new bases for nja?
 

is there any talk or possiblilites that nja will be adding any new bases in the near future?

no, no talk of new bases at all.

I really don't understand their thinking in the current 5 dom. setup. Don't they just tack the cost of the pilot onto the aiplane and the bill is footed by the owner? And to have bases for transient A/C seems a little silly anyways. But then again, its Warren Buffets, and you can't really argue....

I thought the union fought for the domiciles?

When there aren't thousands of pilots willing to accept the current system, there will be changes. I took the job knowing what I was getting into because it is worth it for me even with the crummy choices, but I would sure like to have more choices and I hope that they will add some before we have to negotiate away something else in the next contract for homebasing for all, but we'll all have to wait and see what happens. Maybe more guys will stay at the airlines instead of ever coming here and more and more airlines will be able to get everyone recalled and start hiring new guys. Those events would force some change sooner rather than later.

when is the next contract negotiation?

A friend of mine working for NJ told me it was about 4 years away.

wasn't the last one like 2 years ago? You would think they would look at it more than every 5-6 years. Or is that normal?

Does anyone know why it is beneficial for NetJets to have only 5 bases????


Obviously, it is beneficial to the pilots to have more bases. In a typical airline with a hub and spoike system, it makes sense to have domicilies only in the hubs plus any other major cities they operate out of. That makes sense to me.


But I don't really understand the fractional industry. Since NetJets fly to literally every reasonable sized airport in the country, and crews are normally airlined to their plane, it doesn't make sense to have a very small amount of domicilies. Since NetJet's only bases flight crews at 5 domiciles, the odds of having the plane their is very slim. Therefore the majority of the pilots need to be airlined to a plane (MORE Time and Money).

Now imagine NetJet's adds 5 more bases (10 total) in SEA, DEN, MDW, IAD, and STL (I just picked some big airports that were distributed in their geographical location). The chances of having a crews aircraft in those domiciles in twice as much. Fewer crews need to be airlined (LESS Time and Money). If they still need to be airlined, they will more than likely be closer to their aircraft (LESS Time and Money). And finally, it doubles the options of places to live for pilots (Happier pilots due to increased QOL). Hey, it could even be used as a bargaining tool for the company!

I don't understand why NetJet's and FlexJet use a very limited number of domiciles. It makes much more sense what Citation Shares and Flight Options do (have many domiciles). Does anyone have some insight as to why NetJets and FlexJet are like this???

The contract is amendable on Oct 8, 2010. Actual negotiations for the new contract should start at least a year in advance.