Congratulations XOJET on the RWA acquisition.
11-13-2020, 05:09 PM
#11
Gets Weekends Off
Thread Starter
Joined APC: Mar 2008
Position: Standing in front of the tank with a shopping bag
Posts: 918
Oops..
Sorry all,
I didn’t mean to stir up a hornets nest with my post. I just thought that this acquisition might improve the pay and QOL of the RWA pilots and help add another fleet type to the XOJET/VistaJet brand offerings. Hey, it could happen.
I didn’t mean to stir up a hornets nest with my post. I just thought that this acquisition might improve the pay and QOL of the RWA pilots and help add another fleet type to the XOJET/VistaJet brand offerings. Hey, it could happen.
11-16-2020, 09:12 AM
#12
XOJET Citation X
Joined APC: Mar 2005
Position: DO, Baker Aviation, Citation X
Posts: 316
Originally Posted by B727DRVR
Sorry all,
I didn’t mean to stir up a hornets nest with my post. I just thought that this acquisition might improve the pay and QOL of the RWA pilots and help add another fleet type to the XOJET/VistaJet brand offerings. Hey, it could happen.
I didn’t mean to stir up a hornets nest with my post. I just thought that this acquisition might improve the pay and QOL of the RWA pilots and help add another fleet type to the XOJET/VistaJet brand offerings. Hey, it could happen.
11-25-2020, 08:04 AM
#16
New Hire
Joined APC: Nov 2020
Posts: 5
Definitely XO 2.0 to include but not limited to:
Seeking volunteers to work 3/4 time for half pay on a flexible schedule
Completely dysfunctional ops center and scheduling since the move nearly a year ago
Pushed out large majority of management
Ridiculous uniforms that no one wants
CH’s that pax don’t want
Your lucky to have a job mentality
More to come!
WU did take a crucial person from ops that VJ refused to let work from home and mandated this person move the cesspool of southeast FL. Now scheduling is so messed up you basically have to do everything your self and CYA constantly.
Seeking volunteers to work 3/4 time for half pay on a flexible schedule
Completely dysfunctional ops center and scheduling since the move nearly a year ago
Pushed out large majority of management
Ridiculous uniforms that no one wants
CH’s that pax don’t want
Your lucky to have a job mentality
More to come!
WU did take a crucial person from ops that VJ refused to let work from home and mandated this person move the cesspool of southeast FL. Now scheduling is so messed up you basically have to do everything your self and CYA constantly.
11-25-2020, 08:56 PM
#17
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Oct 2016
Posts: 278
I can’t see life getting better for RWA folks as long as WC has any say in how the company is run. MX base isn’t terrible but they were swamped with 11 500 series citations, don’t see how they can handle additional work.
11-26-2020, 06:51 AM
#18
XOJET Citation X
Joined APC: Mar 2005
Position: DO, Baker Aviation, Citation X
Posts: 316
Originally Posted by backcoursebob27
Definitely XO 2.0 to include but not limited to:
Seeking volunteers to work 3/4 time for half pay on a flexible schedule. “volunteers”...I was one along with others who volunteered to make sure pay rates remained the same across the board. Quite frankly it’s a great option for some who can afford it. By taking this the other 85% of XO pilot’s pay were unaffected by a completely unexpected pandemic that caused layoffs, furloughs and bankruptcies in the airline industry. Considering the options, this was the least impactful to 85% of pilots. To my knowledge there have been no furloughs among other employee groups..happy to be corrected on that if I’m wrong.
Completely dysfunctional ops center and scheduling since the move nearly a year ago.
Let’s paint the picture with an illustration. You take your car into your local mechanic and say, “ need a full overhaul, transmission, tires, engine assessment”. The mechanic says “sure no problem. I’ll need it for several weeks and if I find something else I’ll need it for longer”. You casually say that’s fine but there is one caveat, “you’ll need to do the repairs as I’m driving the car because I can’t afford to let it sit since I have mouths to feed.”
List of challenges.
1. Move original XO headquarters from SMF to FXE in FL- makes perfect sense to get out of CA tax crazy anti business environment, put XO ops on east coast schedule, moved to a larger talent pool of aviation personnel.
2. New leadership at upper level and search for new Flt ops leadership from external applicants and internal applicants, learning curve no doubt - XO leadership chose new flt ops leadership from within, HUGE WIN! Talent pool is deep at XO.
