CE750

A race to the bottom.. that's what we're in.

A330Checkairman

I know you guys have had some changes recently...how's it going?

I think that the next 5 years are going to be real interesting for the entire industry. With open skies, and 49% ownership by 2010, the market for us throttle jockies is going to be very interesting.

I think that your heavy time will prove invaluable in the near future. I predict many new "branded" carriers will pop up and MD11, B744, B75/76, and A320 drivers will be the preferred candidates. B737, DC9, CRJ folks will struggle to get into these seats.

I predict you will see Cathay USA, (Sing)apore America, Quantas US, and even Gringo Taco. These carriers, extremely well funded, will operate brand new A320's while they are fed by the big carriers from all over the world. PAX from Europe and Asia will never set foot on NWA, AA, and UAL.

I don't believe we will have a British Invasion of pilots, but the guys and gals who are getting good glass exprience, or even A320 types, will land the best jobs in the next 5 years.

My Humble Opinion....
Cheers.

Short Final

Gringo Taco?

YUMMMM!

CE750

Interesting perspective... I saw an article recently that said there will be a shortage of pilots world wide, but I won't believe it until I see it.

What changes do you mean btw? Things are more or less the same here since I got here.

Rocco

SWA requires 2500 TT and a type ; VA requires 7000TT and a type...SWA pays twice what VA does.....who has 7000 hours and a BUS type that wants this job?? I guess people that dont make the cut at SWA and have an extra 6k or so sitting around for another type..........................

PedroPat

Last I heard you don't start as a Captain at SWA, do you think that might have any bearing on the mins?

CE750

in the end, does that really matter to the guy applying? Pay & Schedule are the two big things a pilot looks at in a new job.. and both are an order of magnitude better at WN.

Skyone

Well, that's a no brainer. This is a startup operation. Compare the terms and conditions to Skybus, EOS, MaxJet and some supplementals, Omni, North American, USA3000, etc. to get a real comparison. What's the health coverage, long and short term disability, life insurance and the like? From my sources, it's pretty darn good.

It can be very frustrating trying to compare T & Cs. Compare WN to DL in 2002. Came up very short, but compare them today and DL pales in comparison. Compare 30 years ago (the length of an airline career for example), FedEx (flying Falcon 20s), Southwe80st (niche), to PanAm, Braniff and Eastern. Every airline has its decade it seems, 60s (PanAm, TWA), 70s (Eastern, Braniff, United), 80s (legacies), 90s (Delta, Sthwst, legacies), 00s (SWA, JB, FDX, UPS......).

All I am saying, what's hot today can be gone tomorrow. Flash in the pan or long term player? But remember, getting on with a long term player startup could be the lottery winner or if a flash in the pan......another uniform in the closet. The only benchmark for a decision might be startup capital and long term new aircraft, not old beat up 75s or 73s.

CE750

I'll grant you that those are some good points, but in the end, these guys are going after market share from WN, JB, and AT... and will now have a major competitive advantage over those places which will exert major downward pressure on those companies wages in the market where they compete. To compare them with USA3000 and ACMI's and sups isn't an apples to apples comparison as those all have totally different business models, they're not LCC's they're sup's.

Another unknown is the QOL... some companies, like mine for example don't pay great for the "type" of equipment per say, but they make it up with home base, business class travel, and days off (average at our place is more than half the month). Time=Money.

Blueridge877

There are no bad charter airline jobs, only bad charter airline pilots!

Eggs 'n Things, man!