Ten years ago? With all due respect, have you heard of Menzies yet? Alaska fired all the rampers and replaced them with this contract company called Menzies Aviation. I'm still a big fan of Air Group and the brand but this typical corporate america move just proves what's wrong with corporate america. But I digress....
Good luck with your interview and I understand the pull of God's country. Just be ready to answer this one: You have significant corporate jet PIC time and experience. Will you leave Horizon if offered a similar job locally which pays as much as a 10 year Captain at Horizon? Have a good rebuttal for that one....
Ha ha!
Well, I've already been turned down three times by the one corporate operator in the Northwest that I would want to work for. And I had really, really good advocacy from in-house at that department. Could be God telling me I'm supposed to be somewhere else.
My answer would be inclusive of considering my family, my goals and my quality of life. Indeed money talks, but so do really great benefits. I need to feed my family and pay my bills, but the benefit of being able to travel to visit my wife's family in Florida and for them to come see us at no cost is priceless. Additionally, the long term effects on quality of life are far more promising than corporate operations where the company could sell the airplane any day.
In all honesty, I already make what a 5-10 year captain would make at QX, hard as that is to give up, this job is not good place for someone my age. My boss (the owner of the airplane and a REALLY good guy) is approaching his mid-70's, meaning, as nice as this operation is, this is not a long term place for a guy my age. We also don't fly enough to allow me to be come competitive to different (read: bigger/better equipment, desirable locale, etc...) departments. As good as these people are, it's time to go home and move on to the next great thing. Horizon, while it would be a HUGE pay cut initially stands to be a more rewarding career in the long run. And my wife loves the idea of being able to travel and see her family more easily thanks to the flight benefits.
It's give and take, but if I received such an offer it would be a tough call. In reality I think I would be giving up more by leaving QX than I would gain by joining a corporate department No two corporate flight departments are the same so it would LITERALLY be case-by-case, I can't give a blanket answer. An offer from some guy with an old citation who owns a chain of mattress stores will not be the same (or as attractive) as an offer from say, Nordstrom or Vulcan (Paul Allen's outfit...#GoSeahawks!)
You get my drift...but you have a great point! Good question.
Oh and yes, I have heard of Menzies. Not long after I left Alaska switched to Menzies, but Horizon stayed with their own non-union line crews. Has that changed?