Air Canada
 

I was wondering if anyone knows anything about Air Canada? Does anyone know if they are doing much hiring? It says on there website that you need Landed Immigration Status and 1000TT. Does anyone know if they really do in fact hire US pilots and what competetive times are (any pic)? Thanks in advance!!!!

Well I fly with several native-born Canadians who have plenty of 121 PIC and can't get a job in Canada....I would assume it would also be tough for a non-citizen.

Air Canada has been hiring for the past 6 months or so (before that I believe they barely hired anyone for a few years) and hiring is expected to pick up alot for the next 5-10 years with fleet expansion and a huge number of retirements. New hires start on the EMB-175/190

Tons of new planes comming, and alot of expansion. Got all the Embaers on order plus the 777 that should start arriving soon than the 787 are due to arrive after that. I guess there are so many new hires the training department cant keep up with the training so they have another Embaer sim on order. And with the "open skies" agrement with Britain could cause an explosive expansion.
But I have heard AC is very harsh when it comes to non-canadian pilots.

Their hiring boom started back in 1995 when they hired most of their regional pilots for their RJ expansion. Continued up untill the Canadian Airlines take over(at that time upgrade was only a few years at the most).

Well.. the bottomline is you can't work for them unless you have the right to work in Canada. This means being a citizen or landed immigrant.

Landed immigrant, explain that term please.

Landed immigrant is the equivalent to a green card. It allows you to do everything that a citizen can except vote and hold a public position, ie. police, principal, judge, etc.

Close, but not exactly true. Landed Immigrant status in Canada makes you a Perminant Resident, and does in fact give you the right to vote in most elections and hold public positions, with the exception of a Mountie (RCMP), or positions in agencies like CSIS (the Canadian CIA) that require exposure to super sensitive information. But yes, you can get a municipal policing position or a teaching postion on the public payroll.
Also, assuming you are a US Citizen, you enjoy the NAFTA Category transfer benefit. Basically show up at a border station with a letter of offer from a Canadian employer (on letterhead of course), and you are granted a Visa allowing you to work and live in Canada for the employer that made you the offer.

Here's a link to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), with a good amount of information - www.cic.gc.ca

Good luck....

In theory Landed Immigrant status should suffice. In practice I won't be surprised if they discriminate against such people particularly if they view you as an American coming over to take a Canadian job.

Hello erjpilot,

I am sorry to let you down but we do not hire any foreign pilots. You must have at least Canadian landed immigrant status, and preferably citizenship. Not to mention you also need Transport Canada (Not FAA) licenses and a Cat. 1 medical. At Air Canada all new hire pilots are initially assigned FO spots on the EMB 175/190 or Relief pilot positions on the wide-body fleets.

We are hiring a ton right now, but are limited by our training department. So if you are a Canadian citizen and have a Canadian ATPL with a University degree and preferably some jet time......Fill out the application.

Good luck

Nail...hammer...head...

Would they prefer
1. A university bachelor degree in non-aviation related course
or...
2. A (community)-college degree (Seneca!) Bachelor of Applied Technology flight program?

They would prefer university bachelor degree (aviation or non-aviation related is fine)

Not exactly true, I work on the ramp at YYJ and talk with AC capt's (while catering hehe) all the time, a few are American, but they might have been in the system for a while. My boss's parents also fly for ACA and they say they're hiring, but as cruise pilots only, or FOs.

Hope this helps.

Tons of hiring into the embraer positions. But this has caused a huge problem for AirCanada that the company and union are trying to work out now. Since it is the same pay scale for any equipment for the first few years(Embraer FO paid the same as 340 FO) it has caused a mass shortage of A320 FO positions. I think it was close to like 100 un bid spots on the 320 in the last bid. Because they could be more senior, better sched, ect.. on the embraer. And the union wont let the company put new hires directly to fill the 320 spots. Romours were of a 5% paycut to put new hires on the regular pay scales to fix this.