Website ADMIN: Mesaba update to this website
 

Not sure if you got the update on Mesaba but I was getting an error when submitting the info so I'll just post a quick brief here:

Quicktake: renewed airline service agreement with NWA thru 2015

Pilots: 909 (as of May 30, 2005)

Hiring: 20+/month, upgrading as many as 20/month

Fleet: 15 CRJs to be delivered, 1st arrives in Sept., then 3/month until the 15th is delivered. 20 CRJs on option.

Min days off: Line holder, buildup or reserve is 11 days

Junior SF340 captain: Sep 2000 (DTW)
Junior Avro captain: January 1999 (MEM)
Upgrades will continue to go more and more junior as the hiring continues.


Generous commuter clause: allow at least 2 NWA, Mesaba, or Pinnacle flights to get to base.

Hope this helps!

Thanks so much, Saabtrash, for keeping us on top of Mesaba.

We'll post your update to the site on the next update cycle. Thanks again for the time info!

John

Saabtrash,

What is a typical schedule like for you at Mesaba? How exactly does the commuter clause work? It sounds like you could live out of state and catch up to 2 flights to base? Thanks for any information you can provide. I am still a couple months away from minimums and trying to learn more about the industry.

RballTy

Schedules vary from base to base and aircraft to aircraft. Reserve lines are always 11 days off but crew planning is nice enough to make some reserve lines with weekends off.

Regular schedules can vary from 11 days off to 17 or 18 off, all depending on seniority. I've been here over 5 years and average 15 to 16 off, some weekends (but WKDs not really important for me).

The commuter clause is one of the better ones. You have to allows at least two NWA, Mesaba or Pinnacle flights to arrive at least 1 hour prior to your trip "report time". 1 flight to get there and the 2nd as a backup just in case you miss it for whatever reason like a full flight and all jumpseats taken, mechanical cancellation, etc... This gives crew scheduling the option to positive space you out on the 2nd flight. I commute from out of state and it' been ok. Nothing exciting about commuting but in the end it's worth it.

Nearly everyone in MSP lives in base. very few commuters. More than half in DTW and MEM commute, very junior bases. And CVG is mostly in domicile with a good handful of commuters.

Right now is a good time to be starting at Mesaba as we start taking delivery of new 15 CRJs this fall. The hiring is in full gear. We haven't received a new aircraft in over 5 years! Hopefully the 20 option will be excercised- that will guarantee alot more growth.

The Latest going around Mesabaland, from an official company XJ memo dated 5/24/05:


Since the CRJ announcement, our department has been getting a lot of calls regarding staffing and how the training timeline will work as we place the CRJs into service. I wanted to take this time to share with you what will happen over the next few months.

CRJ Domicile / 1st CRJ Class

Currently, we still have not decided on a base for the CRJ and hopefully by early June, we will have selected the crew domicile. Once a domicile has been selected, we will update the pilot Preference Bid form on Mymesaba to include the CRJ base. The initial cadre (LCA and APD) for the CRJ will take place in July.

Starting in August, there will be two classes a month for the CRJ and the combined classes in August will consist of 12 CA and 12 FO. This training will take place in Montreal, Canada and the vacancy notice for the first class should be published by late June or early July.

Class Dates / Size
ARJ CA – one class a month through November.
CRJ CA – two classes a month starting in August through end of our Fiscal year.
SF3 CA – two classes a month from June to September then we will switch back to one class per month.
New Hires – one class a month on ARJ and SF3 through the end of our Fiscal year (March 2006). For the CRJ, two classes per month starting in August going through the end of our Fiscal year.

Here are the numbers of pilots who will be trained for each position from July through December 2005:
ARJ CA Upgrades 35
SF3 CA Upgrades 60
CRJ CA Upgrades 65
New Hires 110
** Please Note: These numbers could change due to attrition, block hours received from NWA, and which pilots receive the upgrades. **

Vacation Cancellations

The reason for vacation cancellations this summer is due to the CRJ announcement. Mesaba has a very tight time line, about six months, to place the CRJ into service. Due to this short time-line we have limited
options to complete the necessary training for the new airplane and be able to back-fill those positions quickly enough to maintain our current operations. Mesaba did take a pro-active approach to this situation in late February and early March by increasing the upgrades to the captain ranks and also increasing the new hire numbers without knowing whether or not Mesaba was going to receive the CRJ award. We hope the vacation cancellations will be done by the end of summer.
Hopefully, this has given you a better idea of what will be happening over the next few months in the staffing/ training environment. Please feel free to contact Crew Planning if you have any more questions.

Thank You,

Manager – Crew Planning

How does it work
 

How does upgrade time work, in terms of length. I see that the most junior capt on the 340 was hired in 2000. How long would you suspect a person hired this year would sit right seat, now that the CRJs are on the way?

P

Right now it's around Sept or Oct 2000. I would guess at this point it won't go any more junior than early 2001. But if we get the 20 CRJs on option (most likely we will) captain slots will go more junior. Basically, more airplanes= more upgrades.

I don't have the current contract on me, but I believe upgrades require at least 1000 hours with company or at least 2 years service, whichever comes first, and of course ATP minimums.

CRJs CA slots will probably go as junior as 5-6 years. Which means you will have to wait at least that long to upgrade into the CRJ. Otherwise, suck it up and go to the Saab.

Thanks for the updates, please check the Mesaba page on APC to make sure I got the important details. Due to format limitations I couldn't repeat your entire post but I think I got the highlites.

Also, please PM with what error message you got when submitting updates - I can't seem to duplicate that.

Thanks!

Saabtrash,
Actually my desire is to fly he Saab out of MEM. Obviously thats in a perfect world. I'll take whatever I can get where ever I can get it. I think i've posted here before but upgrade time is an ongoing concern of mine. I dont aspire to be at a regional for my entire career, but have always wanted to fly for mesaba. So many options, and everyone stears me in completely different directions. Many say avoid mesaba do to its indefinite upgrade time, some say go here, some say go there........ hummmm

Thanks though!

P

Your attitude is what Mesaba is looking for. People have been coming into interviews asking or even demanding to get the jet. The jet this, the jet that.... In today's world, one should be happy to get a job! Seniority is your life. You can always bid a jet position later.

No one wants to stay at a regional but in today's marketplace, it's almost a reality. Very few places like Continental, FedEx, UPS, SWA, and AirTran are hiring. That may seem like a lot of places, but when u consider how many thousands of qualified (or even over qualifed) pilots are competing for so few jobs, take a number and hope u get called.

Right now, Mesaba is a place to be. Any place that grows and gets new aircraft is a place to be. Good luck!