Does SkyWest really need 500 pilots? Is this all for attrition?

Ahh yes... that was the "dream" and actual reality for many of us based in SAN too, until they closed it with very little notice and for no good reason!:mad:

There is a little bit of growth with the Alaska flying. We are short probably 200 pilots right now, plus attrition is picking up.

Is Skywest hard on mins these days? I meet the multi but short on the TT by like 130. I was thinkin about comin out to the open house.

If you are coming from another airline or military they will go down to 800. If you are a flight instructor they probably won't budge. If you are a month or two away from meeting the mins it might be worth going to just to show your intrest. It might help you get an interview right away once you meet mins. Who knows, they might even budge on the mins if you go, but I wouldn't count on it.

so i just saw on skywests page that they fly for ATA. Is this true? And if so, is southwest going to do away with this? I dont know what SWA feelings are about regionals but i know they dont have em!

Yea, they closed SAN for fun but don't take it personally, its just their hobby. Chip and Klen drink copious amounts of wild turkey on the housebouts and once a year they spin the "domicile roulette wheel" to see who's which base they'll do away with, thus paying a bunch of moving expenses and directly reducing employee morale all on a lark.

Its just a coincidence that all the smaller bases have gotten picked, one of these years it'll be one of the hubs we actually do a lot of flying out of. I hope its not LAX or SFO, I'd like to make it in there before I'm 40 ;)

It's still undecided what will be done with that flying. We are short on aircraft right now, so if that flying went away those planes would be used as spares or placed with United.

"Smaller bases"... The flying there increased considerably the day after they closed it! It was also a base in the 8th largest city in the country, and has always had far more flying than the SMX and SBP bases they left open. They claim they only close bases when schedules can no longer be written, this was not even close to being true for SAN!!! I would have understood if this were the case, like when SBA lost their SLC flying.... But SAN didn't lose any flying, in fact they added a bunch of new flying including SFO, DEN, LAX(on the Delta side), etc. I've spoken with our scheduling rep on several occasions and he has admitted that there was NO REASON to close SAN, and in fact it would be easy to write very good schedules for a SAN base!!!!

Apparently you weren't hosed by the closure of the bases that have been around as long as SkyWest has been around, maybe some day you'll have the joy of having your family yanked out of their chosen hometown and understand what it's like?!

It sounds like you've got some really important information that Klen and Chip should hear. Better send them a priority message right away, they might get it before the earning call and incorporate an announcement about reopening the base. If they only had the information you have, they could probably make better decisions :o

I've been through a base closure, wasn't really that surprised, I'm an airline pilot at a company that contracts to different vendors and by definition all contracts usually come to and end eventually. If you want to homestead somewhere I think I'd look at other occupations, this one certainly doesn't have a good track record where you're concerned.

You're right! No pilot should ever have any expectation of any stability whatsoever!!! We should all be willing to do anything management demands at the drop of a hat without any explanation or reason. You seem to have missed the entire point, no contracts came to an end. There was actually a large increase in flying in and out of SAN! Maybe you should send Klen and Chip a priority message righty away that you think every pilot should live in a tent so they can up and move on a moments notice for any and all sudden base closure/openings?

will this affect any of the growth/hiring? How much flying did/do they do for ATA?

I believe we operate 5 or 6 airframes with the "new" SkyWest paint job for AirTran, but they seem to pop up often flowing through the United system

A little hyperbolic, but of all the careers out there this is one that has historically involved a lot of moving and requires flexibility. Jumpseat around a bit, the veterans at the majors will have plenty of stories for you. The regional model in the last 10 years has made this concept even more evident with the large increase in contract flying and resultant musical chairs we play with our various partners. Chip and Klen aren't the root cause of this, they're just a couple guys that are appointed to make decisions at our airline. If you take any decision a large corporation makes contrary to your interests personally, you've got a long road ahead of you. I can't tell ya why they closed San Diego, but do you honestly think you have a bigger, more informed picture than they do?

Yeah, there are some very senior guys in SLC who have had a pretty golden run, but for the most part the entire regional model is based on LACK of stability.

Stability breeds contentment, which breeds longevity, which drives up costs.

Maybe there were too many super-senior EMB captains in SAN? Maybe the company thought it could encourage them to move up to the jet (which probably has a better revenue/labor cost ratio than the EMB).

I would like to know why they closed SAN, who knows maybe it was a legit business case. Although there is some suspicion that a few of the really small bases are kept open only for the convenience of one or two really old-school captains who grew up with top management...I would not rule that out at all.

is the overall consensus from current SKW flyers to just man up and head on out to SLC for the job fair? I havn't heard anything from HR and they probably don't even know who I am, but I meet the mins and would love to fly for SKW. thoughts?

you're not going to go wrong by going. it's not going to be a waste of time and money and effort. the only communication we get from the hiring people involves telling us to encourage people to go to the job fairs. so i'm encouraging you to do that.

If you don't have someone who can personally walk your app in to the SLC Hangar, then I would go to the job fair...a little face time will almost guarantee an interview if you are otherwise qualified (and don't drool on your tie or something).

Last time we were hiring like we are now they were using job fairs as the primary means of interviewing candidates. I would highly recommend going to the job fair if at all possible.

I was told by J.A. personally that I would be "flying the CRJ out of my SAN base in no time"... Ya think he might have the "bigger, more informed picture"??

thanks all for the advice. I'll be heading out there next week.

Now Uncle Jerry's quote makes sense :o

Any idea what portions of the interview they conduct on spot at these job fairs?

if i remember correctly, just the floor exercise and the latin verb conjugation portions.

ATP written, mechanical aptitude, technical (pilot) interview, HR interview.

So did anyone go to the job fair. How did it go?

Folks flying on Southwest through PHX to SLC last night got their flight canceled.

The Mx Hanger was full today, not sure what the final numbers were.