Colgan Confusion
 

Greetings Wizened Air Carrier Superiors!

OK, I'm just a caveman Air Force (soon to be) retiree looking for a flying job, cuz that's what I love! I get out there on airlineapps and provide them with my info and as I wait for a call I try to sift through all the info here to get a picture on the lay of the land.

I get a call from Pinnacle/Colgan/Masaba asking if I'd like to come in for an interview, which of course I jump at! The paperwork they send for me to fill out, and the email, specify that I'm interviewing with Colgan. Then I start my additional digging for info, which comes to my confusion. Someplaces I read that Colgan is going to disappear. In others, they're getting additional aircraft.

Two questions:
1 - What is the real situation with Colgan?
2 - Am I wasting my time interviewing with them?

Thanks in advance for your on-the-scene/in-the-trenches insights!

No idea yet on both accounts. I am guessing some real info will be out in the next two months or so as the company reorganizes.

you should still interview for the experience

Colgan is part of Pinnacle and Mesaba. All jets are going to pinnacle all props to colgan. After that colgans certificate will be renamed Mesaba. Onesenority list/contract for all three airlines. You will be able to bid to any aircraft your seniority holds. It's an ok place. All regionals are tough.

I would still go for the experience. From talking to some Colgan guys the plan was to get more planes, but I just saw an article that Pinnacle deferred delivery trying to avoid bankruptcy. The Colgan name is going away, and will operate under the Mesaba name

We didn't defer delivery, just loan payments for 3 months to help with a cash crunch.

I'm still new <1 year on property and I like it..

.if you interview you will be interviewing for a Saab(some instances the Q)
both are awesome planes but just note that what bases you'll be at for planning purposes

if they say you're going to the CRJ...they're wrong all new hires go to the Saab (again maybe the Q depending on staffing)

CP said March 1 for name change.

Go for the interview, if you get offered the job, worry about it then.

Hey, sounds like you're in a similar position to me. I retire from the Navy 01 June, and I interviewed with them right before Christmas. The interview was very laid back, friendly people. But even they seemed to be a bit confused about what the future holds. I have a May class date.

Can anyone on here shed any light on how long I'll spend on reserve/upgrade time? I hope to get a northeast domicile such as LGA or EWR. BOS would be ideal, but does that one still exist? ANY info at all about what I can expect would be great.

Everybody is concerned about what the future holds; only the people that have signed NDA's have the best of idea.

I think your may class puts you in a good position to see what happens with the company in April and then make an informed decision.

The only Northeast domicile that still exists is EWR; LGA was shut down in December and the Boston flying is almost finished. Newark only flies the Q400, which is currently not the most junior plane, so I wouldn't expect to be based there.

As far as upgrade and reserve time -- there will be a lot of people ahead of you on the seniority list, some who have been here for a 3-4 years that are still FO's. That being said, with all this uncertainty, I would make a bet the attrition will stay high, and that would lead to less time on reserve, especially if you are willing to move between bases.

I think a NE domicile will be no problem out of trng.

Are the Colgan and Mesaba certificates combined yet? At the interview in December, the HR person told us they were not, but probably would be soon. If they aren't, do new hires get to pick a domicile from either one, or just the certificate they are assigned to? I'm surprised EWR is the only NE domicile there is.

They're only hiring for the Colgan ops and you will probably have EWR and IAD as your choices. My guess would be IAD, but it depends on summer movement, if any.

EWR and JFK.

But JFK is on the 9E (Pinnacle) side.

Is there a base at ORD? I can get there in one leg.

Not for us. Not sure if Republic has one or not

Hoping2, I am in the same boat-retire 1 Jun, terminal leave in 13 days (and a wakeup). What I did, that has been working so far, was I was a regular at the Fltops.com job fairs from Aug until Nov-seemed to be very helpful to stand tall in front of the recruiters, instead of just sending a resume and hoping-at 2 of my interviews, the recruiter I met at the job fair was involved with the interview...I also have been working with an interview consultant (Cage consulting for me, highly recommend, but there are others)--I have been studying my butt off going through the ASA ATP prep, and "Everything explained for the professional pilot" as well as the UPT drilll of sitting down with a chart and learning what everything is on it, but it's Jepps this time--just different enough to need a cupla hours of work to decipher. I have had four interviews-1 fail (my first), 1 success, and awaiting results from 2 others. I also turned an interview off that I had scheduled, since I was already successful at one of my top choices. Like others here have said, go do the interview, no matter what the status of the company is just to get into the groove of what interviewing is like--It got easier each time, and you can make sure everything is good to go (proper clothes, tie, TMAAT stories, etc...). PM me if you need any help.

Mesaba certificate has been gone since the first of January and all the Mesaba 900s and 200s are on the Pinnacle Certificate in a fenced operation. The plan (for now) is to change the name from Colgan to Mesaba and retire the Colgan brand. Last I heard that was supposed to happen sometime in April but there hasn't been anything on that since December. Right now all hiring is for the Colgan side. There were some Q400 spots for New Hires in the Nov and Dec classes, but all newhires since have been going to the Saab.

If you're a military guy, aren't you more qualified than to fly for an operator like Colgan? I'd aim a little higher, Allegiant, VA, Spirit, and the likes.

Never gets old, does it buddy:rolleyes:

It's a reasonable statement. If he's ex-military, he probably has higher qualifications that can probably land him a better job at a LCC/Major.

Nice of you to say that. Yes, under normal circumstances, I probably have enough time (3300 hrs) to get hired by a major, like a lot of my buddies did. But the last few years of my Navy career I was in non-flying jobs, so the lack of recent experience made me less competitive for them.

Nope he's here to push your upgrade further away from you.... :D