Naviator

Any chance a guy with a 175 Type Rating and <1000 hours 121 could lateral to XJT, fly the E175 and be based in IAH?

How long is the upgrade?

Do you upgrade on the same equipment or is there a possibility of being forced into another jet?

FlyingMaryJane

Its going to go senior from what I hear, considering only 4 per month are coming online it will take a long time time to hold that... I think most New hires are going to ORD, EWR on 145 and Crj don't plan on 175 for new hires, atleast for another year until they get 25 online. Upgrade is around 8yrs or so, but that should come down eventually as they implement their staffing plans going forward

da42pilot

That’s a question better asked directly to recruiting.

I am inclined to believe, however, that it is still too soon for a new hire to get in that aircraft. Heck, flying doesn’t start until June...

PontiusPilot

Hiring is just into the 145 at the moment, with EWR and ORD as junior bases. I would expect hiring into the 175 this year, though. IAH is the only announced 175 base, but ORD is likely to be next.

Upgrade time is difficult to predict, but my educated guess is that a new hire can expect to upgrade in less than 3 years, based on upcoming growth.

Upgrade will be on whichever aircraft and base you bid for and can hold. There are no forced upgrades at XJT.

701EV

Looking to hire 500 pilots in 2019.

701EV

PhantomHawk

That’s like 475 more than 2018.

FlyingMaryJane

They have been looking to hire 500+ pilots for the last few years, but haven't even come close... I think more incentives need to happen to bring 500 to xjt, but is that a net gain of 500 they want? if so they need to hire 80 per month... that will not happen unless they add a flow and bring those bonuses up to $50k

OtterPilot

The good news is that for FOs the pay rate is the same on all aircraft. Essentially all FOs get paid at the 70 seat rate.

With the 175s you get the bonus new jet smell to go with the pay.

afterburn81

As one pilot to another pilot, you’ve got to get out of the mentality of overpromising. People see this statement and think, hey this guy knows something and 3 years isn’t bad.

For one, the number you threw out there is very appealing but based on absolutely nothing other than wishful thinking.

Facts - there are around 8 more CRJs that need to be put on line. Will need 25-30 more captains to fly them. However, 50 CR7 captains just finished up the AMR flying and have never flown from the right seat. So those slots are basically spoken for. Not to mention 50 FOs that just finished the AMR flying that seniorities range from 13 years to 25 years. All of which will be bidding for any open captain position in order to maintain their pay rates.

Currently there are no upgrade classes. System bids for the next few months will yield only backfilling of vacancies. At 12 years of seniority I personally could not hold left seat anywhere within the company. There are 50+ guys more senior to me that will need to upgrade before me. From what I hear, at best, XJT hires 3-5 per month and I have recently spoken to a few different instructors that can say not all of those make it through training.

Long story short, the company cannot upgrade if they don’t get FOs. A LOT of FOs (since more FOs attrit than CAs). Close to 100 guys were displaced to FO on the ASA side and maintain their CA pay so long as their bid always includes all CA positions before FO positions.

Do the math yourself. Upgrades at 3 years? Never again at XJT. Can’t happen unless a flow forces the top to come off.

The only thing I honestly see could happen (just opinion), exchanging 145s for 175s. So a new hire might see a 175 sooner than later. Which may appeal to more and help growth and maybe get the ball rolling in the right direction.

PhantomHawk

The company can upgrade and fly the reserve CAs as FOs.