Kalitta Air now accepting FO applications
 

Kalitta Air recalled all furloughed FOs and are now accepting applications online via the Kalitta Air website. From the main home page there is a link to take you to the application page.

Min requirements: 5000TT, waived to 1500TT for military

Is this hiring due to them anticipating getting the flying from ABX for the DHL 767s?

Partially due to attrition with quite a few of us leaving for the majors and some hopefully to UPS, and partially due to 3 more 400s coming. Kalitta is submitting a bid for the 767 flying yes. DHL will award the bid I think by August some time. I want to see that flying awarded at no less than ABX pay rates. They fought hard for their pay and it would be wrong to undercut them.

I just received an email from PW at Kalitta Air. They will be attending our job fair in DFW on July 25th. We should have detailed information about Kalitta on our website later today.

:confused: I probably don't understand the situation.
Wouldn't the whole point of DHL taking bids on their flying be to get a competitive (possibly lower) offer? BTW, is this a frequent issue? How often do these poor guys have to sweat a re-bid of their flying?

It seems like there is a huge disconnect in what you are saying. Undercutting the ABX rates is the goal of everyone involved except the pilots. Bidders want the business, so they're going to make their offer look good. DHL wants their stuff flown for as little as possible. Of course you (and every other pilot flying for companies bidding) don't want the rates undercut. That would mean whoever gets the contract might have to take a pay cut or some other concessions.

If Kalitta did get the contract and undercut the ABX rates, do you guys have any say? That seems a bit above the pilot's decision options. You'll fly whatever business your company is able to bring in.

Seems like just another version of the standard airline whipsaw act to me.

You should seriously consider it. I'm sure you'd be running the place in no time.

If you need recommendations, I'm pretty sure every fedex pilot on APC would be more than happy to give you one. Good Luck!

From another forum:

Be forewarned potential newbies...anemic/no growth in the past 3-years (in fact we've shrunk and the potential to shrink further is real with the accelerating death of the classic), 10+ years of no upgrade potential as the hiring boom a few years back flooded the seniority list with young/middle-aged pilots while our attrition to the majors is predominately from the lower half of the seniority list and engineer upgrades keep flowing to the top of the FO-list, my first year here was horrible as you have no union protection during the 1-yr probation sentence (be prepared to be a whipping post for crew scheduling in garden spots like Crap-istan and with things escalating in the middle-east who knows where next), 35-days away from home on back-to-back assignments, hours of being crammed in economy between two paki's on Afghan Air on 5+ hour international commercial flights due to scheduling ineptitude and "cost savings", talks of a legitimate contract that isn't full of loopholes (like our current one) have been on-going ever since arriving on property with little indication that progress is being made (sounds like HQ went to the Del Smith School of Management), and you better be confident in your ability to handle a 747-400 sim as we've had a significant number of training failures in the past year (the majors would love to discuss the events of that with you at an interview). Connie's paychecks are deposited on time though. My .02-cents...

Adlerdriver,

Most, if not all of the 767 operators bidding this DHL flying are Teamsters Local 1224. ABX and Atlas already have established 767 pay rates. Kalitta and Southern do not. Southern cannot contractually get them without negotiating a 767 payscale, and Kalitta can get them provided they arrive at current 747/747-400 pay rates, unless they approach our negotiations team to discuss payrates. Kalitta is currently in Mediation, so this could potentially be rolled into economics negotiations for the next contract.

Bargaining higher pay rates still allows companies to make money when they submit their bids to DHL. I doubt DHL cares what ABX/Atlas/Kalitta/Southern's profit margin is and how much they extract out of their pilots, as much as they care about the bid for the cost range they expect.

If History has anything to do with it, Connie has always paid the same no matter if you were flying a DC-9,727, DC-8,L-1011,B747.

That speech is legendary , and was refreshing when I came to K4 after being furloughed from a company that abounded in corporate doublespeak .

It was doubly ironic to me as the guy teaching that INDOC was an ex-UPS manager fired for borrowing money from line pilots to pay off his bookies.:D

I never had a beef flying for Connie...

I'm fairly sure the pilots will NOT strike a deal similar to Southerns deal with the 737.

I would imagine working for Connie in the old days was a lot different than these days. he is not as involved with the pilots or day to day ops. Now we get to work for gems such as PS and SR and HN.

the leverage for 767 pay rates comes from the check airmen. Right now Kalitta check airmen make easily 250k a year on the 747 and the 747-400. They just cant pull that kind of money on the 76 with short night hub turns, so they will all boycott it at rates any less than current book. The pilots at k4 have great leverage right now.

You're assuming K4 is actually getting 767s. And the current 747 pay is seriously lacking except for a few good ol boys

In other words, it's a typical ACMI carrier.

I think we are putting the cart in front of the horse here. At this moment all we know for sure is that the company has rescinded the furlough, put out a vacancy bid and is accepting resumes. After that it is all speculation about future 747's or some other type. If neither of those materialize it is quite possible that they could cancel the bid as they have done before and we would be back to being adequately staffed or slightly over staffed with the eventual parking of the classic fleet.

