DoSomePilotStuf

If it were me I’d go to work for PSA and ride company metal to CLT. If it’s really XJT you want, and I think it’s a great airline, EWR is probably your best bet.

Av8tor8710

Nothing against PSA, I just do not care to sit on reserve for more or less than a year when other companies have 0-few months.

CRJJ

+1 to that thought. although the time that is taking for me to decide where to go and then get a class equals 2-3 months of reserve lol (at least).

DoSomePilotStuf

If you have the flexibility to move, I really think XJT is the best all around option for QOL, pay, quick class availability, few-ish training delays (should get better as they get the training department ramped up) and flight time. If the growth goals happen (could be over 200 planes flying at XJT or more very soon) upgrade times will drop to 18-24 months and they may even have to hire a few DECs. I’ll get roasted for that last statement but as soon as the upgrade time drops again to 2 years or so people will be flooding the doors and they will simply run out of captains. If the pilot group grows to 2000 and you need 1000 captains counting for normal attrition they would need every pilot in the company upgraded to captain. If they get the Mesa contracts and the 25-39 new 175s it will happen. And no, it won’t be 145 replacements. There are over 100 145s in the desert that XJT has been told by United they want flown if they can get the pilots trained to do so. The only thing limiting growth at XJT is getting the pilots through training.

CRJJ

That really sounds amazing, and I hope XJT does great but it's a bit optimistic don't you think

DoSomePilotStuf

Yes but optimism is good for the soul!!

Hard to find on message boards for sure.

Care to argue a specific point?

The thing holding XJT back right now is published upgrade time. It will come down if hiring keeps up and it will become a domino effect. Upgrades come down, hiring goes up.

It’s hard to argue there is very real potential for the 175 fleet to increase at XJT.

The misconception is that the 175s are replacing 145s. This is simply not true. They are replacing 700s/900s because of scope. The United scope clause allows for a virtually unlimited number of 50 seaters. The 145s are not going anywhere. United wants more of them flying, not less.

Which means the bottle-neck is training. XJT is trying to ramp up their 175 training program and their 145 training program concurrently. It is taking some time and there are going to be some frustrations but when it comes full circle the potential is virtually unlimited.

amcnd

United doesn’t have 900’s.... But yes more 50 seaters are coming online for UA..

CRJJ

I come from 135, so I'm totally new to 121 and how it works, so bare with me.
One of the things that made me have second thoughts about XJT was indeed the upgrade time, so going from LONG upgrades to possibly DEC in the future, seems like a huge contrast, but again, what do I know.
I agree with hiring being the key, but that's a big issue for everyone right now, right?.
Anyways, I do wish nothing but the best to XJT

DoSomePilotStuf

You would have to understand the full history of XJT, the ASA merger, the subsequent erosion of flying. The company shrank and shrank. Went from around 4000 pilots to the current 1400 or so. So when a company is shrinking it’s not hiring and it’s not upgrading pilots. Along comes United, buys the company, starts investing in it. The growth hasn’t even started yet, i.e. the hiring so far this year has barely kept pace with attrition (Kalitta hired a ton of pilots from XJT), and the upgrade has fallen from 10 yrs to 7 to 3/12 in less than a year. That most Jr upgrade is about #900 on the seniority list. Someone hired January of this year is around #1200. So while there are 3 years difference in their hire dates, there are only 300 slots difference in their seniority, which is actually what matters. So if/when the growth comes, which again is limited primarily right now by how fast the training department can get guys through, the time will drop because there are so few slots there. How long will it be before XJT needs 300 more captains? However long it takes to train 600 FOs. If they could get 600 in a year (which just so happens to be their stated hiring goal, 600 for 2019 and 600 for 2020) they need 300 captains in a year. So that guy that was hired in January’s spot will come up for upgrade in about a year. Unfortunately he won’t have 1000 hrs by then and won’t be eligible for upgrade. Here come the street captains.

Now, they are not on pace to meet their goal of 600, but at the end of the day long upgrade times will be a thing of the past for anyone hired at XJT in 2019 and beyond. I’d be willing to bet a very large sum of money that upgrade times at XJT will be the lowest in the industry by the time someone hired today is eligible for upgrade. Keep this post in mind when you and your flight school buddies are reflecting on who “got lucky” in 18 months or so.

CRJJ

As I said, I certainly hope so. Although last time I saw my flight school buddies was 12 years ago lol.

I may end up at XJT, so who knows if I'll be the lucky one!.