3. Adjusting to the VJ/XO marriage. Change, yes but we also injected XO into VJ benefiting a some VJ pilots who were managed differently than with XO.
4. COVID...no layoffs, pay rate remains the same, pilots offered up $1m in savings through initiative to negotiate hotel long term contracts, increased cleaning costs, marketing/sales stepped up and picked up the slack and XO signed up more new clients in several months over the past 8 than in the history of the company.
5. Adding a new fleet, Global, to certificate with hundreds of man hrs of work by many persons across work groups at XO and VJ. Added all new training regime for fleet to include cabin hostess training.
6. Training for new folks in SMF before the move to FXE by XO trainers, recruit new employees for 80% of positions in FXE. Large talent pool to choose from, Spirit, DPJ, many other 135/121 experienced maintainers, schedulers (new & old), travel specialists, etc. OBTW, you can’t come into the office due to COVID so how about them apples!
7. Changing from FLT Safety to CAE for to X fleet. The goal is to wet lease sims and this is creating its own challenges but eventually AQP is the goal which is a vast improvement. Growing pains until that occurs but it is a lofty and desirable goal.
8. Purchase of RWA....say an opportunity to increase revenue and took advantage of a good deal (hopefully long term). Any good operation thinking of the future looks to take advantage of downturns, I.e. WU purchasing of other 135 carriers, SWA with announced expansions at LGB, MIA, COS, ORD, etc.
9. Many other challenges that could be mentioned but occurred.
Challenged? Yes. Do-overs? Yes. Perfect? By no means. Safety compromised? No. In fact leadership constantly reminded pilots of the pot holes going forward and asked for extra vigilance and pilots responded. Called out areas that needed and still need attention. Testimony to the professionalism that has been established at XO by those who came before and passed along to those of us who are fairly new.
Pushed out large majority of management.
Every employee (to my knowledge) who was in SMF was given the opportunity to move to FXE...not aware of any who were “forced out”...moving a company and then choosing not to move is not my definition of being “pushed out”. Who are you referencing or merely a “drive by” critique? I’ve been here throughout. Stewart, former CEO, left in Oct 2018 after VJ/XO announced, Austin his #2 took over, served for 7 months and, Flores and XO financial team hand picked replacement for XO 2.0 with Kevin Thomas. Austin’s departure was at his choosing, the DO departed late summer ‘19 to go to another 135 job but talent search and decision to hire from within was KT first test and he made a great choice, previous Chief Pilot went back to the line and was happy to turn the reins over for family reasons and guiding the pilots through some huge challenges. Great choice on new CP, very pilot centric, former UAL pilot with great rep.
Ridiculous uniforms that no one wants Standard looking for many 135/121 operators, definitely a change for XO..you make it sound like clown suits are in our future. Not a big fan myself but they didn’t hire me to be a fashion model...aircrews complain about uniforms as much as they do ATC controllers. Do I have a preference but it’s not the bridge I wish to die on. Probably because I look good in anything!😎
CH’s that pax don’t want . So you have been told this by whom? Our pax’s? During COVID no doubt some pax want no contact with pilots or CH. XO has two products, with and without CH. They pay accordingly. The VJ experience is a superior product who wish to pay for it and get 5+ star service. Would seem if they don’t want a CH, they can choose the X or 300.
Your lucky to have a job mentality. If there is any pilot who isn’t thankful for a job in these times with so many fellow Americans who are facing such challenging times then I would put that person in the category of lacking SA and personal awareness of the world around them. I make no apologies for being grateful (on Thanksgiving)...if ever there was time to be grateful it is now. Doesn’t mean the pilots at XO aren’t making suggestions, improving the training, “training” those on the phone or email with on the XOJET way. We all are trying to row in the same direction..moving to the future and not focusing on the runway behind us other than to learn from it.
More to come! The care and maintenance on a crystal ball I hear is expensive. I suspect if you had one you would’ve applied it to the stock market which would make you a very rich man, rich enough to not to waste time on a forum...but that’s just me.
WU did take a crucial person from ops that VJ refused to let work from home and mandated this person move the cesspool of southeast FL. So one person is “screwed” and the whole place is a dumpster fire, is that right? Two sides to the story always, we’ve heard one slightly shortened version...readers can assess the quality of other comments to judge the accuracy of this one.
