Thanks for all the insight guys. Not concerned with upgrade (except the pay I suppose!). Priority number 1 is staying west and avoiding a commute... Although I do know that airlines are volatile and nothing is permanent, Skywest currently gives me that opportunity. Now it's a just a matter of getting an interview!

And if AA cuts you guys more and you're not able to land work with other carriers? Just saying, there are a lot of uncertainties surrounding Eagle right now. I have friends there and wish them the best but Eagles future’s still very unclear.

Also for accuracy sake, if you were hired 2.5 years ago at SkyWest you’d be in the low 2500s with almost 800 behind you. Yes it’s not the 2400’s but it’s roughly the same relative seniority giving list size.

It's likely that Skywest won't invite you for an interview until you take the written and update your app. I also had my app in a couple of weeks before I took the written, just in case. Three days after I took it I got the "mandatory questions" form, and shortly after I returned it, and interview invite.

The quickest way to an interview is to have your resume walked in. If you or anyone in your unit knows a pilot at SkyWest get a hold of him or her and ask them if they'd be willing to walk yours in. Every pilot I've recommended received the interview email within 24 hours of being recommended.

If you don’t have a rec or can’t find one then check out the recruitment calendar on SkyWest’s website and try to make a fair. Otherwise the wait time through AirlineApps is random, but being military I suspend it will be on the shorter side.

Best of luck, I've been with SkyWest for 7 years and IMO it's the best contract carrier out there.

Note: Complete the ATP written as soon as you can. SkyWest is strict on their requirements unlike others.

Thanks for the info!

There are a lot of uncertainties surrounding any regional. I was just answering his question about why eagle.

It just weird that they want to hire 400 pilots next year while we are losing flying and the ATRs being parked.

I don't have a crystal ball, so time will tell.

Skywest also has a ton of 50 seaters, right now I would focus on places with as many 70+ seaters as possible (besides RAH).

That's also one of the reasons why I'd be looking at Compass. But two big downsides to them is that they're owned by TSH and they're purely a paper airline.

So, what does that leave you?

I'd say that we haven't heard anything from our management until AA pilots sign the TA. They would not like to **** them off being so close to a contract (finally). I think (and is just a thought) that we will get bigger airplanes, probably CR900 at the beginning until they have a E175 program running. Once that happens we might get rid of most of the 50 seaters. Again is just my thought.


Only the time will tell.

Duvie,
Technical point on USERRA. An employer is allowed to ask for documentation of military service after 31 days, but the documentation does not need to be your orders. Any employer can demand, ask, whatever, but we are not obligated to provide orders as proof of service. I often recommend a letter from the unit because it can be more accurate. (Multiple sets of short, but continuous sets of orders ( AT/ADT/Drills, etc combinations that end up exceeding 31 days)
In the form of a FAQ from 4312:
Is an employer entitled to proof that military duty actually performed?

Yes. USERRA provides that following periods of military service of 31 days or more, the returning employee must, upon the employer's request, provide documentation that establishes length and character of the service (Honorable or dishonorable) and the timeliness of the application for reemployment. Reemployment may not be delayed, however, if such documentation does not exist or is not readily available. In general, the following documents have been determined by the Secretary of Labor to satisfy proof of eligibility for reemployment: discharge papers, leave and earnings statements, school completion certificate, endorsed orders, or a letter from a proper military authority. While USERRA does not address documentation of shorter periods of military service, if doubt exists, an employer could contact the employee's military command with questions about a specific period of service. (Section 4312).

It's doom and gloom at Eagle. sorry friends saying they are number whatever on the list. Eagle will be spun off, planes they have are leaving, time to hang up the towel. I know people who are leaving eagle to become garbage truck drivers. Doom and gloom. sorry to be the party pooper.

Hope your one of the guys who left Eagle for RAH :p:p.

Seriously though think Expressjet, thats the model Eagle is following. If hiring for regionals gets bad enough they might not even spin the place off in the end imho.

Expressjet? Is that the same model that put them in bankruptcy? The reality is that Eagle has been operating in a vacuum of safety not having to bid for flying. That's now changing and Eagle is way late to the regional scrap war. Best of luck with your AA flow through, last time that happened more than 2000 were hired off the street while only 40 flowed. Flow through from the company perpesctive is a training nightmare.

AA want's more operators to whipsaw against each other much like Delta, US and UA. That’s the model AA’s shooting for which is not good for Eagle. IMO I think AA’s executives plan to give the contracts for larger equipment to other carriers while Eagle parks smaller jets helping AA control feeder cost.

I see shrinking in Eagles future. As for ExpressJet, being spun off didn’t exactly work out for them and until Inc. purchased them their future wasn’t so bright.

I do wish all at Eagle the best of luck and for your sake I hope I’m wrong. We’ll see…… I hope I get an “I told you so” from you in a few years.

I have to disagree. We will shrink, but not as much as everyone seems to be hoping for. Looking at the furlough protection from the AIP and stuff the union can tell us, it looks like we'll shrink to around 200 airframes before growing to around 240 airframes in 4 years. Most growth for "Eagle" will be from outsourced airlines. E-Jets won't come to L-Eagle for years; if ever. I believe the grand plan is for us to do about 2/3s of the feed for AA when all is said and done.
Also, flowthroughs and general attrition will alleviate having to furlough. They want to hire 100 this years and 400 next year. I agree with the "hire til you fire" philosophy, but if the plan was for eagle to shrink that quick, they wouldn't be so pro active in hiring so many.

There will be NO regionals in 5yrs.

