Any news from XOJet?
 

I know there's a few XOjetters lurking around here... the grapevine's been kind of quiet lately. Anything new or interesting to report? How are things going with the new boss so far?

Hopefully Yours,

Applicant #: 3,975,762 (give or take a few)

I know as much that they have couple of guys in Cit X initial in a couple of weeks at SimuFlite, so I guess they are still hiring. Not bad in this economy..

I'll be in that class myself through the right seat program at SimuFlite. I might find out some more at that time.

They are not hiring. Some are being retrained in the X. My understanding is they are overstaffed on the Hawker.

What "Hawker" are you referring to? Get the facts straight before you spew crap!

Challenger my bad. Have a beer!

Two new Hires just finishing Initial for the X. Four new hires in the Premier. No CL30 guys will go to initial in the X, but some Typed guys are going back to recurrent on the X because the 750's are short staffed and the CL's are fat on pilots. Only a temporary situation though.

I haven't heard when we well start hiring again, but we're busy and short staffed now. We are also about to start taking deliveries again which is a good sign. I'm hoping hiring will get going again towards the end of the summer, but I haven't heard anything official. Stay tuned.

Anyone talking about hiring is great!
 

In this economy, anybody talking about hiring is a good thing for all of us. Hopefully we have seen the bottom!

What about XOJet pilots currently furloughed?
 

Hey XO,

To start off with, I am glad to hear that things are improving on your side of the industry. At this time in history, ANY growth whatsoever is a victory to be proud of.

So does this great news include any recalls of your pilots that have been on the street? (I'm not trying to pluck any nerves with this question, just wondering...) Does the term "new hire" mean that they lost their seniority or had to re-interview? Or are these different pilots not part of the 23?

Again, great news... I just hope that the 23 were given first consideration for any "new hire" class.

Congratulations,

B727DRVR:cool:

Hi 727Drvr, good to hear the same question from you again and again. Yes we hired 6 NEW hires and no, none of them were "recalled". Don't expect any of them to be "recalled" except a very few, maybe 1 or 2 is what I'm hearing... Its good that we are growing again but it still sucks what happened in the past.

I expect to see a class sometime in the near future, probably end of summer. We have been very busy and things are looking very good for the future. Don't think any other Frac/charter company has hired since last year so its good news. We still have 12 or so in the pool waiting on a class and then interviewing will resume. Stay tuned for more good news to be coming from XOJET shortly.

XO has Premier jets?

Reagarding the new hires...What happened to the guys they laid off? Did they get re-hired or does XO just lay off and hire new guys when the opportunity presents itself?

DWS1, I think the rule is, if you're part of an unionized workforce, you get furloughed and retain recall rights. If you're not unionized, you just get laid off, and its up to the company to bring you back or hire someone else..

am I right or wrong?? someone help me out

UCLA
It has little to do with unions but just depends on what is agreed upon. Industry "standard" is for furloughed folks to have recall rights, but either way it needs to be spelled out in writing. There are non-union flying companies that have furloughed and given recall rights to their pilots. Not sure what the situation is/was at XOJET.

I believe its called right to work, or at will employment, or something like that. The pilots that were let go were terminated, not furloughed. No recall rights for those let go... I heard a few may be coming back but I don't think many will be "recalled".

It is what it is and it sucks to all that were involved. XOJET (the correct spelling) is a great place to work and there are a lot of good things coming down the pipes. There is a lot that most will never understand about the 23 that were let go...

"Right to work" means that there is no forced unionization as a condition of employment. Non-right to work employers (or the states) require union membership.

"At-will" expresses no contract between the employer and the employee. They can fire you on a whim, or you can quit on a whim.

From what I have read here on the forum, it appears that the pilots from XOJET were terminated at will.

No, any company can make a furlough policy...
 

Hey UCLA,

Not having a union does not necessarily a crap company make....

I worked at a place that had no furlough policy during a slowdown. We were unrepresented, at-will employees subject to termination at any time, but the owner, D.O., and Chief Pilot all got together and came up with a furlough policy in about 30 seconds. They said "Hey, you guys did right by us, so we are going to do right by you..." They said that when business improved, that pilots will be recalled by seniority (which is the standard in the free world), and they honored their word. Citation Shares is another example of a non-union company that did the right thing... This mutual employer/employee respect results in a symbiotic relationship between pilot and Company.