Now scheduling is so messed up you basically have to do everything your self and CYA constantly. Scheduling is challenged and would be during any pandemic but add all of the above. We appreciate as pilots all of their work but each pilot is responsible for what they “acknowlwdge” to do. For perspective, 20 years at SWA and largest whine was scheduling bar none...goes with the territory. In the past the experience level was higher so pilots didn’t have to pay attention to things like they did before...what else is new? Ever flown with a new FO after flying with a highly experienced FO? Same rules apply, “trust but verify” but it behooves us as pilot to take each opportunity as a “teaching moment” for that person on the other end of the phone or email. We’re all training captains at this point. Not ideal but I’d didn’t wish to stop the car completely to get it fixed and jobs go away...we needed to keep the wheels moving in spite all of the challenges. The folks at XO should be commended for handling so many challenges in what has been a 12 months of change but to some it will look like a goat screw but that says more about the observer than the people at XO.
Seeking volunteers to work 3/4 time for half pay on a flexible schedule. “volunteers”...I was one along with others who volunteered to make sure pay rates remained the same across the board. Quite frankly it’s a great option for some who can afford it. By taking this the other 85% of XO pilot’s pay were unaffected by a completely unexpected pandemic that caused layoffs, furloughs and bankruptcies in the airline industry. Considering the options, this was the least impactful to 85% of pilots. To my knowledge there have been no furloughs among other employee groups..happy to be corrected on that if I’m wrong.
Completely dysfunctional ops center and scheduling since the move nearly a year ago.
Let’s paint the picture with an illustration. You take your car into your local mechanic and say, “ need a full overhaul, transmission, tires, engine assessment”. The mechanic says “sure no problem. I’ll need it for several weeks and if I find something else I’ll need it for longer”. You casually say that’s fine but there is one caveat, “you’ll need to do the repairs as I’m driving the car because I can’t afford to let it sit since I have mouths to feed.”
List of challenges.
1. Move original XO headquarters from SMF to FXE in FL- makes perfect sense to get out of CA tax crazy anti business environment, put XO ops on east coast schedule, moved to a larger talent pool of aviation personnel.
2. New leadership at upper level and search for new Flt ops leadership from external applicants and internal applicants, learning curve no doubt - XO leadership chose new flt ops leadership from within, HUGE WIN! Talent pool is deep at XO.
3. Adjusting to the VJ/XO marriage. Change, yes but we also injected XO into VJ benefiting a some VJ pilots who were managed differently than with XO.
4. COVID...no layoffs, pay rate remains the same, pilots offered up $1m in savings through initiative to negotiate hotel long term contracts, increased cleaning costs, marketing/sales stepped up and picked up the slack and XO signed up more new clients in several months over the past 8 than in the history of the company.
5. Adding a new fleet, Global, to certificate with hundreds of man hrs of work by many persons across work groups at XO and VJ. Added all new training regime for fleet to include cabin hostess training.
6. Training for new folks in SMF before the move to FXE by XO trainers, recruit new employees for 80% of positions in FXE. Large talent pool to choose from, Spirit, DPJ, many other 135/121 experienced maintainers, schedulers (new & old), travel specialists, etc. OBTW, you can’t come into the office due to COVID so how about them apples!
7. Changing from FLT Safety to CAE for to X fleet. The goal is to wet lease sims and this is creating its own challenges but eventually AQP is the goal which is a vast improvement. Growing pains until that occurs but it is a lofty and desirable goal.
8. Purchase of RWA....say an opportunity to increase revenue and took advantage of a good deal (hopefully long term). Any good operation thinking of the future looks to take advantage of downturns, I.e. WU purchasing of other 135 carriers, SWA with announced expansions at LGB, MIA, COS, ORD, etc.
9. Many other challenges that could be mentioned but occurred.
Challenged? Yes. Do-overs? Yes. Perfect? By no means. Safety compromised? No. In fact leadership constantly reminded pilots of the pot holes going forward and asked for extra vigilance and pilots responded. Called out areas that needed and still need attention. Testimony to the professionalism that has been established at XO by those who came before and passed along to those of us who are fairly new.
Pushed out large majority of management.
