Welcome to Flightinfo.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Friendliest aviation Ccmmunity on the web
  • Modern site for PC's, Phones, Tablets - no 3rd party apps required
  • Ask questions, help others, promote aviation
  • Share the passion for aviation
  • Invite everyone to Flightinfo.com and let's have fun

Airtran Interviewing?

Welcome to Flightinfo.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Modern secure site, no 3rd party apps required
  • Invite your friends
  • Share the passion of aviation
  • Friendliest aviation community on the web
Ty Webb said:
Hey, Ranger fan-

I have been around at least as long as you, pal, so don't you worry too much about me. Apparently, the context of the string was lost on you.

We all make our own choices about what is important to us. You have made yours, I have made mine. In the end, we are the ones who have to live with our choices.

I think that we have a vested interest in hiring and training pilots who want to be here. Clearly, you are not one of them.

You don't have to justify your job to me. I wish you luck. I think AirTran is a fine Airline . More power to you guys if you can find people who are willing to stay there when the hiring boom comes again. Oh yea, it will come again, just like before. There have allways been doomsdayers.

No worries, as pilots in the US I thinkl there will be more good jobs for all of us.
 
I truly hope that you are right. A rising tide lifts all ships.

Unfortunately, the future I see holds a lot more RJ jobs and a lot less jobs at the top. Hopefully, that dire predicition will not come to pass, but it sure looks like it right now.

Good luck to all. BTW, AirTran does not have a training contract, but they asked at my interview that I be willing to give them at least a year (pre- 9/11). I thought that was very fair.
 
AirTran Hiring

Hey Guys,
For those interested, the posts are correct about AirTran hiring in August and September. The preference has traditionally been to those with B1900, J32, DHC-8 PIC time, because everybody with heavy time ran across the concourse to Delta. AirTran hired some furloughed pilots from US, Midway and Emery Freight, so why not apply? However, if you regard aspiring to fly captain on a B717 as merely building time, why not try out the excellent opportunities at IASCO, Pembroke, etc. I was hired on 10 September 01, and instead of being furloughed on 11 September, the senior guys cut their own pay to keep me and my fellow new hires aboard. Today I flew an airplane that was two days old. I remember when Pan Am and TWA were the sought after carriers, and Delta was hardly known outside of the South. Study your airline history and give carriers like AirTran some thought. I for one, will NOT be flying on the first airplane out of ATL when the Big 5 hire in, what, three years? At my age (39) it does not make economical sense.
Happy Flying
 
I just can't let this go...

"Study your airline history and give carriers like AirTran some thought"


Your boss is "Forklift Joe", among other names, look up his history.
 
Airtran aint a stepping stone or a consolation prize. If you feel that way about us then you wont fit in here. Its a great place to work and you wont find too many citrus pilots looking elsewhere when hiring by the big 5 resumes, contrary to what some may think. Good luck to all
 
rumor has it

rumor going around ATL is Delta wants to reduce mainline to 6500 pilots and continue growing/buying regionals. Did anyone see the Business center on CNBC with Leo talking about regional growth ? Anyway the big 5 are not what they used to be. Time value of money will kill you waiting for the majors to call you back.
 
The time value of money . . . . That is a good point.

Others things people take into consideration include:

I. Quality of life
A. Commute
1. On-line/Off-line
2. One leg commute, or more?
3. Commutable schedules (start same day of commute)
B. Schedule
1. length of duty days- always max, or more reasonable
2. choice of # of days per trip
C. Accrual of seniority
D. Upgrade
E. Happiness/attitude of coworkers (work environment)

II. Financial
A. First Year Pay (gotta survive!)
B. F/O Pay 2d yr
C. Years to upgrade
D. Ways to make extra pay- open time, draft, etc?
E. Retirement
F. Profit Sharing
G. Other benefits (non-rev travel, etc)

The above are some of the things besides hourly pay that are important to me, and on my list, AirTran ranks pretty high in most categories. Some definitely could use some improvement.

I have a 50-minute on-line commute, with 4 flights a day to choose from. I had a fully commutable line from the third month after IOE. I will probably break $40K the first year, and upgrade in 2-3 years. I am flying new airplanes on relatively short routes, on mostly 4 day, but some 3 day trips, averaging 14 or 15 days a month off. There is very little bitching on the flight deck. Most guys are pretty happy, easy going types, with a very short list of "No-fly zones" . . . . Maintenance is a non-issue, if it's broken, write it up, and they fix it. Management's performance has been very good- we are above break-even load factor for the year, and June numbers are out . . . .traffic up 24% over last June, load was 72% on 20% additional capacity. . . .

The negatives-

Few cities West of the Mississippi
One pilot base
No frills (ie. no crew meals, crew room facilities pretty lacking, 2-3 star hotels)
Won't be as rich as Delta buddies . . .
No heavy iron/international routes (well, Bahamas).

Those are our warts, and I'll take 'em. BTW, the work environment is very important on my list. I can make money flying anywhere, but it is worth a lot to me to work with people who have a pleasant outlook and aren't always looking for how the "Company is trying to screw us". I have jumpseated on a lot of carriers where the pilots made more money, but spent most of their time in cruise complaining. I hear very little of that here. Most guys think that we've come a long way in a short time, and that things continue to improve and will continue to improve . . . .
 
Does 3600 ttl time 750 PIC turbine (js31 Pt.135) with average total and actual instrument time sound competetive for AirTran? I know 6 months ago it probably would have but you never know now. Have an employee who walked it in (though not in flt ops). Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated from current or past AirTran employees. AirTran seems like a good place to be very long-term.
 

Latest resources

Back
Top