Smokin Posted February 24 Posted February 24 Seems unlikely unless they foresee a significant demand decrease. Mandatory retirements alone would drive hiring 75 a month for the next couple years to stay the same size.
SocialD Posted February 24 Posted February 24 I think Delta is stopping classes for the summer as well. They did up hiring from 500 back up to 800 but I think they've just found some efficiencies in the new contract.
tac airlifter Posted February 24 Posted February 24 19 hours ago, SurelySerious said: Someone woke the Italians up on the weekend? Impressive. I heard a passenger interview from an intercept once (not this one) & she was talking about how safe she felt once the fighter showed up. I don't think she understood what that presence indicates, but it's not passenger safety. 2 4
polcat Posted February 24 Posted February 24 2 hours ago, SocialD said: I think Delta is stopping classes for the summer as well. They did up hiring from 500 back up to 800 but I think they've just found some efficiencies in the new contract. The summer slowdown is normal for Delta. They do most of their hiring (aka indoc) in the 1st quarter in preparation for the busy summer.
Lord Ratner Posted February 24 Posted February 24 4 hours ago, Heavywanabe said: Where did you hear this? Pilot recruiting contact. 1
HeloDude Posted February 24 Posted February 24 18 hours ago, Lord Ratner said: Rumor mill is that American Airlines is halting new hire classes after March 4th. Well, last fall they publicly said they would hire 2K in 2025, then around the holidays it was said closer to 1500, then I think at the latest conference people were hearing closer to 1K-1.2K. Delta also went from around 1K, to 700-800, to a little over 500. BL: It’s not going to be some hiring boom year. If AA is going to pause new hire classes after a week, then those with original class dates afterwards will probably find out in the next 1-2 weeks, so we’ll know soon.
Heavywanabe Posted February 24 Posted February 24 1 hour ago, Lord Ratner said: Pilot recruiting contact. Interesting. I know guys in next week’s class that haven’t heard anything from recruiting about their class being canceled.
Lord Ratner Posted February 25 Posted February 25 On 2/23/2025 at 5:08 PM, Lord Ratner said: Rumor mill is that American Airlines is halting new hire classes after March 4th. 9 hours ago, Heavywanabe said: Interesting. I know guys in next week’s class that haven’t heard anything from recruiting about their class being canceled. *After*
Inertia17 Posted February 25 Posted February 25 It seems like they are trying to walk the line of having bodies in place in time for iron, and not having them sit waiting on Boeing and Airbus to unfornicate themselves. Here's hoping that happens sooner rather than later.
SpeedOfHeat Posted February 25 Posted February 25 19 hours ago, Lord Ratner said: Pilot recruiting contact. You posted this in September of last year: “AA now expecting to halt hiring for the next 18 months. 1300 pilot surplus, with plans to look into furloughs if that number hits 1,500. This is from the chief pilots behind closed doors, so take it with a grain of salt. But something has them spooked.” Is this “pilot recruiting contract” of yours just as reliable as “chief pilots behind closed doors?”
SocialD Posted February 25 Posted February 25 20 hours ago, polcat said: The summer slowdown is normal for Delta. They do most of their hiring (aka indoc) in the 1st quarter in preparation for the busy summer. Ya, we've done that nearly every year since I've been here. Just pointing at that AA isn't the only one doing this, so it could just be a slow down for an all hands on deck summer.
brabus Posted February 25 Posted February 25 Slight change of direction: near collision on runway at Midway. First 30 sec of this video is all you need to watch (and on mute): Don’t have time to listen to ATC audio. Good job on whoever recognized the issue and directed the SWA go around. 1
FUSEPLUG Posted February 25 Author Posted February 25 C'mon, this is pretty much the "bus full of nuns" scenario we've all received hundreds of time in the sim. Joking aside, great work by the crew. With all the other shit we worry about when landing at MDW, a biz jet crossing right into your rollout is never part of it. 1
kaputt Posted February 25 Posted February 25 3 hours ago, ClearedHot said: NetJet...yikes! Nice save SWA! That’s a FlexJet aircraft.
Lord Ratner Posted February 26 Posted February 26 11 hours ago, SpeedOfHeat said: You posted this in September of last year: “AA now expecting to halt hiring for the next 18 months. 1300 pilot surplus, with plans to look into furloughs if that number hits 1,500. This is from the chief pilots behind closed doors, so take it with a grain of salt. But something has them spooked.” Is this “pilot recruiting contract” of yours just as reliable as “chief pilots behind closed doors?” Hey bud, I don't know if you were paying attention but they opened up classes for a grand total of 2 months, and now they're shutting them down again. When I posted that they were publicly announcing 2,000 hires for 2025. That plan has utterly collapsed. Our vacancy bids have had 1/3 of the captain slots that they've had historically for the last 3 years. Southwest is firing people, spirit is imploding, Delta is pulling back their hiring, and American has reduced hiring by over 50% only 2 months into the year. Ups and FedEx? Ouch. Also more new aircraft orders are being cancelled or deferred. What exactly do you think is happening here? Honestly, it doesn't really matter to me. I'm not changing airlines and my seniority is not going anywhere surprising. But anybody looking for an airline job would do well to accept any job at any airline that offers a spot. Holding out for the dream airline light end up with no job at all. And it's way better to be furloughed than unemployed when the hiring does finally resume.
BFM this Posted February 26 Posted February 26 On 2/23/2025 at 7:08 PM, Lord Ratner said: Rumor mill is that American Airlines is halting new hire classes after March 4th. Confirmed: not true.
