XJet Questions
 

Hi all,

I've been extended an interview with XJet and was wondering if any of the XJet guys could answer a few questions....

1. What is the chance of getting IAH as a domicile?

2. I see a couple things about XJet having a charter operations...
anyone getting hired for this?

3. What is upgrade time looking like?

I've heard 2 years on the upgrade time, but also heard that is for guys hired at mins. I have about 2400 hours, with 650 jet and almost 500 Jet PIC. This is my first venture into the 121 world, and any help is greatly appreciated.

1. IAH right out of the gate might be tough right away. Junior folk are going out west. You should be able to hold it shortly. Don't count on holding a line anytime soon though, in IAH

2. Charter gig goes senior. In other words, don't count on it going to a new-hire. When the first guys were selected, the most junior new-hire was a around 2 years. I flew with an 8 year CA, couldn't hold it in his seat.

3. Ugrade RIGHT NOW is two years, your flight time has no bearing on when you will go to upgrade. It's the airlines, everything is seniority driven.

On a side note, in regards to that. I am upgrading this month and couldnt hold charter FO.

Lots of movement going on now and you should get whatever base you want quick. Good luck and with your qualifications i am sure you will pass your interview plan to start quick.

What about EWR? How hard is it to get as a base?

EWR and CLE are both shrinking as bases (can't remember by how many lines but its been a steady decline for the last year in EWR and for several years in CLE). IAH has been more or less stagnant with most of the movement on the FO side driven by upgrades. The captains have been sliding back ever so slightly with a lot still going to CAL and elsewhere. The growth and movement is out West. So unless CAL keeps us around longer (which it sounds like they might given the great success of the CHQ operation. Lets all brace for Colgan and those Q400s up in EWR:rolleyes: ) I would expect the CoEx bases to become more or less stagnant. I'm not saying you won't ever be able to hold EWR or IAH, I'm just saying it won't happen as quick as it used to. New hires can, for the most part, expect SAT, ONT and LAX.

I have a quesiton, why are EWR and IAH shrinking? If CAL is not pleased with CHQ, then why are these two bases which are mainly CAL flying not growing? Just asking, as I'm very interested in XJET and it's my number one as of right now. Also what does the hiring forcast look like as of right now? Thanks for the help.

He said EWR and CLE are shrinking, not IAH. As for CAL not being happy with CHQ right now, I am not so sure of. With the little info I have, they gave CHQ are very large chunk to bite off initially. Things are turning around and I would not expect CAL to do anything significant with the routes that CHQ does anytime soon.

Now, I would worry about Eagle coming in and trying to compete against the branded flying that X-Jet does. If I can find the article, I will post it, but American is already going for X-Jet's throat.

Going for XJT throat on what like 5-6 routes? Not really!! AMR put a couple flights on ours because we went into RDU. So far thats the only head to head we have see really. Also they are putting eagle against us. Our product is much better than any other regional can offer. The food, XM, Radio, and Price is still cheaper on XJT. Besides competition is good it shows that the business plan we have is a threat which means AMR thinks the flights we are doing are viable. So Far Branded XJT ops are doing great 100% completions and like 97% on time with fantastic service. We'll see

What about upgrade times at Pinnacle or SkyWest? I also have interview invites with these two as well, and would love to stay in the southeast if possible (wouldn't mind flying the 700/900 for skyw out of atl at all...). The pay at Xjet just seems to be a bit better than the rest.

Thanks

I work at XJET, not SkyWest. But from my friends at SKW, you can make pretty good money there as well. Yes, I know they are NOT UNION. And YES, I know that the company can change the work/pay rules anytime they see fit at SkyWest, but we have yet to see a drastic change go their way.

Don't just look at the hourly rates and base your supposed income on that. As far as their 70/90 seat rate, yes it leaves a little to be disired, Even with the override.

Go where you want to live and think you will upgrade in a reasonable amount of time (if that's important to you). And more important, don't go somewhere just to chase a specific airframe.