The Possibility of Tomorrow

As mentioned in a previous blog in February, I have always looked towards NetJets and FedEx as my end careers. Truthfully, I know I will be happy if I am simply in the industry. With that being said I have a goal but it is more dependent on whether I remain happy doing what I am doing with the life I choose to lead. My goals change with life as any person should and do. Tomorrow I could loose my vision and have to readjust my entire lifestyle or choose to strive for a more family oriented lifestyle than I originally was worked towards.  At this very moment I am looking for a career in one of those above-mentioned areas of the industry but have also prepared myself with knowledge in various areas of the industry as backups in case something falls through. 

On one side of the coin Net Jets offers a variety of flexibility excitement and ever-changing destination while the other side of the coin FedEx has a higher standard of living attached to more regular schedule. NetJets is the like the sports car of my reality while FedEx is that old caddy your grandma drives both dreams and what I push for each day but have a completely different feeling when you get behind the wheel.  NetJets is a highly respectable company with about 3,000 pilots total and about 500 furloughed.  NetJets has 13 different types of aircraft manufactured by Cessna, Gulfstream, Hawker, Falcon, and Phenom.  NetJets is constantly obtaining more aircraft for business. Currently they are supporting about 800 aircraft worldwide with destinations at over 2,000 airports.  Even though the company is not currently hiring they require 2500 hours total time with 500 hours in a fixed multiengine aircraft. The starting pay is about 60,000 annually and tops out at about 90,000 a year.

Currently FedEx is a highly looked upon company for its large profitability, growth, and advancement. FedEx flies a fleet of Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, and Airbus aircraft with 27 new 767-300ER’s on the way. They have the largest widebody fleet in the world. The hiring window just currently opened to obtain about 20 pilots a month in hopes of counteracting the mandatory retirements in the next twenty years, which averages over 150 a year. The minimums to apply include a Bachelor’s degree with 1500 fixed wing multiengine turbine. The starting pay is about 60 dollars an hour and caps at about 260 dollars an hour at 15 years. According to a little research in airline forums the average entry age as a FedEx pilot is mid to late 30’s, therefore the pilots have a few years under their belt before they are even eligible. The direct benefits of this position are a 401K with up to $500 matching/year with 150% pay rate on days off.  Many people view FedEx as a world leader in the industry by all means many pilots feel the same but as all jobs it’s a tad harry in the beginning and every job has its drawbacks to the lifestyle. We all want the ideal 9-5 job but frankly by the time I am mid forties I can guarantee you I will be feeling the same way but for now I am fighting for a chance and if it means the “grunge” work; those long boring night flights constantly dealing with cranky sleep deprived people I will take and always remember that life is a party and I will sleep when I’m dead as long it doesn’t cause my death! I look forward to the grueling flights of the future.

Current News on United-Continental Merge and American Bankruptcy

This blog acts as an update in correlation with the blog posted on February 3^rd entitled Mergers: The Mergered and the Merging. In the past two months there have been additions to the progress of the current merger United Continental Holdings, Inc. and the American Airlines bankruptcy.  Therefore please reference the previous blog if there are any ambiguous statements.

As discussed in the previous blog United Airlines and Continental Air Lines will become one single operation as United Continental Holdings.  The companies announced their merge in May 2010 and are in the process of receiving one single operating certificate from the FAA.  They have taken steps to merge the two separate airlines. In February there were reports the new paint scheme is on the ramps as well as the 100% code sharing of all flights.  Sadly Continental officially ended all complimentary snacks and meals in economy on domestic routes.

In March the computer systems were integrated to become one, maintaining a more previous continental approach for the management team and reservation system sectors. Critics show they are pleased from the consumer standpoint of the new reservation system, frequent flyers upgrades and prioritization system as well as the launch of the new website (United.com) which is very user friendly.  All continental sigs are in the process of being removed from the airports and the Continental flights have been recoded to United flights. March 3^rd marked the launch of a common boarding pass across all flights to eliminate confusion between Continental United and United Express customers.

In the past two months the company has also added some additional routes, new planes are being bought as the cabins are modernized with wireless Internet access.

 Although the companies seem to be expanding as one the Huffington Post published an interesting article about the merger highlighted some bumps in the road with quite colorful language. The article was entitled “United We Fall” The Merger Between Continental and United Off To A Shaky Start” The article stresses some concerns with United CEO, Jeff Smisek, and the choices he has made.  The article discusses the customer service flaws of Untied and the public opinion of Continental in the past two years which had a significant drop. In my previous blog I mentioned Smisek’s words of encouragement about the merge being a perfect marriage but the article goes about bashing Smiseks decisions with a comment of him driving the company to the ground. Although I feel this is a bit harsh we will wait and see what the future holds for this merger. Will they end up like Pinnacle declaring bankruptcy while in the middle of merging three different former companies?

Repercussions of American Airlines declaration of Bankruptcy

The CEO of AMR Corp, which operates American Airlines, announced in March that American is open to merging with another airline but not at this moment as they are undergoing bankruptcy restructuring.  American was granted a 6-month extension under this restructuring agreement. The Chicago Tribune posted an article about their plan to grow and not shrink as their restructuring plan projected to save the company $1.25 billion will only 13,000 job cuts. Later in the article the flight attendant who recently lost their composure was discussed also. The airlines are treating it as a medical issue, but the reality of the possibility of being unemployed could have put some undue stress on the situation previous to freak out. To read more please visit the Chicago Tribune website. In the last few weeks the influence and talk of US Airways merging with American has taken a whole new light as Americans discusses dropping labor contracts. US Airways has launched a new proposal trying to gain Americans interest in the battle to stay afloat through the bankruptcy.