Republic or ExpressJet Opinions
 

I am a new member here, a recent UND grad with about 450TT/33ME. I am instructing at Wright Flyers in San Antonio and I am looking to apply to the regionals in a few months, my targets being the Republic group and ExpressJet. My girlfriend applied to grad school in PIT and I would like to be based there or somewhere near there. I was wondering if anyone has an opinion on either airline's work rules, reserve time, my chances of getting based in the northeast, and upgrade time. Also, how easy is it to transfer between the Republic companies since there is one seniority list?

Thanks!

Hey, UND Alumni too. I've been at the Chautauqua side (EMB 145) of Republic Airways for about 5 months. From what I know Republic is hiring a lot on the 170 side. Its still kinda hit or miss about which airline you would be working for. If your looking to be based in PIT, you would want Republic Airlines. I've heard of people asking HR once they got hired if they can work for a specific airline cause they live at that base already. Upgrade time as far as I know is about 18 mths. Reserve time is all dependant on base. STL is about 6 months whereas BUF is about 2 wks. You can only switch from one airline to another when upgrading from F/O to Capt. I heard Republic is pretty strict on the 100ME. I made a lateral move from another 121 carrier and I'm very happy with Republic so far. I know on the CHQ side of Republic you can bid a Base every month.

where from?

800/100 are the mins and they are pretty strict about it. You are going to have to do a lot of flying if you think it will take you only a "few months". As far as upgrade, with your low time you are looking at 3-4 years. 2500 is the upgrade time. High wash out rate for the low timers. I think the lowest in my class for the 170/175 was 1500 hours. Keep instructing, it builds confidence. Great place to work though when you build some more time.

If you have your MEI you can toss the 100min rule out the window. I know of several hired without it. You will want more TT though. The ones I know of that didn't have the 100multi still had around 1000hrs TT

also.. as an FO there is NO moving between the certificates... you are locked to a certificate until upgrade at the earliest.

To answer your question from the XJT side of things:

Mins are 600/100 (500/100 if intern or internal candidate) and they do stick to them.

Single type (as of now) and single certificate so you can go to any base as long as you can hold it, including San Antonio.

Upgrade right now is running 2 1/2 years for guys hired over a year ago, and about 3 years for those hired in the past year (subject to change of course).

Pay and QOL are great here, with our bidding system you can turn a week of vacation into 24 days easily. So I would say that I average about 2 months of vacation a year.

Great company to work for, so is RAH, pick what works best for you.

Good luck

PIT is very very senior on the republic captain side. DOH for the bottom of pit is 11/2007 for FO and early 2005 for capt.

CHQ is has CLE and CMH base if you want to drive it...

RW has CMH as well. If you want to get to PIT eventually, that'd be the way to go. I hear the commute to PHL isn't as horrible as it used to be since you have SW as an option. Might be getting worse with Airways closing PIT though.

And most of the senior guys aren't going anywhere.. 1 "retired" jack a.. I mean guy, is trying to come back.

Also, be aware the a lot of low time people are not making it though IOE (referring to RW 170, as that is all I am exposed to). I just flew with a check airman tonight who said it is just downright scary what is being sent his way. The wash out rate is climbing sharply, as it probably should, for low time applicants.

No aircraft on order for XJET

Thanks for the info! Obviously I won't apply until I feel like I am ready, which I do not currently. I've heard Republic will take graduates of certain schools with lower times, though I'm not sure if that's true, and I have taken the CRJ course at UND so that couldn't hurt my chances at least. And by 'a few months' I mean August at the earliest, the very earliest. I'm not too hung up about getting PIT as a base but somewhere geographically close would be nice; CMH, CLE, PHL, or EWR on either airline would be good options too.

i would say RAH has the base you want and is a solid company. It also has a more predictable or secure upgrade... lots of merger talk and uncertainty in every regional right now and you shouldn't chase the upgrade. you could be in the base you want, decent qol, and alright pay. RAH would be about as good of a choice as any but if you have until the end of summer to decide i would just keep my ears tuned to this merger talk. Depending on who merges with who you could see a lot of consolidation (people on the street) in the regional world.

i work for XJt and have nothing bad to say about it. it had the base i wanted, ok pay, and a good contract. My companies future is less stable then i would have liked but i have a great qol in the meantime and my companies future isn't as bad as many on here will lead you to believe. RAH makes better sense if you want PIT though. good luck

Not yet! This year still very young. ;)

Made the move from Skyway last November...

pick the place you want to live, then pick the company. Your QOL will be better, and you'll be happier with your choice.

Just a note though, the recent upgrade bid at RAH saw some 01-2007's get the upgrade...

I'm at XJT, UND alumni as well. I pretty much echo what the other XJT guys have said. 600/100 seems to be firm. Great place to work, good contract, pay is...well regional pay. I think it would be pretty easy to get based in EWR, but next to impossible for SAT.

As a fellow UND grad, I can't say I'm happier for picking XJET. If you're close to EWR than your all but guaranteed to get that base. I live on the west coast and am trying to leave EWR, but no one wants it since we are all Houston or west coast people.

Since I've started flying. I have gotten all my weekends off as well as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Eve and Day off. This is only after starting flying in September. This is all because of the pretty nice work rules that allow us to change stuff around. I have yet to actually hold weekends off at all during the bidding.

As for the upgrades at RAH, the one thing I've learned is the current upgrades don't mean a whole lot. Many factors are involved. The upgrades will only happen as fast as Captains leave for the other majors and if the company is growing. RAH grew a lot last year but you would have to assume they would keep doing that. Also a lot of the new upgrades will just now be starting to build PIC time, so they can't go to the majors right away. And even if the newest upgrade to Captain is JAN 2007, how many guys hired before him still need to upgrade. That person probably already had the minimums to upgrade, while someone hired before him didn't. You need to have ATP minimums to upgrade. Look at Mesaba, they are hiring street captains, so technically their upgrade time is only a couple months. But, how are you going to actually upgrade in a couple months without the minimums.

Basically, work where you live if you can, otherwise go by work rules, which at XJET is second to none. That is not B.S. either.

RAH has a projected outlook of 20% growth this year. As far as upgrades go you have to have 2500hrs TT here not the standard 1500hrs. So keep on instructing or doing whatever you're doing to get your time up then apply. As of right now attrition, hiring, and expansion have not slowed. Several people are here and can't upgrade because they don't have the 2500hrs.

"I live on the west coast and am trying to leave EWR, but no one wants it since we are all Houston or west coast people."

What are the odds of a new hire getting LAX or ONT out of training? If not out of training, how long is it (generally) before they can hold LAX or ONT?

Not so true anymore......since SAT has lost a bit of flying and lines have gone down, lots of people want out....you could get it easy I think.


Hard to say. Lots of people came here wanting west coast and it has been high demand for new hires...... Just hard to say because there hasnt been a new hire in training since december...... I guess we will see what happens when hiring starts up again.

Thanks for the advice everyone!