private owner gigs seem to be in the 150-200k range. Many larger depts (mine included) start in the 120-140k range and rarely find typed/current/local at that rate, so we have to build our own (which is fine also) Manager type positions will pay 200-250k+.

By the time most pilots reach experienced, Intl PIC status they are usually pretty settled into a career, so not TOO many are going to the airlines at that point.

I know one of the things I like best about corporate is the portability....there's no starting over at the bottom once you have some strong experience.

I tend to agree with you, but GF with implying Delta's the best option, I just tried a different thought.
When I say premium, I mean the 160k jobs would become 180k. Not to simplify too much, but with the supply of guys who are International PICs shrinking, as well as airlines/charter companies scooping up all the prospects they can handle, I'd think the demand for Int. Pic's would increase (dragging salary along as well?)