Kalitta Air Info (K4)

So I've been here a little over a year. I'm still looking at other places, but this right here keeps proving why this company is a hidden gem. I'm sure some other companies offer similar options, but this is the first I've been a part of. I'm very happy to be where I am!

I'm in Dubai and they're offering to send me home if I want to. This is a company email to our crews that live in Florida as this new hurricane approaches:

"Hi All
Tropical Storm Dorian is predicted to make its way near Florida over the weekend and early next week. You are receiving this email because your home base is listed in Florida.

Right now it is uncertain how strong it will be once it gets to Florida. If you are scheduled to work and feel you need to go home or stay home, please touch base with Tyler or I and we will work out your schedule with day trades or short notice vacation.

The company wants to ensure that you all keep your families safe and can prepare if you need to."
 
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Stone Cold said:
So I've been here a little over a year. I'm still looking at other places, but this right here keeps proving why this company is a hidden gem. I'm sure some other companies offer similar options, but this is the first I've been a part of. I'm very happy to be where I am!

I'm in Dubai and they're offering to send me home if I want to. This is a company email to our crews that live in Florida as this new hurricane approaches:

"Hi All
Tropical Storm Dorian is predicted to make its way near Florida over the weekend and early next week. You are receiving this email because your home base is listed in Florida.

Right now it is uncertain how strong it will be once it gets to Florida. If you are scheduled to work and feel you need to go home or stay home, please touch base with Tyler or I and we will work out your schedule with day trades or short notice vacation.

The company wants to ensure that you all keep your families safe and can prepare if you need to."
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Classy.

One time at a terrible regional we got an email about the forest fires just north of LA. Something like "We understand that there are forest fires in the Los Angeles area. If you are effected by these fires, please allow extra time for you commute to work".
 
gne in prog said:
is there a list of acceptable cities to live in, or criteria for acceptable cities?
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It's basically all of the lower 48, but we have people living in other places (including overseas) and they make it work. I have not seen any official list of cities, so as long as you have airline service, it's fair game...as far as I know.
 
Stone Cold said:
It's basically all of the lower 48, but we have people living in other places (including overseas) and they make it work. I have not seen any official list of cities, so as long as you have airline service, it's fair game...as far as I know.
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I recently flew with a guy living on one of the smaller Hawaiian islands. I guess he had to 2 leg JS to LAX most of the time. Which is a shame considering we’re in HNL so much. Still, I think we have a pretty good deal overall. If you’ve ever actually commuted, this is worth $20k in pure QOL, easily.
 
gne in prog said:
What is their hiring looking like for 2020?
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They were projecting to continue hiring in 2020 and it seemed like the same pace (20-30 a month I think?) BUT they just moved a bunch of already-on-property FOs over to the 777. Not sure the exact mix, but I saw some 747 FOs on the list. They are looking for people already typed on the 777. This is straight from HR. They will look at those resumes first. We currently have a LOT of 747 FOs. Like 300 for 25 airplanes. Since the company is willing to move us to the 777, that tells me they are comfortable enough to drop the total down in that seat. Since we will be staffing 5 B777s, I’m thinking they will need 100 more pilots or so. Maybe a little less than that. If we get more airplanes, they will keep hiring. If we park any airplanes, they will adjust that number at some point. Some companies are quick to adjust hiring. Some are not. I would like to think that K4 is aggressive with change in the hiring department, but I don’t know for sure. I know we have a few 747s that are getting old and will need to be parked at some point, but who knows if the market will just allow that, but the company was recently looking for more of them. You just never know. In my almost 2 years here, it’s become clear that K4 is a very opportunistic company. It’s just hard to tell what actually will happen.
 
gne in prog said:
What kind of backgrounds and experience levels are they looking for? Was @Stone Cold an outlier or are they looking for similar backgrounds?
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What do you mean, was I an outlier (not meant in a mean way, but curious what you mean)? Do we hire corporate? Yes. Do we hire former expats? Yes. Do we hire regional pilots? Yes. Do we hire freight dawgs? Yes.

Right now, management seems focused on the 777, so that's where people should expect to go.

I've flown with everybody from expats like me, to regional lifers, former freight (ABX, Omni, etc.), and military, both enlisted as I was, officers, and pilots.

If you're interested, put in an app. I think our hiring has slowed quite a bit, but I think we're still hiring. The only way to know is to apply.
 
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Oh, and we just had another vacancy bid for 6 triple 7 captains. I haven't looked at how junior it went yet. I'm fully expecting another 747 and possibly 767 captain bid soon (next 3-4 months is my guess). We'll see what happens.
 
Stone Cold said:
What do you mean, was I an outlier (not meant in a mean way, but curious what you mean)? Do we hire corporate? Yes. Do we hire former expats? Yes. Do we hire regional pilots? Yes. Do we hire freight dawgs? Yes.

Right now, management seems focused on the 777, so that's where people should expect to go.

I've flown with everybody from expats like me, to regional lifers, former freight (ABX, Omni, etc.), and military, both enlisted as I was, officers, and pilots.

If you're interested, put in an app. I think our hiring has slowed quite a bit, but I think we're still hiring. The only way to know is to apply.
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By “outlier” I meant someone corporate with a lot of experience and a lot of Intl time. Seems some airlines don’t really like people out of 91 and prefer pilots out of regionals.
 
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gne in prog said:
By “outlier” I meant someone corporate with a lot of experience and a lot of Intl time.
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I would say I'm an outlier, in general, just because my experience is different than 95+% of pilots out there.

Like I said, we've hired lifer regional pilots when ASA was going under (special deal with ALPA). I would say 3/4 of my class was regional guys/gal.

If you're interested, definitely apply, if you're qualified.
 
Stone Cold said:
Oh, and we just had another vacancy bid for 6 triple 7 captains. I haven't looked at how junior it went yet. I'm fully expecting another 747 and possibly 767 captain bid soon (next 3-4 months is my guess). We'll see what happens.
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like you went through, my unicorn gulfstream job is going away and I’m trying to get a feel for what’s next. I’ve never flown 121, but i love Intl ops.
 
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Two years ago I was in the last small class before the classes doubled in size. I was the only current airline guy in class. Everybody else was either only corporate, a couple ATA guys who went to corporate, and one regional guy who left for corporate 15 years before starting at K4.

I felt like the outlier.
 
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