Originally Posted by
AP3XS
TSA & Compass were/are Trans States Holdings Companies as is GoJet. The owner of TSH is Hulas who is in his mid 80's and has been trying to sell the airlines for a while because his kids have no interest in running/owning the company. Go to GoJet at your own risk. I believe the reserve time there is fairly short, maybe 3-4 months.
ExpressJet is probably the safest option at the moment since United owns 49.9% of the company. Got the following information directly from an ExpressJet recruiter who was pretty honest:
Reserve Times: (I may kick myself in the butt for this one but I promised honesty in this group so here it is...)
a. IAH CA: 12 years FO: 6 months
b. EWR CA: 8 years / FO: 8 months
c. ORD CA: 14 years / FO: 6 months
d. CLE CA: 7 years / FO: 5 months (Supposed to be closing this base but just received information that itll stay open for now)
e. TYS CA: NA / FO: NA
(Keep in mind, these change on a month to month basis. The more aircraft and flying is awarded to each domicile the reserve time will decrease... Also, sitting reserve at XJT isn't a bad thing either, even our reserve pilots are averaging anywhere between 75-95hrs a month, so you are not sitting around in a crash pad or the airport!!)
I know a few Aussies currently in the US who have been trying to get in contact with Mesa for a few weeks and have received no reply. I don't know anything about CommutAir except their sign on bonus is $22k. Skywest have agreed to take on Aussies who were already on an E3 Visa at TSA but I don't think they are opening it up to everyone.
Personally I'm leaving the US and returning to Australia. I'm sure with the travel ban that Trump put in place today some of the airlines are going to have no choice but to furlough pilots. Being at the bottom of a seniority list in the US doesn't sound like a great idea to me. Plus the bonuses used to be about $50-60k in the first year and they are down to about $10-20k. Each to their own though, but I would seriously weigh up the pros and cons. Also keep in mind that if you come to the US your health insurance won't kick in for a couple months - something to consider at the moment.
Apex, im just wondering what it is that you are basing your decision to move home so hastily? Whereabouts are you on the timeline e.g. in training, line holder etc. Any judgment aside I'm genuinely curious as someone going through the E3 process getting ready to go over shortly. And curious how you have planned your move. Do you have a job lined up back in Aus or are you leaving a job with potential uncertainty and coming back to guaranteed uncertainty?
My understanding is that even if XJT were able to hire their targeted 840 pilots for the year, there was still going to be a net loss of a couple hundred pilots by the year's end. This will obviously change as all the mainline carriers freeze hiring across the board and slow attrition, but there was still a lot of retirements and the fact that we're 3 months into the year and they are nowhere near on track to hire their targeted 840. Combine this with the 30 jets they have parked and the 36 they're about to acquire, it's difficult to imagine that anyone will be given the boot so swiftly. Been doing a lot of research and the regionals tend to fair better than the mainlines in times of crises. XJT furloughed pilots in 2008 due financial issues related to oil prices, unrelated to any global crisis. Skywest have never furloughed, just as a couple of examples.
I may just be trying to sell myself on the idea that it will still be ok to go, but just very curious on your decision making process given that you're making the significant decision to leave and come home.