Having said that, this job/lifestyle is not for everyone. If you are intrigued by our kind of flying put in an application/ resume, see if they call and by that time the picture should be a little clearer. Good luck to those who are interested.

how many days straight on the road/TDY is "normal" for Kalitta dude each month

We are on the road 17 days straight which is our normal schedule. You then get 13 days off in a row for a 30 day month and 14 days off for a 31 day month. You can get a back to back schedule which would put you 30 days in a row being on the road, which really sucks!!

We are home based, so they buy you a ticket to work and home. If they need to commercial you from the states to somewhere international such as Hong Kong, you will only get a coach class ticket even if it's a 15 hour flight.

Health insurance is good. I pay only $80 month for my wife and I. After 5 years with the company you pay nothing.

Training wise they have started doing the AQP program for the transition guys from the Classic and will be the same for new hires, so be prepared for a lot of self study before you show up. You will be doing a PIC type ride in the left seat of course, so you need to be on your game.

If you can handle being on the road that long and having your schedule change by the minute it's not that bad of a gig. Some guys here like it and other guys here hate it. Take your time to decide if this is the right kind of lifestyle for you before you apply.

Thanks for the info !

Actually... under the NEW AQP Qual program... very little of the PIC type training for the FO is done in the left seat...

the rest is spot on....

I stand corrected..:)

there are split lines too, with 1-4 days reserve in the beginning of the month, 2 weeks off then the remainder of the 17 day commitment to be flown.

how often are guys breaking guarantee?

-400 side, some guys break it every month and other guys hardly ever. I have been on the -400 about a year and a half and I have only had two or three months where I didn't break guarantee. When I did it varied from a couple hours up to 20 hours over guarantee. It's not consistent.

Classic side I would say never, since there is barely any flying for them.

Depends on the paypal contribution amount.

haha. That explains why I never break guarantee.

I sat right around #40/50 on the 400 CA seniority list since summer 2011.

I got a line a little over half the time. I never got a line over 62 hours, and most of my lines were valued at 28 to 43 hours (paid at 62 hours).

I flew 19 legs this year (January to now). I will likely never fly another K4 airplane again, Im on reserve for 5 more days and that's it for me. :D:D:D

Dude you know you are going to get a ferry to OSC that will release you at 1859z on your last day at K4!

I got hired at an opportune time as it was on the front end of a hiring boom, relatively speaking. Given the known details of the companys current business, managements demonstrated abuse of its pilots under the current contract, and the lack of appreciation for its pilots (how about a raise), I would put Kalitta at the bottom of the list of potential "airlines" I'd be trying to fly for if I were pursuing a career in aviation. There's a lot of opportunities elsewhere that will provide you with gobs of clarity and stability that Kalitta can't offer.

So, the 76's arrive and the other 74's, life for a new hire is good, very stable. The 74's arrive and the 76's don't life as a new hire is still stable. Our track record for acquiring airframes in the last 4 years has been poor and if none of the airframes arrive, life for a new hire is now on the STREET!!!!!:eek:

We have had two furloughs in the last six years and the last one lasted 18 months! All to keep 7 people out? Wow now that was huge savings! Of the 7 maybe 3 will come back!
Upgrades, well there really aren't any, it's just people coming over from the classic as it gets shut down.
Read the tea leaves, bones, cards or what every you do to see into the future and do you see yourself here in the future and for how long?
Negotiations have been going on since Jan 2011! and most of our upper management is into their seventies. God forbid Connie passes as he is the contact, contract and cult of personality behind this place.
Think long and hard before making this jump.

I have an immediate relative on the -400. I haven't heard if they will be hiring into the classic or -400, I believe the -400. I'm applying, as I don't mind being on the road for that long. Hopefully I'll be able to get on there. Good luck to the others wanting to go there also.

dont assume anything ... while it would make sense to hire into the -400... there are classic FOs who will bid over into the vacancies...I could see a senario where guys are hired into both airframes.... time will tell

WOW!
 

He's right!!!! His link is missing though. Google Kalitta careers! I like how the pilot jobs page isnt elusive like on a lot of other big jet operator websites and they're not requiring you to already be type rated in their jet! They also accept SIC jet ratings as a prerequisite! Looks like a GREAT opportunity! They mus:Dt really be hurting for pilots! Regional guys should be all over this! Why get your application thrown in the trash at Southwest (a national) when you can fly a 747 for a few years, do some real globe trotting (beyond Chicago), and then go to FEDEX or a MAJOR!

I'd be real surprised if they hired into the classic at this point.

Well got my stuff in there, hopefully they consider FE time part of total time.

How's the commuting situation? Blocks of days off at home? Must be in the US Mainland or worldwide?

hahahaha settle down youre going to die from all the excitement.

I got released and sent home to celebrate my resignation 3 days early. The circle of life continues and a 400 CA vacancy is now open. Good luck guys I'll be actively watching negotiations from the sidelines and will help in any way that I can.

And to brighten your day a little more. There is no training contract :)

Read my post on page 2 of this thread.

Based on that it's pretty much exactly what I want. I'd be more than happy with 40 on 20 off. As I understand it you have a bunch of ME and Asia flying so for a guy who wants to commute form BKK it almost seems too perfect.