I know XO upgrades have always been pretty quick.. but with stagnation happening now at most places, will the upgrades come to a halt??

Things may have slowed down, but I wouldn’t call it stagnation. Plus, XOJET is actively looking to expand their fleet. There are two Indoc classes scheduled for September, and currently 10+ pilots in some phase of upgrade. Upgrade times appear to be roughly 18’ish months, but can vary widely. NOTE: This can change rapidly if new aircraft are found.

We have been re-hiring a lot of former Xojet pilots I’ve noticed.

Dirtyside down,

Do you hire Captains straight into the left seat. I know a few friends who went to JetSuite/Jet X that were direct hires, but spent time on the right seat to get familiar with the how the company operates.

Thanks,

Returning pilots to XO who have been gone for less than 90 days may return to their original seat position. Otherwise all new hire pilots, regardless of their prior status with XO go to the right seat of the previously qualified aircraft, 300 or the X

Just received a TBNT for the Crew Resources Global 7500 that I applied for back in May. Congrats to all the candidates that were selected, that will be an amazing job.

2300 TT
E170, Airbus 320 typed
121 and 135 experience

Hey Chase,

I am missing your excellent updates on XOJET/Vista... What's new? I know that you have a class starting soon...

yes , sorry for the long pause in writing Dad....😃

What’s new? Good question. Just coming off my last rotation that was cut short short by a visit to KTTN for Mx drop off that will take a couple of days.

Flew the bird, 753, for 9days straight, flew great, several trans during the 9 days on, N/S East coast runs NY to FL and several other flights around to new places for me.

Took a great C/W band to the Billboard awards, great folks and very humble. Had great PICs, a trip to MX here in TTN and now heading home to sit a day of surge (not likely to get called since. I have to be home tomorrow) and then 3 days of jury duty which overlapped with my schedule but XO policy pulls you for JD w/pay and no use of personal/vacation days.

As for new hire classes, unless something has changed, there are no new hire classes planned anytime soon.

Some pilots have been phone screened and placed in a pool (not sure how many) and will be called when XO begins interviewing again. That will depend on many factors. One of those is the acquisition of other a/c to add to our 56 airplanes. Management is actively looking and have their eyes on several.

The new paint scheme is filtering down through the fleet to match the Vista look, looks good IMHO.

Monthly flight time has trended upward consistently since the low point of Mar/April. Demand continues to increase to the point that on some days it exceeds 2019 numbers. Lots of first time flyers and the challenge is finding that price point to increase yields but keep them coming back.

FXE headquarters move is complete but Covid protocols are in effect so minimum visits from non essential folks so for many of us on the line, we haven’t seen the new digs. Austerity measures to find savings have accomplished the desired effect.

A temporary plan was put forward To keep pay rates at their current level, a Flex10 program was laid out requesting vols in order to cut the overall payroll.

It involves pilots flying on average 10 days a month vs the normal 16 days (2 x 8 day rotations or a single 15 day rotation) and getting 1/2 the pay with full benefit. Pilots responded favorably and the desired number of pilots stepped up for the program.

I volunteered and for Nov I am scheduled from 1-10 Nov and I hope when I bid Dec I will get 21-31 Dec giving me a large block of days off in between. Obviously not everyone is in the same economic situation to see a 50% pay cut but for folks like me, others from 2 income families or for many other reasons, pilots stepped up to insure those who would be hurt from a pay rate cut (across the board for example), this is a great temporary solution. The company is hoping this temporary Flex10 program will be for a short time (6 months or less) and pilots are only locked in for a maximum of 2 months. I already have a bud who wants in but didn’t Vol in time but will switch with me in Jan ‘21.

Pilots also offered other savings in the range of nearly $1m (not payroll related) with no change to QOL to the company which was much appreciated. That went a long way in showing management the pilots are pulling in the same direction as the leadership..these are not normal times.

Hiring is not on the horizon but if more airplanes are found, XO will not hesitate to pull the trigger and purchase. With 285 pilots and 56 airplanes, each new airplane would equate to about 5;new hires (my nums, not the company). Attrition is only to FEDEX or UPS obviously so vacancies are pretty non existent by departures to other jobs.

Still ovine it and glad to be here. Upgrades are pretty much frozen so upgrade times will be stretched out from previous expectations..hope that helps.

Thanks Chase,

I’m really glad to hear that you guys are weathering this crisis so well, and that you guys haven’t had to take any draconian pay cuts or huge schedule changes.. we are hanging there, as well.

On another topic, I just ran into a SWA Captain In KTKI, who was 4 years from retirement and looking to keep getting out of the house after he retires. So I directed him to you on this forum and he may be reaching out to you soon. I told him XO is Part 121 retiree friendly and that you really like it over there.

Take care and thanks for the update.

All,

I was asked awhile back about new hire classes with XO and said there weren't any planned this month. I was wrong. There was a new Global class that is going through indoc...XO has added its first 7500 to our certificate under Part 91 rules...we have 5 types now, 7500, 6500, X, CL 300 & 350. No classes for the remaining of the year that I'm aware of in any type.