caribbean airlines
 

Seems "the bad ole" days are back in the hole 38+ million $ last year, and on-track for more this year, forget about pilot jobs as flying is down to 30/40 hours a month.:uhoh:

The entire Caribbean airline industry is a mess.

The travelling public are victims of inflated pricing designed to keep these flabby, unproductive airlines going.

The solution is simple, deregulate, open the airspace up, remove government support, allow new entrants to the market, stimulate competition and let the fittest survive.

Neither LIAT nor CAL are fit by any known metric and use government connections to stifle competition and prevent the airline industry from developing.

Can't see it changing any time soon.

I'm not saying CAL doesn't have its problems but your information is incorrect (apart from the losses widely reported in the press).

Pilots are being hired both Ab Initio and contract on all fleets and all seats, 737, Dash-8 and ATR. There continues to be a demand for more pilots. Rostes run 55-65 hrs/month on the 737.

CAL has taken delivery of 2 767-300s this past week which will be servicing JFK and YYZ and later, London Gatwick.

The entire airspace has been Open Skies for several years now and many airlines have tested the waters. Spirit has come and gone as has TravelSpan but WestJet flies into BGI with JetBlue pushing further and further south.
RedJet was a disaster of bad planning and a poor business model from the beginning so I'm not even counting them.

Removing Government support cannot work because in order to operate a service like the air bridge between Trinidad and Tobago economically will require a higher airfare, plain and simple. Poorer people will not be able to afford it and it remains necessary for people to travel between the islands.
It's a similar story with the North American routes. If the government left it to AA, Air Canada and the like to link T&T to the rest of the world, they risk exactly what happened several years ago when Air Canada decided to stop the POS-YYZ route with 3 months notice.
Trinidad cannot risk leaving air links to carriers that do not have Trinidad's best interest at heart.

ok
 

@ zigzog well as we know caribbean aviation is always rumour laden, my points were made after a disscussion with an active 737 pilot, who`s words were that this is the worst he has ever seen including the old BWIA days.

@airjet,

Fair enough.........I think rumours make airplanes fly in this part of the world! Well, that and paperwork!

My humble opinion is that the human mind sees the past and remembers only the good bits and therefore 'the good ole days' seem alot better than they actually were.

CAL is a wholly owned government operation, as was BWIA. That means good (subsidies, job security) as well as bad (political meddling, mis-management). BWIA was the exact same.


@A330B777,

I believe the plan is 2 more ATRs for a total of 5.
There's been, I believe 14 new hire F/Os hired for the ATR in the last year or so and many contract pilots on the Dash-8. I'm not aware of any decisions on the Turbo-prop fleet but the rumours say that nobody's particularly happy with the ATR. A deal was reportedly struck with ATR whereby CAL had to take delivery of the minimum (5) aircraft.

@17PA

On the recruitment information they state that they hire Trinidadian and Jamaican nationals only. However, i have seen from posts on various other threads that they do take into consideration applicants from CARICOM (this was a while back though and considering the restrictions on current recruitment, it may seem rather difficult).

Where did you see that?

Most likely not, they also just received 2 767s. I`m sure Jamaicans can apply just as long they have a TT CPL. It is a Trinidad based airline after all. I know they just called the last remaining batch of successful candidates from the February interview pool, some are in France training and the others should go round Nov /DEC.

Thats very good news... Im jamaican but dont have TT cpl. Only FAA and JCAA.. However I threw my name in the hat, sitting on TT980 and 75multi.

I do not know, I just know of a couple people who never got any feedback whatsoever after the FEB interviews, while others were called to training shortly after. Those that didn't hear anything mostly thought that they were unsuccessful until they received a call in the last couple weeks telling them to get their medicals done. I would imagine tho, that If one has not receive a call-back to this date and they have put out an ad for recruitment then it is fair to assume that they were unsuccessful. It seems like a rather cruel way to operate, but sadly, they are the pretty much the only chance of work for most local hopefuls so they can do as they like.

