AbsoluteCeiling

Why all of a sudden the poor outlook? With the recent changes in management, my understanding is that Pilot/employee morale is improving. Is that no longer the case?

tolipenalpria

As of today: 26 -800s and 1 -700. Yes, rumor is 1 or 2 transavias yet this year and one "blue" bird in Feb.

How will they ever staff all that growth??

beech1980

The plan is 32 planes to be operated in March. 2 of them are Transavia’s. I had heard they had 3 -800’s coming in January, February, and March. Sounds like all the -700’s are gone except the 76 seat VIP -700. 10 pilots resigned in the last couple weeks. The problem is if they loose 10 a month they can staff the winter peak flying. If their is any growth on the horizon no way can it be staffed loosing 10 a month! The change in management has been a breath of fresh air. They have a sense of reality. They don’t hold the key to bank which is the current issue. If you don’t pay you can’t play.

Starchkr

It sure sounded clear to me in the last call that management is very much aware that although attrition has been lower than forecast recently they know that attrition will be a formidable problem going forward.

It’s refreshing to hear them acknowledge that and hear them say they know they need to do something. At this point they have basically said that they will reach out to more people through various recruiting tactics to bring in more pilots. They raised first year pay and are offering hotels for training. That’s significant. There were some things said that indicate that they know they need to do something that will make this a place to stay. There’s no doubt these new management folks were brought in for change. They sound motivated to me.

That said, at the current time work rules and compensation are way behind the power curve. Reserve rules here are barbaric and can only really be sustainably worked for a long period of time if you live in the twin cities. If you have a family or SO and you think commuting to this schedule will work, think again. Any self preserving person who does not live in the twin cities would steer well clear.

They need to do something big and they need to do something ASAP if they really want this airline to grow. I think many of us here are cautiously optimistic that there are some strong leaders taking a hard look at what it will take to make this happen but until tangible evidence of change starts to materialize the bleeding won’t stop.

doubletap

How long is the current reserve time for new hires? What are the barbaric reserve rules? With attrition at 10per month, people have got to be moving up.

Any talks of contract opening up sooner than November since management needs to stop bleeding? Sounds like you pilots have some leverage...

nibake

The previous post is pretty accurate compared to everything I've seen. There is definitely a sense of urgency with the DO about needing to act quickly and decisively. I think that is why there is a "cautious optimism" among a lot of people, because the intentions are there but we all know that there is always a gap between good intentions and reality, and the inertia of "being behind the power curve" is going to have to be overcome to allow for the ambitious growth plans that are underway.

I decided the gamble was a good choice for me. YMMV. And yes, commuting to this reserve would be a nightmare.

nibake

In answer to your question, ATM it looks like reserve is up to one year.

Mitlaman

In the interview they’re still saying six to nine months of reserve after oe.

doubletap

Thanks. We need some long call

Starchkr

What are the barbaric reserve rules?

1. Days off = 10 days off consisting of 1 block of 4 guaranteed days off. The other 6 days typically consist of three blocks of 2 consecutive days. On long months (31 day months) there will usually be a 3 day block in addition the the guaranteed 4 day block but the remaining 4 days will be in two consecutive day blocks. You can be used on your days off that aren’t guaranteed and you can then choose when you want to take a compensatory day off but you’re not considered used on a day off unless you work past 2am on your off day so getting home late doesn’t matter. Hope that made sense.

2. RAP = 14hrs a day

3. There is very little/ zero protection for working later on your last day. For example, you have a block of 6 AM RAP days(3am to 5pm) you get assigned a 4 day trip starting on day three and it finishes at midnight on your last day. This is totally legal and requires no compensation. If you can’t make your commute home, tough luck. You can also be assigned a later RAP pretty much anytime.

Imagine you’re a commuter and the end of your current month finishes with 6 days of reserve. You’re careful to bid the next month line so you can start with at least a few days off but you’re unlucky and your next month starts with a single day off and then another block of 6 reserve days. You now have a period of 13 days gone from home and to add insult to injury on the last day you don’t get done until late and you have to spend yet another night in a crash pad. Not only that, you only have two days off now so if you go home you’ll be home long enough to sleep, reload and go back to your crash pad for another round of reserve. Worst case scenario? Sure, but this is legal and don’t think it won’t happen.

4. You don’t really have enough days to pick up extra flying but even if you did you won’t be compensated for it until you break guarantee. The only extra earning potential you can hope for is Per Diem. You will not break guarantee with possible very rare exceptions. Junior assignment could happen and you do get compensated for that over guarantee but do you really think you’d want to give up one of your precious days off for a few bucks? I don’t think so.

If you live in the area you can get by fine with these work rules and the flying isn’t bad but if you’re commuting you’re going to be absolutely miserable.

If you plan on upgrading in the minimum time you will be on reserve again and you will be on reserve for a considerable amount of time.