It's nice to know that they had our backs, even if it wasn't in writing.

In Unity,

B727DRVR:cool:

Cool, just understand that I'm not spreading union propaganda in here, don't really care much about that, definetly not on my agenda...... I was just trying to answer the guy's question........

Actually, you are right too...
 

Hey UCLA,

You are actually correct: My case could have been more the exception than the rule. It is better to have it spelled out for both parties in advance, and from my salutation you can probably discern which side I favor...

In Unity,

B727DRVR:cool:

You sure about that? The letter I got said I was "terminated" and there is nothing in writing anywhere that says they will recall in seniority order, or at all for that matter.

WoW....
 

Wow wings:mad:,

I am sorry to hear that. I had bought into the propaganda that Citation Shares had "done the right thing" by first offering Military leaves, LOA's, VLOA's, severance pay, and recall by seniority. I am sorry if this wasn't the case.

Any way you could let your fellow pilots know what really happened? If enough pilots hear about a company wronging their employees, it could help all pilots.....

I hope that things go better for you and, again, sorry for the misinformation. I had really believed CS had done the honorable thing..

Good luck and hang in there.

In Unity,

B727DRVR:cool:

Rumor Control
 

Rumor Control
When CitationShares sent out letters of furlough it stated "eliminaitng position and terminating employment as per admin memo..." All the info I have gathered shows when things get better those on furlough from CS will be offered jobs back in order of seniority and over new hires. They have set up how the recall will occur and your options to include military leave.

Could someone tell us what the fleet makup is. I met a guy flying a Kingair in Telluride who gave me his XOJET card. Perhaps the Kingair was something on the side but Premier jets now?

We had two KingAir 350's and 1 Premier for a long time. However, they were all eventually leased to other companies to operate so we could concentrate on the "Supermidsize Market". The economy has caused One 350 and the Premier to be returned to us. I don't think we are currently staffing the 350, but We have four new pilots flying the Premier.

Other than that, the fleet makeup is currently 25 X's and 3 CL30's.

What's the latest buzz on additional deliveries of the 300?

I haven't heard a solid number this month yet... Got a conference call tomorrow, maybe they will know something for sure then. They had been saying 10 by the end of the year but I have no idea if that will actually happen. It would have to get VERY busy for us to take 7 more planes this year IMPO.

I saw 544XJ and 545XJ in YUL the other day.

does XO just lay off and hire new guys when the opportunity presents itself?

Yes.

They didn't say a number for sure. Said it depends on market conditions and a price they agree on for the rest of our order. That's all I know about the 300, sorry I couldn't be more definitive Navajo.

Any news at XOJet? Are they hiring?

So lets steer this boat in a different direction. Is XO a good place to be or what is QOL like?

If you ask me, its a great place to be! QOL is still the same as it was when I signed on a year ago, which is great... Still have all our meals paid for and a rental car taking us to the same quality hotels. Can't complain really!

Don't know when we will start hiring again but I can't see us going through the busy season without hiring anyone... Just my 2 cents

I'm glad to hear about the growth; but I wouldn't call hiring new hires while furloughed guys stay home .... "good news". That's the kind of practice that is bad for everyone of us in Aviation.

They weren't "furloughed"....

If they were not furloughed then some major hiring mistakes were made by the company. Perhaps the buddy system there is in need of revision. It is costly to type 23 pilots and then let them go with no plan to call them back with an upturn in business.

Yep, agreed

I have never heard of this company until I just read their profile on APC. I went to their website and it says they have pilot positions open. Can anyone comment on this?

Also, it says that they fly Challengers. Isn't this essentially a shorter CRJ?

Actually no. They fly the CL300 which is a completely different bird, only common in manufacturer.


X

No the the CRJ is an extended challenger and the challenger does not suffer from "Climb Restricted Jet itis"

That's not what a guy who flies a CL604 tells me....with initial altitudes in the low-mid 30s being the norm.

But I've never flown one, so I dunno :D

And yeah, the Challenger 300 isn't anything like a CL600...