Part 135 effect on a resume

W

Whitesnake

Member
Is it true that going to a 135 right out of school is worse than just waiting for a 121 to open.

I currently work for a mainline (I don’t plan to do internal) but I know having the aviation experience does help with getting past the prescreening for regionals.

I currently have the option to pursue a 135 but don’t want to jeopardize my chances with a 121 down the road say 12 months from now
 
If you’re already at a mainline, I can’t imagine you’d have a hard time snagging a 121 regional gig as long as you’re willing to move and can handle the pay cut (depending on what your current pay rate is). That being said, I can think of 3 mainlines that have had a decent mix of internals vs externals in their recent classes, so it might be worth giving that a go as well if your airline is one of them.
 
135 experience can be trickier to transition out of. People do it regularly but not at the same rate as those coming from the 121 side of the fence.
 
Bustedcropdusta said:
If you’re already at a mainline, I can’t imagine you’d have a hard time snagging a 121 regional gig as long as you’re willing to move and can handle the pay cut (depending on what your current pay rate is). That being said, I can think of 3 mainlines that have had a decent mix of internals vs externals in their recent classes, so it might be worth giving that a go as well if your airline is one of them.
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I currently am on the final interview step for a regional but as a backup have an offer to pursue a 135.
 
It's not neccesarily worse, a related job is better than no job of course and the experience would likely be viewed as a positive by a regional used to hiring entry level candidates.

The issue is the expectation that you can go from a 135 or 121 supplemental straight to a major, that rarely ever happens. I know FedEx and UPS back in the day did value that from some of the cargo shops with ETOPS, and Spirit did hire some from the charter shops in MIA without 121 experience. But I think it is very rare at other majors to hire from 135s or 121 supplementals. Much more common for them to hire from 121 regionals or internals.
 
It all depends on what flavor of 135 you're doing. If you're going to go to work for Bob's Tires and Jet Planes "dispatching" learjets to Walla Walla you're probably not going to find a lot of that experience valuable. Bear in mind that there's some level of misunderstanding out there that on-demand carriers or carriers that do on-demand work (CRAF/Homeland Security/etc.) are Part 135 when in reality some operate using Part 121 rules. The "135" work that will translate well is those carriers that are Part 135/121.
 
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