Thanks so much for the information, I know it's about impossible to predict what direction any company is heading in.
well it looks like I'll have to get used to commuting.

 

On the L-XJT side, they are owned by the United Continental Holding group. They were purchased by Continental when CO owned L-XJT.

FlightDirector,
From the L-XJT side and partly applies to the L-ASA side.

There is not a company anywhere in the world that can train 1000 pilots overnight. That is the amount for just 100 airplanes. Our planes are being moved to a company that is 40% owned by United. They are still ramping up the hiring at C5 (commutair) and they are running classes of ~25 a month. (2-3 planes). If the XJT management came out and stated they were closing down the airline, they would have no one left to fly the remaing planes they are stuck with. If management did not say anything at all, then pilots would know that they are closing down the place. The XJT management is very cautious in what they tell the pilots and they give the little carrot every once in a while, making it look good. (CPA extensions that don't happen) An example of that is we were told UA extended the CPA at the first part of 2016 and we would not park any planes. There is a list on the L-xjt forum that will show you how many have been parked this year Parked Aircraft - Page 77

XJT is a good company with a good contract. It used to be a great company with a great contract, but we are still operating under a contract that has concessionary rates (even with the 1.50 raise) that was put in place in 2004.


One last point about the recruiters. They have been saying for years that the upgrade time will drop to a couple of years in a very short amount of time. Go to the facebook page and go back a couple of years if you don't believe me. The dates they use do not even add up. Shorter upgrade times will never happen. They are at 10 years now. The best they could do is upgrade 80 people and get it down to 7.5 years. I think we upgraded 15 this year.

Also, if XJT was serious about hiring pilots, there would be a bonus like the other carriers. $60,000 is more than I make at XJT and I was hired in 2007.

 

Express Jet could be profitable again if Skywest wanted them to be. You make it sound like It's the fault of Express Jet for not being profitable.

 

I definitely see your point.
I was pretty set on XJT when I first started looking at the regionals, I toured their offices in Atlanta and they really put on a good show. I don't have anything concrete tying me to Atlanta, I'm mainly just hoping to stay here because I have a really good network. I'm the backup pilot for a couple of small part 91 flight departments in the area that I could continue to fly for to supplement my income. I'm also an IA with a great reputation in the area allowing me to cherry pick annuals and other profitable maintenance work which really helps. I might be trying to hard to juggle everything right off. The other option is to cut bait and go with the regional that will have me off reserve as quickly as possible and offers the best upgrade times regardless of having to move or commute.

I'm not looking to retire at XJT by any means, like most everyone else I'm looking for a stepping stone to the majors. With what I've seen in regards to mandatory retirements and (as of right now) a growing demand for pilots I think hiring at the majors is really going to ramp up starting mid 2017. I figure with my current times and experience I'll be a strong contender for the majors with about 2 years at a regional. Any thoughts on weather I could ride out XJT and start applying at everything with a wide body after 12 to 14 months on the line?
With how volatile the industry is I find it's really hard to formulate a good plan.

 

If you work for a regional, you will not be able to work on the side doing any flight stuff.

There are several questions that you need to ask yourself before moving forward.

1. Do I want to get to a major, and if so, which one.
2. Is it better to commute than to go to an airline near my home.
3. Is it better to be on reserve at home or off reserve somewhere else.
4. If I commute, where do I want to be based and how fast to be based there.


things to think about from above questions.
1. if you want a major, look for a flow or CPP type program for the airline that you want or for your second and third choices.
2. if the regional is not that good, going out of business, continuous reserve time, no flow or cpp, then you will be better off commuting.
3. On rsv, you will only get min guarantee at most places. Can you live on 75 hours at $37 an hour for years? getting a line will increase your pay and QOL.
4. look for the number of flights that will get you from your home airport (atl) to the companies bases. also look to see which base is jr and how long you will be there before getting a base that you can fly to easily.

Last item will be the bonus money if it applies. get the details behind the money (ie. mesa requires you to sign away your life) or how much of it you will get with the stipulations.

If you have any questions about XJT or C5 (commutair), feel free to ask me. I was at L-XJT for 9 years before giving up as an FO and unable to upgrade making less money for the last couple of years. I am at C5 now and I am getting ready to upgrade.

 

It's all SkyWest, just with an ExpressJet name on some of the planes. None of it is controlled by ExpressJet.

 

Do you see any chance that skywest would base out of Atlanta and bring on XJT pilots or is it more likely they will just furlough the XJT guys and move their own pilots into ATL when the time comes?

 

If this 2018 extension update is true then why did they just file a 10Q with the SEC a few days ago stating 2017 is the expiration date for 145's. That's the big question. They can't get in trouble for lying to us. There aren't any federal fines with that.

 

Do you think INC enjoys losing money? They have been negotiating the contracts to improve the revenue side and they have been working hard to improve cost incl. what many at XJET considered a concessionary contract.

The end result is still revenue < cost and I don't think it is for lack of trying.

You can argue who's fault it is but I don't think anyone would want to shut it down if they had a choice.

As for giving XJET more profitable 2 cabin class flying .... What do you'd I with your money? Take it to a bank that delivers 5% interest or one that gives you 1% interest?

 

Stay away from xjt. Don't listen to the recruiters lies either. I recently left and it was the smartest move I did. There is no future at xjt. I was on reserve the entire time I was there. Each month the reserve got longer and longer. The possibilities of holding a line became slimmer and slimmer. Scheduling manipulates the trips. They hide the ones in open time so reserve guys won't be able to pick them up. I've tracked trips and seen them do it. There were multiple trips I was wanting to pick up and when I called to pick them up, scheduling told me they were already picked up by someone else. Not true. I later saw a reserve guy schedule and it had been awarded to him.

XJT is the defnintion of stagnant. Don't waste years of your life at a place like this. Even though you have the chance of driving, commuting to a different domicile will be worth it in the long run. OO is taking everything and will continue to take everything. The matter of staffing is always the excuse at xjt. Every email you receive from company is the same story about how they working hard to recruiter pilots.

I feel bad for them. They DO work hard but it's nearly impossible to convince someone to come here and spend 2 plus years on reserve. That is not even mentioning the upgrade time of 10 years. Once you upgrade, if you ever do, you'll end up back on reserve for an additional 6 plus years. It's happening right now!

Look at another place that's relatively stable and can provide career progression. You don't want to be at the bottom of the seniority list till you retire. That's what is happening at XJT.