dustoff 01

Dear Republic Drivers,

I'm a rotor head transitioning out of the military trying to do my homework on the regionals. Apologies ahead of time for any jargon errors, naivete, or inadvertent offenses! I'm new here--please be gentle.

Republic looks like a good fit for me, but I wanted to verify a couple of assumptions before I jump...

1) I live about 2 hours (in optimal traffic) outside of NYC and was targeting LGA as a drive in domicile vs. having to commute somewhere. I read that I can expect the QOL of this trumps any commuting option. Completely understand we may not get our first choice of base, but how long could I reasonably expect to be commuting to a different base after NH before I could bid to LGA?

2) Roughly how long before folks are holding a line these days? Not hoping for anything magical, but when researching Envoy I found that 145 reserve times are in excess of a year, even 1.5 years for some folks (or at least that's what I've read in their posts). I'm ready to put in my time, but I'd be concerned about my career progression if I was not logging many hours for over a year.

3) Can you give me a rough idea regarding the CA upgrade timeframe at Republic in recent history?

Finally, the only downside I can see for Republic is no 'guaranteed' flow nor status as one of the "Wholly Owned." I've read some things that say do not value flow too much and some folks have told me that I shouldn't be too concerned as a military guy with a masters and MBA--Majors should look positively on my resume. I do not know how much I should be valuing 'Wholly Owned' flow and would be interested in your thoughts.

Thanks again for taking time to entertain my amateur hour questions!

IDrive175

I’m relatively new here, but in my novice opinion, you’re right on point. You can easily get LGA initially, or right out of training for sure, and driving to work is golden. Reserve time right now would be around 6 months. Upgrade in about 2 years — that is, if you need to. I’ve seen guys like you go from right seat RPA to right seat UAL in less than a year.

One other down side to consider: Right now classes are pretty full, so it could take some time to get a class date. Maybe not, though. I’d talk to a recruiter about that soon.

dodsqubam

You’ll most likely get LGA before you’re out of training. As far as not having a flow, it depends on your situation if that’s a good or a bad thing. If you have something that might hold you back from the Majors, like no degree (and don’t plan on working towards one), a DUI, any accidents/incidents, etc. then you might seriously consider a flow. However, if you don’t see a problem getting an interview in a few years, then don’t worry about a flow. In fact, I think it could even hold you back, because if you work for one of the WOs, I don’t think you are allowed to apply off the street to the parent airline. Someone correct me if I’m mistaken on that.

stabapch

1) As of today you can get LGA straight out of training.

2) You can hold a line in less than a month at some bases (PIT and EWR), LGA is around 3 months now.

3) Captain upgrade is at 2 years now but decreasing and expected to be around 18 months soon.

4) With a masters and being a military guy you shouldn’t have any issue getting in with a major if your background is clean.

GroundPointNine

You can still (and are actually encouraged to) apply to AA if you work for one of the WOs outside of the flow. Surprisingly they do hire from WOs outside of the flow, too!

Longhornmaniac8

First off, welcome! Republic has been a great choice for me. It's a stable company, the training was great and I feel prepared me well for line flying, and the people, to a person, have been really nice and extremely helpful. You can do a lot worse in the regional world!

1) LGA is easily obtainable before training is finished. We bid for vacancies every month (effective 4 months later), so if it's not awarded as a new hire (it sometimes is), you shouldn't have any problem getting it before training is finished. The union looks for opportunities to get you to base even sooner via base swaps with other people looking to go the other direction (or even 3-people swaps).

2) Reserve isn't so bad here, especially relative to airlines like Envoy and Endeavor. The junior line holder in LGA for July was a September 2018 hire, and they probably only hit the line in February or so due to the training backups those classes experienced. And compared to some airlines, we get used quite a bit more on reserve. Not necessarily as big a deal if you're driving to work.

3) Upgrades continue to trend down. I think the June junior CA award was 1 year, 11 months on property. The company has hired a bunch of people lately, seemingly to staff a bunch of new planes that we've purchased but not begun taking delivery of. As of now, there is no flying for them as we're pretty much scoped out, and that is the one thing that could drive reserve and upgrade times up. A surplus of FOs with no flying for them isn't a recipe for quick reserves or upgrades. We've been told since the order was firmed that there would be announcements forthcoming, but that's something our upper management loves to do/say with no follow through. Some have speculated we made the order with the expectation that our codeshare partners would get scope relief (fat chance), others think they're simply to replace old airframes (if this were true, they wouldn't have gone on the hiring frenzy they have), and others think there's something else/different coming.

It's a blessing and a curse that we are majority owned by our three codeshare partners. It's good that they have a financial stake in our well being and likely creates some of the stability we are currently experiencing, but it also probably limits growth outside of flying for the three codeshares.

4) Flow is fine as an insurance policy, but it's really not worth much these days. Realistic flow times are 7+ years (more than the 5.5 Envoy's recruiters will tell you, and less than ALPA's 9 year worst case projection). With the retirements accelerating for the next 10 years, there should be options for any pilot getting in now to move on from the regionals well before the current flow times.

Random Task

Hot off the press. Junior Captain award today is a November 2017 hire. 20 months on property.

52Cent

Spoke to HR today. There are openings in classes in July and August.

dustoff 01

Thank you everybody for your responses! More helpful than I could have hoped for!! Really appreciate the hard details and even the call to HR--huge help.

No DUI's or any other skeletons in my closet that would prevent an interview with the majors, and all other parameters you provided appear to be a perfect fit for me--I'm sold.

Can I ask what makes the RAH RSV time better than others like Envoy/Endeavor?

As I mentioned, I am a mil helo driver with some transition requirements--I qualify for the 750-hr R-ATP, but still need my AMEL and about 100 hours FW PIC time.

I understand there is no formal ATP program, but the folks in the RTAG forums pointed me towards the Flight Time Initiative / Pilot Prep programs (https://rotarytoairlinegroup.org/for...lic-breakdown/). I shot an email to the [email protected] email per direction of the FTI website, but does anyone have any details on how these programs might work for someone in my situation?

Regardless, I'm knocking out my AMEL in the next couple weeks based on local availability and will move forward with the FW PIC hours after that.

You guys sound like a real positive bunch of pilots and I hope to be flying with you soon! Thank you!


-dd

JohnPaulGeorge

How about MCI? Is that a reasonable base to hold or a descent commute until it is? I would like to move there and make that my home. Ballpark 1st year pay? Sorry I’m new to the airline world so please take it easy on me ha.