We will be in to the 2007 hires shortly. There are a lot from 2007 and 2008 to get through.. Than poof were in 2013/14/15 hires..

Right now when I joined it looks like it will be a min of 4 years and max of 6 years before I would be able to flow. 6 if we stay at 3 per month and 4 if we grow to 600 pilots.

We are losing a few, one or two captains a month to other companies, such as majors and cargo. The fos that we are losing are junior guys where either 121 isn't for them or pdt isn't the match.

That being said before this raise I crushed triple premium and was able to make close to 50k in my first year here. I only got 5k sign on bonus. With triple premium and new salary I expect myself to make over 60k as an fo. I didn't think I would become a ***** but I figured out ways to get a lot of triple premium time without giving a lot of time of. Plus my vacation months I earned over 200 credit hours both month. if I upgrade I expect to make slightly more. I'm on the fence right now to take the upgrade. I suspect there will be an upgrade bonus also on the way soon since we need motivation to upgrade with this new pay structure.

 

I guess that's a no.

 

Ah, yes.

"There is unlimited growth potential in the current landscape. Plus, another airline grew a lot a few years ago when the pool wasn't so dried up, so we should totally be able to do it."



The only way any regional will be able to sustain growth will be to continually raise pay. Eventually mother AAG will say no more increases. There goes everyone's growth.

 

It won't be surprising if a couple regionals close their doors, causing pilots to flock to the WOs, even if they don't offer industry leading pay.

The more the WOs grow the AA is less reliant on contract feed. As UAL and DAL bring regional flying in house, the effect will be the same.

Eventually the music is going to stop at the regional level and not every company will have a chair. That's where WO/SSP program regionals will their staffing. It suck for those who have to start over laterally but hopefully the majors will call them by then.

 

Growth can only occur IF your pilots are not going elsewhere. Do you not have pilots going to Delta/United/FedEx/UPS/Southwest? PSA has lost a dozen pilots to mainline and good LCC carriers in the last 4-6 weeks alone.

Delta is hiring 1200 next year.
United is hiring 1000 next year.
Southwest is hiring. JetBlue is hiring. Heck...everybody is hiring.

This year, the major and LCC airlines will have hired 4,000 pilots. Next year, it will be over 5,000+.

So, if your pilots are not going elsewhere, then yes, you may be able to grow. Are your pilots not applying? If they are applying, is no one hiring them? Why not?

In this market, with you guys being so small and only flying outdated T-Props and 145's, I can't imagine enough people going to PDT to make up for attrition.

 

IMO that's dead on. Some will be lucky; others not so much. How many will be left standing, and who acquires who will be a mystery until it happens.

 

Meant to ask this here, but accidentally posted the question in a different thread (the "PDT pay raise details" thread).

I've been told by pilots and recruiting that it looks like new hires will start going into the 145 in October or November. Any confirmation of this? I'm typed in the 145 and would like to not have to switch and then switch back again.

Also, what's the training footprint there now? I know in the past there were some large backlogs in the training department. Any delays or sits at home during training still exist?... Or is it a relatively smooth flow straight through to ioe? Assuming no backlog, is 90 days about right?

Thanks guys. Congrats on the pay. I hope to be flying with you guys soon.

 

yeah i think new hires will be in the jet soon. probably october. and 145 training probably has about a 3-4 week backlog right now. no wait for SOE. pm if you want.

 

I haven't heard any 100% confirmation on when initial new hires will be sent to the jet, but a lot of the talk indicates that it will happen soon. That's not exactly an update, but it's all that I've heard.

The training footprint for the jet is as follows:
-2 weeks of ground school. Systems (1 week) in Dallas. Procedures/flows in Charlotte (1 week).
-Roughly 12-14 sim sessions then a checkride.
*New hires can expect an extra week of ground for indoc.

There is still a break of a few weeks between ground and sims. Minimal wait for OE. Keep in mind, this could all change as more instructors come online. The break between ground and sims could lessen, but the wait for OE could increase. 90 days seems about right from start to finish.

 

12-14 sims??? Wow. That's a lot. Thanks for the info. Hoping to be aboard sometime this fall.