Guys, don't let the fear of a possible furlough scare you. I got hired at Delta in October of 2000. After 9/11, I was furloughed for 3 years. I got recalled in May of 2005 and it was the longest 3 years of my life. I had a couple flying jobs, got furloughed from the 2nd job a year to the date of my Delta furlough. I decided to get away from aviation for a while...I sold cars to gain some sales experience, then I worked in the Mortgage business for a while. While doing mortgages, I interviewed with Republic and was offered an instructor job, interviewed with Transmeridian, turned them down. I ended up getting a job flying a Falcon 20 the last year of my furlough before being recalled. Then, if I hadn't been through enough, we went into Bankruptcy in September. We were parking the 727 and our 737-300's. I thought I might end up on the street again. It was more stressful than the initial furlough.

I guess I shouldn't have told you that while trying to encourage you not to fear the furlough. Getting furloughed sucks, but after 11 years back on the property, I have no regrets. The alternative would be spending 16 years more at Mesa and I don't know what would have happened. I had been considering going back to school to get an MBA when I was at Mesa if I didn't get hired by a Major Airline. I got lucky and got an interview, and got the job. My credentials then, would not put me in the tier 1 catagory they are hiring now. I still haven't figured out whether I was lucky or not. I'm glad I'm here cause I know I wouldn't be getting a call based on the guys they are hiring, but I spent 3 years on the street and sold cars for a while.

You have to make the right decision for you and your family. I didn't have a wife and kids to worry about back then. But the one thing to consider is that the industry has changed a great deal in the past 15-16 years. With all the mergers, margins are so much better. Oil prices are much lower than what airlines need to stay profitable. Half of the major airline pilots are going to be retiring in the next 10 years. I can't promise that another furlough won't happen, but if it does, your job is going to be the least of your concerns.

Just my two cents. Sorry for making a long story longer. Don't let fear get in your way.

 

What kind of commuter policy does F9 have? Details?

 

Two flights that get you there prior your show time. They can be online, offline or a mixture of the two.

 

Is there a certain number of times that you can use the commuter clause?

 

No, and you 2 flight to get you there 1 hour before show time.

 

"We'd like to provide an update on growth and hiring for the short and mid-term. For those of you who have sent in an SB or recommendation recently, your candidate may not have been called yet. That is due to the postponement of classes over most of the summer months. We will still run a class of 16 candidates in June. After that, the next class is scheduled for September and every month through the end of the year, with between 22 to 30 pilots in each class. We anticipate inter-viewing in July for the September class. For 2017, Frontier is currently on track to hire almost 270 new pilots and an anticipated 230 in 2018. By 2022, we expect to have almost 2000 pilots on property and about 120 aircraft."

The latest from management.

 

Thanks for the update Phoenix. I was wondering what the short term hiring numbers were looking like.

 

Quick math for those thinking that there is still a quick upgrade to be had.

The 6/1 Seniority List shows the most junior Captain at about 600 out of 995 on the master seniority list (ORD based Capt). I don't have attrition numbers, but expect an increasing outflow as Indigo plays their games throughout negotiations. With this young of a group you'll see very few retirements.

If the projections are close over the next 2 years my guess is that we'll be at nearly 1400 pilots by the end of 2018, and the most junior Captain will be around 800 on the list. So, if the growth happens and it's linear, today's new hire is looking at about 4 years until upgrade.

4 years isn't exactly slow, but it's twice as long as I've heard is being advertised to prospective hires, your mileage may vary, and a LOT can happen in 4 years but that's my public math for the moment.

 

Frontier was just approved by the DOT to fly to Cuba.

I cannot find a list of cities to be served. Interestingly, American got approval but not United or Delta.

Here's hoping for a Havana overnight!

 

The U.S. cities with flights to Cuba will be Miami; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Chicago; Philadelphia and Minneapolis, according to DOT. The airlines are: American Airlines Group Inc., Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc., JetBlue Airways Corp., Silver Airways Corp., Southwest Airlines Co., and Sun Country Airlines Inc.
They will fly to nine Cuban cities, not including Havana. The DOT is still determining which carriers will be allowed to fly to the Cuban capital.

As I looked further, I see that they have not given routes to Havana yet. United and Delta will likely get approved for those later.