Chris99 nailed it.

I left NJA for 121 and I would choose to be a Starbucks Barista before I ever have to fly for an operation even remotely similar to NJA. I would not recommend leaving a regional for NJA, in fact guys are leaving NJA for regionals. 1 person who left for a regional was just hired at UAL, and another has an interview with UAL. Both left for CommuteAir.

The schedule as far as days on and days off does look appealing, and 7/7 is nice to know when you are working, and when you are off. I have flown prior 135, 91, 135 single pilot freight and I have worked for some shady operators. I have never worked as hard as I did at NJA. For those 7 days you will be run ragged, and you will be sent home destroyed. I just hit year two pay at my airline, and you would have to work 25 days a month to match that at NJA on 2nd year pay.

For those at a regional who have a weird commute, NJA might be an ok fit for a while but you will get the itch and do everything and anything to leave for 121 again.

Benefits are pretty good but when you compare what benefits costs at an airline versus the DC 401k you get, you will come out in the black all day long. Don't let free health care fool you into taking 30 years of sub par pay and retirement.

NJA does lots of things operationally right though. If a light bulb is burned out, you write it up and that plane goes down, even if they have to send a plane across the country to recover the trip, and although the occasional dispatcher will try to kill you, the operation is very safe. But they will push you to your breaking point on an almost daily basis, and it wouldn't be uncommon to have your schedule change 30 times in a 7 day period, it adds a level of stress and anxiety on top of the long duty days and short overnights.

 

Don't even look at captain pay. You won't see it for over a decade.

 

I left Netjets with seven years of seniority to go to SWA. In June I will be four years with SWA. Last year I made $175,000 in base pay. The company contributed another $43,000 in retirement between the B-fund and profit sharing. I am holding 50% seniority. I have over 2,000 pilots under me. This year I will receive two raises (One for rolling into 5th year pay, One for contract cola adjustment). I pretty much work the schedule I want.

By the end of the year, my W-2 will approach $200K with the company kicking in about 50K towards retirement.

I have no regrets going to SWA.

 

Conversely, you could go to NJA and get none of those things, AND work for a management that cannot figure out what’s going on, and have their heads in the sand. They threaten and berate the pilot group, then literally send “I’m sorry” emails a few days later because they realize they have very little demand from pilots to work there.

When I got hired 3 years ago they touted that they had 5,000 resumes on file. Fast forward to now, they have less than 400 resumes. Management has drilled the pilot group and moral info the ground, and demand to work there has been obliterated by how much better the airlines are in every way.

Short of management coming out with a complete 180 degree turn, and offering way more money, completely revamped schedules and a host of work rule changes, the quality of applicants will decrease greatly and thsts if they get candidates at all.

I highly doubt that will happen, as the last IBB proposal offered zero pay increases and they wanted to extend the current contract another 5 years 🤣🤣🤣

NJA has a real tough road ahead.

 

As a recent former employee of Netjets flight center, I have heard many complaints from many different work groups, including pilots. Every work group feels the same as the pilots except you can throw in "understaffed always" to the list.

Everyones complaints can be solved if Netjets had the money to do it. They have to operate on a razor thin margin to compete and make money for BH and still look like some kind of super special fractional company.

The Rich are super cheap people for the most part and they wont pay any more than necessary to fly private. Things at NJ will not ever get better, because they have a whole company of people who feel abused like the Pilot group and no money to solve the problems. Sure a few profitable years look nice but that bit of money goes quickly in aviation.

Hope you dont mind a non-pilot comment.

 

NJaded,

Thanks for adding your input from a different perspective. It shows how many of the employees are over worked at NetJets.

 

Unfortunately, Jetlife has hit the nail on the head with this post. The NJA management team is very incompetent. They always have been. NJA losing 10 pilots per month to the airlines should be an indicator to many that are considering employment with NetJets Aviation.

 

Sorry, but that number is inaccurate. We don't average anywhere close to 10 per month. We are closer to 4-6 per month. December and February we're higher than the average. I can also guarantee 100% of the attention is not going to the airlines. I would guess around 2-3 to the airlines and 2-3 retire.

 

Has it slowed? the 2017 monthly average for attrition was higher than 6.

 

Yep. In 2017 it was 10-12 per month (about 50-50 captain/FO) and one month it even got up to 18. 4-6 sounds low, but there are definitely retirements/separations included in the attrition numbers. Not all the attrition is to the airlines, but from the posts on the message board, at least half is--even to regionals and ULCCs.

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