flyskisail

Maybe because he doesn't want to? Maybe he thinks airline flying is boring, lame, redundant, etc. Maybe his career goals don't align with yours. Rather than put people down for their choices, help them answer their questions.

MaCrOs

It's complicated. Ultimately I do have my eye on a certain 121 airline but currently QOL and being home based is very important. Hence, fractionals seem to be an excellent choice.
So from what I heard so far this is more accurate:

dirtysidedown

At Xojet you also have three schedule options to choose from. 8/6, 15/13, or a monthly flex schedule based on company need(extra pay for this). No goofy looking uniforms, however we do dress like Johnny Cash(he was a cool guy anyway). Quick upgrades, and overall great pilot group. We are smaller so everyone knows each other. No babysitting of old farts either like at Netjets. We did just get bought by Vista Global, but seems to be business as usual so far, good luck with your job hunting.

NJA04

NJA is hiring as many as they can. 200/yr for the indefinite future. NJA has better pay and schedule than XO and Flex.

Smooth at FL450

To put up with a 10 year upgrade, they’d better!

Starchkr

Right. It depends on if you want to make flying for a fractional/135 type of operation a career or not.

If you just want to fly somewhere for a few years and get a quick upgrade you’re best option is XO.

If you want to stay in the fractional flying world I can’t see why anyone would choose Flexjet over Netjets. Sure the upgrade time might be longer, but NJA has a decent contract and from what I can tell a good track record. They also seem to be poised for future/long term stability. They always seem to stay up to date with aircraft orders.

XO is decent but I don’t see the long game there. You’ll make more in the short term given you upgrade quickly but those airplanes are getting old. I’m not aware of any plans to replace the fleet. Their business model doesn’t include ownership. It’s essentially charter isn’t it?

wankel7

I don't understand your base pay?

OhSnapAF

You typed 15 wrong. It is not 10 years to upgrade yet...

Marko

Latest NJA upgrades are right at 13 yrs longevity. That will probably increase over the next year or so before it starts coming down relatively quickly. I think it will be under 10 yrs for anyone hired now, but I use a cracked aviation crystal ball for forecasting.

OhSnapAF

Yea it will drop eventually, however no other company in the industry is referred to upgrades with a level of hopes and dreams added in. Every airline is going to be hiring pilots like mad, but nobody is saying "yea upgrades will drop to 2 years at United in like 3 years so just keep crossing fingers"

If upgrades are 13 years right now, then it takes 13 years to upgrade. There is really nothing to indicate with any solid amount of certainty that upgrades will significantly drop in the future.