Lord Ratner Posted February 26 Posted February 26 (edited) 1 hour ago, BFM this said: Confirmed: not true. Excellent. From who? Obviously not a name or anything, but is it a recruit, interviewer, chief? I wanna find out why the recruiting guy is hearing otherwise. Edit: no one from the March classes has heard anything other than full-steam-ahead. I'll see if the indoc folks have heard anything. Also, we're still quite fat on pilots compared to the last 3 years, so it's odd they are hiring aggressively. I'd love to have another 2,000 pilots below me on the seniority list, but I'm not holding my breath. Edited February 26 by Lord Ratner
Lord Ratner Posted February 26 Posted February 26 Just now, di1630 said: Sim IPs at American yesterday / said they expected [emoji6][emoji[emoji6][emoji6]][emoji[emoji6][emoji6]]-k thru put of students in the training program this year. Some are probably a [emoji6] month backlog from last year’s pause. I have heard rumors k was an overshoot in new hires and that [emoji[emoji6][emoji6]][emoji[emoji6][emoji6]]-[emoji6][emoji[emoji6][emoji6]][emoji[emoji6][emoji6]] was more likely. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app This is the most unintentionally accurate portrayal of American Airlines forecasting ever posted 🤣😂 2
SpeedOfHeat Posted February 26 Posted February 26 (edited) 13 hours ago, Lord Ratner said: they opened up classes for a grand total of 2 months, and now they're shutting them down again. …….but are they? Your source is “rumor mill”? When I posted that they were publicly announcing 2,000 hires for 2025. That plan has utterly collapsed. We’re not even 2 months into 2025, and they’ve been running classes both months. So the plan has “utterly collapsed?” What are you talking about? Southwest is firing people, spirit is imploding, Delta is pulling back their hiring, and American has reduced hiring by over 50% only 2 months into the year. Ups and FedEx? Ouch. Also more new aircraft orders are being cancelled or deferred. What exactly do you think is happening here? DL just opened a new WB base and handed out 10.5% PS checks and have A350-1000’s on order. I think they’re doing just fine. Spirit is imploding. Yeah, it’s Spirit. AA “has reduced hiring 50%” ….according to who? UPS, “Ouch.” Didn’t they just get awarded a huge USPS contract? And they’re currently hiring. …Ouch what? FDX has been struggling since late ‘23 for a litany of reasons. LCCs and ULCCs are struggling. I heard the firings at Southwest were to trim executive/admin positions. On the pilot side, yes, their seniority movement and growth is currently stagnant. They are a 100% Boeing 737 fleet. No surprise, given the current circumstances with Boeing. You seem really spring-loaded to think the sky is falling. ETA: I see you asked the experts (i.e. Facebook) if anyone else has heard this rumor of yours and it’s a resounding No, no one else has heard that. lol. Edited February 26 by SpeedOfHeat
BFM this Posted February 26 Posted February 26 8 hours ago, Lord Ratner said: Excellent. From who? Obviously not a name or anything, but is it a recruit, interviewer, chief? I wanna find out why the recruiting guy is hearing otherwise. Edit: no one from the March classes has heard anything other than full-steam-ahead. I'll see if the indoc folks have heard anything. Also, we're still quite fat on pilots compared to the last 3 years, so it's odd they are hiring aggressively. I'd love to have another 2,000 pilots below me on the seniority list, but I'm not holding my breath. Scheduled indoc starts through the end of March. We’re fat right now. But our aircraft deliveries are finally starting to pick up again (aside from parked 321s getting new interiors approved). Our manning has already shown signs of stress during relatively minor weather events this winter. The Company got very lucky last year with only two landfall hurricanes and almost no plains storm events. If they bank on continued lackluster demand going into this summer, I’d offer that would be a risky play. 2
StoleIt Posted February 26 Posted February 26 AA traditionally shuts down the school house during peak summer months. I don't exactly recall when that usually starts but I wouldn't go into a full "sky is falling" panic just yet...even though, ironically, that also seems to happen every year when the summer push starts.
StoleIt Posted February 26 Posted February 26 20 hours ago, brabus said: Slight change of direction: near collision on runway at Midway. First 30 sec of this video is all you need to watch (and on mute): Don’t have time to listen to ATC audio. Good job on whoever recognized the issue and directed the SWA go around. Text book go-around. Great job on the SWA crew. Listening to the audio and the biz jet definitely was at fault. Dude had no SA on what runway he was blowing through. SWA2504 landing 31C, FLEXJET560 did the incursion. ATC audio (fast forward to 12 minutes): https://archive.liveatc.net/kmdw/KMDW-Gnd-Twr-Feb-25-2025-1430Z.mp3 Textual synopsis: https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/1iy89dc/audio_and_transcript_from_this_mornings_runway/ 1 1
Lord Ratner Posted February 26 Posted February 26 3 hours ago, BFM this said: Scheduled indoc starts through the end of March. We’re fat right now. But our aircraft deliveries are finally starting to pick up again (aside from parked 321s getting new interiors approved). Our manning has already shown signs of stress during relatively minor weather events this winter. The Company got very lucky last year with only two landfall hurricanes and almost no plains storm events. If they bank on continued lackluster demand going into this summer, I’d offer that would be a risky play. I hope you're right. Obviously it would be great for this train to keep on rolling forever. There really isn't a way to staff for weather events. At least not under the current business model of the airlines. That doesn't matter if you're American, Delta, or United, if one of your major hubs gets hit by bad weather, the next couple days are going to be a catastrophe. One of the few things I think the airlines are unfairly maligned for.
BFM this Posted February 26 Posted February 26 5 hours ago, Lord Ratner said: There really isn't a way to staff for weather events. At least not under the current business model of the airlines. That doesn't matter if you're American, Delta, or United, if one of your major hubs gets hit by bad weather, the next couple days are going to be a catastrophe. One of the few things I think the airlines are unfairly maligned for. Sure. Maybe. If you want to run a thin bench all year then carry the summer with PM, who am I to argue?
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