Airtran

[dashtrasher]

Does anyone know if Airtran is still hiring? If not are they at least doing any interviewing?

 

[Ty Webb]

Saw Jill N. yesterday, who said that right now they are anticipating hiring more in Sept. ( there is still 1 class' worth in the pool).

Experience has shown, though, that things change here on a weekly basis. I would be surprised if we really went that long without hiring.

The computerized line bid system indicates that there are 50 B717 F/O's that have are still in training or have not yet completed IOE, so as those work into the system, and as we keep taking 2 B717's a month, my guess is that some time in July, someone will say, "Hey, we need to get some more B717 F/O's in here!" and then they will start calling people, frantically. . . . . so if I were you, I would get an AirTran pilot to walk your stuff in June, and then every two weeks.

Good luck- it is definitely a good place to be. I hired on in Nov., and sat reserve for only a few days, then went right to being a line-holder. We are looking at a short upgrade of probably less than 18 months. Adding new cities every month, 20 new planes this year (less 14 DC9's) for a rough total of 66 airplanes. Currently at 750 pilots, rumored to be around 1000 by years' end A( I am guessing around 800-850).

 

[throttlejockey]

I agree with Ty on this one.

The current climate is very good for National Carriers from the standpoint of air crew hiring.

Low attrition rates, and plenty of qualified F/O candidates mean that they can wait until the very last minute to hire and train.

Since AirTran is in the middle of a fleet renewal program, and maybe even adding an new type to the fleet, it only makes sense to "pull the trigger" only after they absolutely know what aircraft they need to hire for and the number of pilots they need to train.

I wouldn't want to answer to the boss if I was the one to make the mistake of hiring and/or training 50 guys for the DC-9 only to have to retrain them a few months later on the 717 or even another type.

Better to wait until the last minute and hire, after knowing what the fleet composition will be then spending big bucks to train and re-train.

throttlejockey.