Every employee (to my knowledge) who was in SMF was given the opportunity to move to FXE...not aware of any who were “forced out”...moving a company and then choosing not to move is not my definition of being “pushed out”. Who are you referencing or merely a “drive by” critique? I’ve been here throughout. Stewart, former CEO, left in Oct 2018 after VJ/XO announced, Austin his #2 took over, served for 7 months and, Flores and XO financial team hand picked replacement for XO 2.0 with Kevin Thomas. Austin’s departure was at his choosing, the DO departed late summer ‘19 to go to another 135 job but talent search and decision to hire from within was KT first test and he made a great choice, previous Chief Pilot went back to the line and was happy to turn the reins over for family reasons and guiding the pilots through some huge challenges. Great choice on new CP, very pilot centric, former UAL pilot with great rep.
Ridiculous uniforms that no one wants Standard looking for many 135/121 operators, definitely a change for XO..you make it sound like clown suits are in our future. Not a big fan myself but they didn’t hire me to be a fashion model...aircrews complain about uniforms as much as they do ATC controllers. Do I have a preference but it’s not the bridge I wish to die on. Probably because I look good in anything!😎
CH’s that pax don’t want . So you have been told this by whom? Our pax’s? During COVID no doubt some pax want no contact with pilots or CH. XO has two products, with and without CH. They pay accordingly. The VJ experience is a superior product who wish to pay for it and get 5+ star service. Would seem if they don’t want a CH, they can choose the X or 300.
Your lucky to have a job mentality. If there is any pilot who isn’t thankful for a job in these times with so many fellow Americans who are facing such challenging times then I would put that person in the category of lacking SA and personal awareness of the world around them. I make no apologies for being grateful (on Thanksgiving)...if ever there was time to be grateful it is now. Doesn’t mean the pilots at XO aren’t making suggestions, improving the training, “training” those on the phone or email with on the XOJET way. We all are trying to row in the same direction..moving to the future and not focusing on the runway behind us other than to learn from it.
More to come! The care and maintenance on a crystal ball I hear is expensive. I suspect if you had one you would’ve applied it to the stock market which would make you a very rich man, rich enough to not to waste time on a forum...but that’s just me.
WU did take a crucial person from ops that VJ refused to let work from home and mandated this person move the cesspool of southeast FL. So one person is “screwed” and the whole place is a dumpster fire, is that right? Two sides to the story always, we’ve heard one slightly shortened version...readers can assess the quality of other comments to judge the accuracy of this one.
Now scheduling is so messed up you basically have to do everything your self and CYA constantly. Scheduling is challenged and would be during any pandemic but add all of the above. We appreciate as pilots all of their work but each pilot is responsible for what they “acknowlwdge” to do. For perspective, 20 years at SWA and largest whine was scheduling bar none...goes with the territory. In the past the experience level was higher so pilots didn’t have to pay attention to things like they did before...what else is new? Ever flown with a new FO after flying with a highly experienced FO? Same rules apply, “trust but verify” but it behooves us as pilot to take each opportunity as a “teaching moment” for that person on the other end of the phone or email. We’re all training captains at this point. Not ideal but I’d didn’t wish to stop the car completely to get it fixed and jobs go away...we needed to keep the wheels moving in spite all of the challenges. The folks at XO should be commended for handling so many challenges in what has been a 12 months of change but to some it will look like a goat screw but that says more about the observer than the people at XO.
Happy Thanksgiving to all and God Bless America!
Last edited by chase; 11-26-2020 at 07:05 AM.
11-26-2020, 08:13 AM
#19
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2017
Posts: 451
Originally Posted by chase
Quite the first post for you Bob..welcome to APC. Welcome! All opinions are welcomed...facts for perspective are helpful in educating readers fully.
Happy Thanksgiving to all and God Bless America!
Happy Thanksgiving to all and God Bless America!
Not to split hairs, but there are CH's on the overhauled 300's not just the Global and 350's. The entire 300 fleet will be overhauled per the recent schedule in 2021 and will all have CH's on board and not just the 5 we have currently. That's another story for another day.
11-26-2020, 08:21 PM
#20
Gets Weekends Off
Thread Starter
Joined APC: Mar 2008
Position: Standing in front of the tank with a shopping bag
Posts: 918
What’s a CH?
Originally Posted by JMO127
Not to split hairs, but there are CH's on the overhauled 300's not just the Global and 350's. The entire 300 fleet will be overhauled per the recent schedule in 2021 and will all have CH's on board and not just the 5 we have currently. That's another story for another day.
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