I suggest you get your conversions done, that´s some very nice time you have there are you an FI? Most of the new ab- initio guys have way less than that, but some are Instructors and many have at least a Bachelors Degree.

With regards to foreign contract pilots, I believe that they do hire them based on an immediate demand- they would hire already type-rated professionals, As for Caricom Nationals like any airline in the region they would hire suitably qualified individuals over a Non-caricom national.

Yes I have my FI certificates and Bachelors degree in Aviation. I wish I could do my conversions, but I wouldn't even know where to begin to find that money. Do you know the process of converting Jamaican cpl? I couldn't find anything on the TT civil av website.

Conversion info
 

Conversion information

Converting to a Trinidad & Tobago CPL would cost you approximately $1500 TTD (roughly $250 USD) if you have to write all the exams. The exams are:

Air law (40 Questions)

Technical subjects:

Theory of Flight
Flying controls
Gas Turbine Engines
Supercharging and Piston Engines
Hydraulics
Air Conditioning & Pressurization
D.C Electrics
A.C Electrics
Variable Pitch Propellers


Note: At the TTCAA, you can have your credentials assessed for a small fee, i think it is $150 - $200 TTD whereby they would inform you of the exams you need to sit. ATPL holders are also exempt from some examinations. I know if you have a Canadian issued licence, you are exempt from "theory of flight' and 'flying control'. If you have an FAA licence, you have to do all the exams.

Also, you can sit nine(9) exams at once but a minimum of six (6) has to be done. For the most part, there are 15 questions per technical with the exception of a few (Piston engines and gas turbines) are 30 questions. I am not sure about Theory of flight and Flying controls.

On another note, Failure of any exam would incur a higher fee on the 2nd attempt.

You also need to obtain a First Class medical from an authorized doctor (they will give you a list). This will cost approximately $700 TTD.

Lastly, once you have all the required documents to submit (logbook, photocopies of all licences and the medical) to the TTCAA, there is a licencing fee for the grant of TT CPL of $300 TTD

That wasn't the case two years ago. I was exempt from several. It may well have changed; it frequently does down there. :)


There were at least two doctors in Trinidad who did FAA medicals, and I'm pretty sure they did TT medicals as well. They'd (almost) certainly do the exams concurrently, so you could theoretically update your FAA while meeting the TT requirement. I don't know what they'd charge for this. One (Stuart Millar) does TC medicals as well. Many (not me, yet) have FAA and TC certificates. You could possibly do a triple medical. I'd make sure I was in really good health before doing this, especially for the first time. :)

@ Rotorhead1026

Interesting, I've spoken to a lot of guys that have their FAA licence and they weren't exempt from any of the exams. Keep in mind these were guys that just obtained their CPL's (Fixed Wing). Rotary wing holders were exempt from alot more though (I forgot to mention that). I can't remember which they are exempt from though and how many.

Also, what i have heard from some pilots was that for a short time (I believe it was last year), there were no exams necessary for conversion of Licences to a TT CPL. This was done for a couple months but then they re-introduced the exams as they are now so essentially pilots who came back during that time simply paid the fee and were granted a Trinidad and Tobago CPL.

The list of medical examiners (total of 4 approved doctors for the TTCAA) were on the list I received and they are located in various areas so you can go to the closest one or whoever your preference may be.

This was for an ATP, and I've held the FAA ATP ticket since 1979. What our posts prove is that requirements do indeed change frequently.

No word on anyone getting interviews, or hearing back?

ATR interviews
 

x2

Have they started the interview process for the last advertisment for ATR pilots?

Has anyone been called for an interview?

From what i hear they'll conduct interviews at the end of November...a buddy of mine got an email saying he'd get one around that time as well.

CAL/AJ
 

There seems to be some movement for sure in T&T to gather its ATR and B767 FO/PIC. Thats great news, but what is happening with Air Jamaica. Have they forgotten about us?

Someone please post whats going on?