Here you go:

Attachment 3245

At this point, you would need about 10 years worth of seniority to hold ATL as the FO plug. It is a smaller base with lots of pilots still trying to get in. If ATL is a must have for you, Delta may be a better career goal. Best of luck!

Class dates
 

ATL is going to start going a lot more junior. It is growing at a snails pace, true, but they have been slowly growing the base and the flying out of ATL.
Last bid saw six digit former AirTran folks getting into ATL. They represent the bottom of the AirTran seniority list. Many trannies have moved to another base or accepted upgrade as a commuter. There will be a little filling in with guys wanting lines, etc, but there will also be guys upgrading.
I would not be surprised in the least if I was able to hold ATL in the next year and I have only been here 3 years. It is going to be relatively senior for a while, but like MCO and PHX, it will eventually be a senior base with junior guys holding it.
Just my prediction.

Thanks to everyone for the info. I'd rather two leg commute to work for SW then drive to work in ATL for Delta.

Let me put it this way. Here's a pic of the last guy to hold ATL first officer.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...6ef8daa4e4.jpg



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Why is he in the left seat?

Because he can hold Captain in the other bases. [emoji6]


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Ouch!

Of course even if you lived in Atlanta and commuted to another base for a few years you could still pick up open time there at home.

Any new base rumors?

Was told during my interview FLL and STL are strong possibilities!

FLL growth is being covered for the time being by MCO which is one reason new hires are now getting it. So if I had to guess STL would be a base before FLL.

I think we do more departures/day out of STL then we did out of LAS or DEN when those became bases.

New domicile rumors are STL, MCI, LAX, and FLL.

New mini-domicile rumors are FLL, LAX.

Most think LAX as a base won't happen because of $$$.

Obvious new service from West Coast will be Hawaii, likely from SMF, OAK, LAX, and/or SEA.

Look for new routes to Latin America and Canada.

When the rochambeau champ of SWA flyday speaks...people listen:D

Zap, just spit out my beer!
Thanks for the lol!

Are there classes every Tuesday from here on out?
The last post about classes were Sept 12 and 19.
Thx

I think they're only running 2 classes in Sept.

after... the rest of the year

600 new hires thus far in 2017. 186 more divided by 24 is about 8 classes, so two per month

Cheers woody! Thanks
I'm curious of dates, but sincerely Thx!

Previous posts are claiming 2 classes per month for rest of 2017. Anyone know when they might be for October and November?

Thanks!

Didn't they raise the # to 885 or so for this year?

A new class starts Tuesday the 12th. And then another Tuesday the 19th. Come on seniority!


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I heard that too. Also 900-1000 next year. Who knows.

One class started today, I think another starts 9/19. Just heard Oct 3, 10, 17, and 24 as well.

Any good rumors as to why all the hiring? I'm not complaining but our fleet projections aren't showing the need...

More international, more red eyes, better reliability and utilization for the MAX than 300's, less premium pay?

I've heard all of those but I don't think anyone here knows.

Latest word is one more class in Sep (19th), 4 classes in Oct, 3 in Nov, and 2 in Dec. Around 915 hires this year. Prob about the same next year.

Delta is buying SWA and we'll be under DLA's staffing formula which is much more inefficient thus the need for all the hiring.

Ewwwwwwwww. Gross 😂

1300+ in 2018 I just heard from a friend in newhire

Holy Sh*t

Are we getting 787's too?

:eek: yeah right..

Um, yeah.....okay. Now that I don't believe. First of all WHY? Second of all HOW?

Why in the world would we need that many pilots given our orders (even with a lot of red-eyes getting added (?).

How could they possibly train that many?!

All those reasons are correct (except red eyes). Flight ops chases metrics and has for decades. In the more premium vs more hiring seesaw, more hiring is currently the manning favorite. On the bright side, maybe someone will actually pick up my giveaway

SWAPA says lines for October are projected to contain a ton of reserve trips and summer staffing for 2018 should be in positive territory. 4500 flights per day

My problem with that is that if their goal is less JA, then it doesn't matter how many pilots they have if they don't change their utilization of reserves.

Right now they will utilize a reserve to cover open time for tomorrow rather than awarding it as premium. But then when someone calls in sick tomorrow, they're up a creek. They split to cover and end up with a junk trip that nobody will pick up even at premium because it doesn't pay anything. So they JA.

Until they decide to hang on to a few reserves and accept that some days those reserves may not fly - that they will act as an insurance policy in the event of sick calls or irregular ops - then it doesn't matter how many pilots they hire. Their behavior will still result in JAs.


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1300+ for 2018 is vastly different from what the union put out in the monthly update email at the beginning of this month.

Update on 2017 & 2018 Pilot hiring numbers
Last count for 2017 - 786
2017 - Expecting 884 total
2018 - Estimating slightly below 700

Although I flew with a guy who told me new hires were being told they should upgrade in about 7 yrs.

Just went to training. Was told number had changed to roughly 1000 in 2018

Bring 'em on! Maybe the hiring next yr will be for growing Phx!

I can see upgrade eventually getting to the 7-8 yr range once you get through the backlog of people hired 2007-8 range. After that we only hired roughly 1500 in the next 7-8 years. So it'll drop assuming growth and hiring stays the same. Another recession and "poof"....

Eh. I don't put much stock in upgrade forecasts even during significant hiring. In 1999 and 2000 the legacies all hired 100 pilots per month right up until 9/11. Then they furloughed all of those pilots and then some. There are pilots getting hired at SWA today who worked for those legacies pre 9/11... and there are pilots getting hired at SWA today who hadn't even taken their first flying lesson by 9/11. We all view this profession through the lens of our personal and professional experience.

As a 9/11 furloughee I can tell you a decade long upgrade seems pretty quick to me. But then again I've spent the lions share of the last twenty two years as a first officer at a variety of operators. So what's another decade between friends? [emoji6]


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