So here is the deal...I am going to go into detail here so that it is as clear as I can make it.

New hires at Mesaba are subject to a 3 year EQUIPMENT lock. Whatever equipment you are hired on to fly, you will be "Stuck" with for three years or until upgrade, whichever comes first. As a new hire, there is no Seat (status - i.e. F/O or Capt) lock per say. To upgrade, you must have 1000 hours in Mesaba aircraft or 2 years of Mesaba longevity. (If we are in a pinch for captains, there is an allowance to double your Mesaba block time to get you to the 1000 hour limit, so 500 hours at Mesaba will get you an upgrade in desperate times.)

Now, for lateral moves, Saab F/O to CRJ F/O for example. If you voluntarily lateral to another aircraft for whatever reason you will then be SEAT (status) locked for 24 months. This seat lock does not apply for involuntary displacements.

Example: An Avro F/O was involuntarily downgraded to Saab F/O due to the Avro's going away. He or she would not be seat locked on the Saab and could upgrade at anytime. However, if that person chooses to voluntarily move to the CR9, they WILL be SEAT-LOCKED in the right seat for 24 months.

Because we are in growth mode with high attrition, upgrades will be coming quickly for those on the list now and the first few classes of new hires. Few people will want to seat-lock themselves and have to wait 24 months to upgrade.

On the vacancy that just came out for the first 10 CR9 F/O's we had 6 lateral from the Saab and 4 recalled from Furlough. You can see just from that, that not all available jet slots were filled by saab F/O's because of the seat lock scenario.

The majority of the furloughs will be recalled to the Saab due to the fact that Mesaba needs to build the Saab numbers early to cover the training events that will take the current captains to the jet and upgrade the current F/O's to Saab captain.

Reserve will be short 1-4 months probably for the first few classes. As we get later into the year and 2008, reserve time will grow as less new hires will be coming in behind you.

I guess the point is, if Mesaba is where you want to be, make the move NOW to interview. Being at the forefront of the hiring will be a good thing for seniority, short reserve and short upgrade time.

 

Thanks....that was a great response. I believe you (RJ85FO) detailed that before but I think I have a good grasp on this now...much appreciated.

 

Bombardier informed Mesaba of the following delivery schedule:

Airplane 1 will deliver on 5-25-07
Airplane 2 will deliver on 6-01-07
Airplane 3 will deliver on 6-28-07

 

Another question...when called for an interview with Mesaba, and if offered a job, when do they tell you what your aircraft assignment will be? Someone mentioned that you may not know until you report for class. This seems odd to me since that would/could/should be part of a candidates decision to accept a position anywhere. In other words, shouldn't you know what aircraft your interviewing for? or at least know once you been offfered a position? Any info would be appreciated.

 

Positions are awarded based on vacancy notices that are issued to all active pilots. Crew planning is simply feeding numbers to HR to tell them how many pilots they need on property each month. HR has no idea what aircraft you will be assigned, because the vacancy for the new hire class you will be in may not have come out by the time you are offered a job.

There are two line pilot positions at Mesaba. First Officer and Captain. We do not hire CR9 F/O's or SF3 F/O's. We hire F/O's. The pay and choice of bases are the same for each aircraft at the F/O level.

Traditionaly, you are notified in advance (maybe a week or two) of the aircraft you have been assinged and some training information is sent out prior to you coming to class. Sometimes, and this wave of hiring may be a good example, the material is not available in time, and you will find out your aircraft Day one of class when they pass out the "folders."