JetBlue worries about losing pilots

surreal1221

surreal1221

Well-Known Member
JetBlue Worries about Losing Pilots to Better-Paying Companies

http://m.skift.com/?content=940ae688fced21b2a06338c99bb56904&section=transport

"Our pilot pay structure, for example, is based on an industry derived average and to the extent our competitors continue consolidating and/or begin raising their pilot salaries in the face of a possible pilot shortage, we may have to address increased salary cost pressure to retain our pilots in an environment where our capacity is also forecast to continue to grow," JetBlue stated in its 10-K annual financial filing covering 2012.
 
Sure, actually finding pilots will never be a real problem for them. But finding pilots of the caliber that they've been used to hiring for their entire history? That's a different story. Look at Virgin America. Lots of pilots hired who have never once sat in the left seat. That's JetBlue's future if they don't keep up with the other airlines in terms of pilot compensation and work rules.
 
I would think JetBlue might have a better retention rate in the event poop hits the fan again someday and furloughs happen at the legacy carriers.
 
Because of the incredible retirement rate for the next 20 years, furloughs of any significant number and duration similar to what was seen after 9/11 would be very unlikely.
 
Dugie8 said:
Holy hell, I hope you're right.
Click to expand...

It's really just a simple math problem. One carrier retires 40% of its pilot group in under 10 years, for example. Furloughs are usually for about 10% of a group, sometimes 20%. Once you get above that level, you're usually safe. And management generally figures that furloughs that are planned to last less than 18 months are not financially beneficial. And for the icing on the cake, we've had a lot of consolidation without many new entrant carriers since 9/11, leading to reduced capacity and increased pricing power for the remaining carriers. When you add it all up, it means that what we saw after 9/11 isn't likely to happen again, even if a similar devastating event were to take place.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
Sure, actually finding pilots will never be a real problem for them. But finding pilots of the caliber that they've been used to hiring for their entire history? That's a different story. Look at Virgin America. Lots of pilots hired who have never once sat in the left seat. That's JetBlue's future if they don't keep up with the other airlines in terms of pilot compensation and work rules.
Click to expand...

So? JetBlue has hired plenty of FOs with 0 TPIC. I do agree though the pay needs to come up. As for JetBlue's hiring history, coming around 2000 and subsequently 2001 put thousands of highly qualified pilots on the street who flocked to JetBlue. Some people left legacy left seats even prior to 9/11 to come to JetBlue. 2000/2001/2002 was a whole different hiring phenomenon then today.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
Sure, actually finding pilots will never be a real problem for them. But finding pilots of the caliber that they've been used to hiring for their entire history? That's a different story. Look at Virgin America. Lots of pilots hired who have never once sat in the left seat. That's JetBlue's future if they don't keep up with the other airlines in terms of pilot compensation and work rules.
Click to expand...


Because there has been zero movement to speak of for nearly a decade all the FO's should have to suffer? FO's are getting hired at the legacys now too. Get used to it.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
It's not "suffering" to have to get the appropriate qualifications.
Click to expand...

Why are FO's who have been flying for several years in the 121 world not appropriately qualified? Lack of 121 PIC time?
 
I had zero PIC turbine when I went to USAir in 99. The only person it hurt was myself - when I was furloughed in 02 I was unqualified to do just about anything other than go back to the commuters and start over.
 
etflies said:
Why are FO's who have been flying for several years in the 121 world not appropriately qualified? Lack of 121 PIC time?
Click to expand...

Having been in the hot seat of an airliner (or military aircraft, corporate aircraft, whatever), responsible for making the decisions, is a reasonable expectation of anyone getting a job at a major carrier.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
Having been in the hot seat of an airliner (or military aircraft, corporate aircraft, whatever), responsible for making the decisions, is a reasonable expectation of anyone getting a job at a major carrier.
Click to expand...

The difference between the right and left seat is a seniority number.....not skill. Those skills are already learned. That's an expectation of ANY pilot not just those with 4 stripes. Welcome to the 21st century.
 
Long time ago a good friend of mine got hired by a MAJOR airline by going to the kiosk at the mall and singing up. No experience. Yet regional FO's with thousands of hours are under qualified. What a world we live in!

Not to knock military guys but just how many hours of experience do they have before strapping on an F-18/c-130/C-5.........
 
ATN_Pilot said:
Having been in the hot seat of an airliner (or military aircraft, corporate aircraft, whatever), responsible for making the decisions, is a reasonable expectation of anyone getting a job at a major carrier.
Click to expand...
Todd I think you can come down from that point of view. You know as well as everyone else that there has been a great stagnation in the industry for the past six years. We are now just starting to see movement and guys have the requisit amount of time to make sound decisions. I think you would be hard pressed to find a majority of FO's with less than 3000 hours in type. They pass the same check rides as their captain counterparts, and as mentioned above, the only thing that holds a lot of them back in seniority.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top