Higher priced!!! SKW, ASA, EXJ, Pinnacle, Airwisky and RAH all have senior pilot groups... Stop buying into this whole senior crap! The airlines I just mentioned compose close to 75% of the regional feed! The Transtates Holdings regionals have lower longevity because they haven't been around that long but as a whole we are compared to those two regionals and told how expensive we are, stop that mentality.

AA has no money to buy planes for Eagle, they don't want to pay there lump sum to AA pilots. Eagle has always had "monopoly money".. And now they have to compete with the likes of SkyWest, Gojet, Republic ect.... Gona be a hard sell to get a "huge" order of aircraft... AA will spilt any new planes 4 ways... But the reductions will hit Eagle harder then others. The "flow up" to AA will help.. If you still believe in that "urban myth"

First off AA has as almost as much money as any other legacy carrier out there something upwards of 6,000,000,000. Second the lump sum is from a separate pot of money and they want to eliminate the lump sum option but the AA pilots will still get their money to the tunes of six figures a year! They want to eliminate the option to reduce the amount of AA pilot who will retire once AMR emerges at the end of the 1st qt 2013. AA will not have hundreds of large RJs flying for them, they will obtain large RJ but will do the bulk of domestic flights with NB aircraft as is Delta, United and the rest of the LCC, just because they want it on a contract doesn't mean they will do it, they want as much as possible for the possibility and flexibility and negotiating power down the road. The 50 sweaters are the lest economical airplanes out there with the 65 and 76 seaters not far behind. It cost more to run RJs than to run NB with the fuel prices!

uh hah.....

Easy buddy, no need to pop a blood vessel. A 12th year CA makes more than a 6th year CA, that’s simple math, and a first year FO makes less than a 6th year FO. Now how Eagle stacks up against its competitors like SKW is another discussion and is a comparison I never mentioned, regardless I’m certain that when it comes to labor cost both airlines are pretty close to each other. Where SkyWest saves money is in "other" areas and those savings decrease our overall cost. Yes we have a higher CASM than some, that’s why we lost 12 CR7’s to GoJet about 2 years ago, but our "others" is what enabled us to gain our Alaska, US & AA flying within that same period. However removing 800+ CA’s form the top of your list will reduce your cost thus making you a bit more competitive (meaning you were never not competitive but after 800+ on top leave you will be more so than before).

It sounds like you're one of those pilots who think our cost to the bottom line doesn't change overtime, please don’t be that fool. The number one cost to an airline is fuel, number 2 is labor of which we are their highest paid labor group so since mainline picks up the tab for fuel it stands to reason that labor is number 1 to our airline. Keep in mind we are no longer “regional airlines,” we are “contract carriers” and in an industry where mainline wants cheap reliable feed every penny matters.

Very insightful...







NOT!:rolleyes:

You still missed my point, we are told that we are so senior and thus expensive at the larger regionals (eagle, SKW, pinnacle and rah but we compose the large majority of the feed. RAH has the worse contract from the above mentioned but as far as seniority there is not a huge difference. And no I am not one of those pilots who think that out cost changes don't affect the bottom line, we saw that at Eagle last year and we will see it next year. There is a reason why AMR finalized the agreement ofthe 824 just prior to bankruptcy, they want to move senior folks over! I agree regionals that make up about 20% of the feed are cheaper but you need to stop allowing your self to be compared to them as they don't affect the industry average as much. During Eagle's BK hearings SKW was left out of the equation when doing cost! Why is that? Because SKW alone is more than 60% larger than Transtates Holding and it would shift the balance back towards the real middle. It is happening at Pinnacle now!

the only carriers eagle was compared to (with alpa's blessing) by management was Pinnacle and either TSA or MESA. No one else, so the comparison was rigged.

basically the union leaders lied and kept secret. The info came out in the Pinnacle BK by a lawyer who represents both Pinnacle and Eagle management in BK.

Company got the cuts it wanted and now the outsourcing of the AE feed to AA has begun and increasing. More outsourcing of AE feed coming this month.
So yeah come on to AE and find out what furlough is like.

Ya.. I think maybe he is right. All the "big Regionals" (SKW/RP ect..) are "majors" acording to the DOT.... So "no Regionals" is not to far off....

just want to point out one other item of cost that has never been mentioned by management or our mec reps at eagle. that is the cost of our dumb management team. eagle has at least twice as many managers, directors and vp's than any other regional. now these people who actually generate no income for the company, there cost are overlooked by everyone.

if eagle got rid of half the managers, directors and vp's and combined there separate deppartments accordingly, ae would be cost effective with anyone.

last time aa was fat and got rid of managers (for show) they all found jobs at eagle within the new departments that developed for them.

eagles costs, no-one knows because there are no books to look at. eagle is a private entity within a public corporation part of the airline division. there are no financial numbers published by eagle, just load factors and capacity. so the true cost of ae no-one knows.

but if you want to be on reserve for life or furloughed, please come to eagle. you know the company that advertises, divestiture, uncertainty of future, and the continous to the loss of feed for aa to other regionals. yeap, come on down.

eagle is loosing feed and no way to gain new feed contracts. eagle is contracting like someone who is anorexic.

I believe that Skywest just canceled all classes and put all new hires that were scheduled for class into a pool.

Class's were pushed back until march. We're really pilot heavy right now with reduced block hrs jan/feb.

Has anyone gotten hired at Skywest with 1000+ SIC in Caravan/Pilatus (or around that)? Pt 135 IFR pax carrying airline is where the time is from.

That should not be a problem as long as you have the ME time and enough PIC for the ATP.

Sent you a PM Rickair.

Eagle is hiring. Expect a new fleet announcement soon.