AirSprint Fleet Transition

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AirSprint HR
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Re: AirSprint Fleet Transition

Post by AirSprint HR »

Duukar wrote:If Air Sprint opened a Vancouver base I know a lot of guys on the south side here in YVR who are highly qualified and would jump ship to Air Sprint without hesitation. This includes me.

Duukar
There will likely be a Vancouver base at some point in the future but nothing imminent. There are quite a few pilots internally who would like to see it as well.

Thanks,

AirSprint HR
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burninggoats
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Re: AirSprint Fleet Transition

Post by burninggoats »

Funny, I had someone ask me just the other day why it's so rare for an airline guy to go back to a 703/704 or corporate gig... And I think that guy and his attitude basically summed it up perfectly.
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Cobra64
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Re: AirSprint Fleet Transition

Post by Cobra64 »

AirSprint HR wrote:
the AK wrote:I interviewed there about 6 months ago and walked out hoping to never hear from them. They have some type of schedule but said that they would move your days off at any point if it was operationally necessary. Overtime would be payed but it was no where near enough to compensate even concert tickets. What I took from it was that they are fine with having their pilots on perpetual call. I understand that this is part of the charter job, but with fractional ownership it means that instead of just one owner who might fly his jet 200 a year they where flying 450 to 500. Flying that much when on call constantly is a nightmare especially when you factor in wait and return trips as well as the general disorganization of charter flying. You wouldn't be able to have any life and forget about a wife let alone kids. I have 2 friends who fly for Chartwright and another that flies for Air Partners, all of them were horrified when I told them what the "schedule" was. It got worse from there unfortunately, I was interviewing for a Capt spot on one of thier jets and was told that the starting pay wasn't 80 grand but 70 if you had less then 100 hours on a citation. I was sitting there listening to them justify this reduced pay and laughing to myself. They said when they dumped the PC-12's and moved those Capts over the jet it caused a bit of a stir with the jet guys because these new Capts did have any jet time so to smooth it over they agreed that flying a straight wing light jet around is so difficult that they would bump the pay down by 10 grand until the new caps had apparently proven themselves by surviving 100 hours on the jet. Here I am sitting with just under 10 000 hours, 9000 PIC, 8500 multi PIC and thinking to myself only some high level astronaut reincarnation of the red baron could possibly land a citation off an ILS onto a 6000 foot runway. I asked them what the level of experience was with the first officers. Their CP got defensive then and said that they were all excellent pilots and he would have no problem putting them in the left seat. So why then was I being interviewed for a Capt spot if he had all these guys already with the company? He then went onto talk about the 5 or 7 Airsprints values that the company has. Apparently they are on the website that I had neglected to even look at. Don't get me wrong it wasn't a total waste of an hour of my life because the secretary was well put together and the interview itself had some comedic value in that I had something to laugh about with my pilot friends for the next two weeks. I did leave with an overwhelming sense of thanks for being able to go back to my 705 cpat spot that actually has a schedule.
So where to begin... Just finishing vacation and will keep it short.

- We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per year flying pilots on the airlines so they are home for their days off. Very rarely, someone works on one of their days off. We pay (annual salary / 2080 x 12) if that occurs.
-There is a 10% reduction from salary scale until a pilot achieves either 500 hours total jet time or 250 hours jet PIC (jet type does not matter), whichever comes first. So basically if you have never flown a jet, this will apply for 6 to 12 months.
- With the PC12 fleet, our hiring minimums were less than they are now. As such, we have a lot of highly capable pilots with under 3000 hours. We have set minimums for hour experience which is the reason for looking externally. We really would prefer to not hire direct-entry Captains and for many years we didn't. We will get back to those days but the fleet transition has made this a short term issue.

Regards,

AirSprint HR

@ AirSprint HR, consider yourself lucky that you didn't hire a guy who doesn't know what a paragraph is!
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the AK
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Re: AirSprint Fleet Transition

Post by the AK »

The company I currently work for isn't unionized and does about 40% charter and 60% sked work and is able to still pump out a schedule for its pilots every month. I'm sure Air Sprint does spend a large amount of money on airline tickets for their pilots. I'm also sure that they only spend that money if the amount is less than the cost of a hotel room + overtime pay. I can't fault them for that because it's good business to do that. Lets be clear on one thing, we all do this for the money. If companies stopped paying their employees the love of aviation would be quickly replace the financial reality of necessity. For me the money they were offering wasn't on par with the work, simple as that. Everyone is different and well I can't speak at all to Air Sprint's ability to retain pilots past 3 years (I honestly don't know) I have seen it at other companies. Once you start missing weddings, birthdays, holidays, etc because "sorry a trip came up and we need you to fly" it wears thin rather quickly. After over 12 years doing this I can read between the lines and see what the reality is and more importantly if that will work for me. It's their company and how they wish to operate it is entirely up to them, but don't expect me to work there.
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AirSprint HR
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Re: AirSprint Fleet Transition

Post by AirSprint HR »

the AK wrote: I'm sure Air Sprint does spend a large amount of money on airline tickets for their pilots. I'm also sure that they only spend that money if the amount is less than the cost of a hotel room + overtime pay.
You would be incorrect on the second part. It is very important to us that people don't miss the weddings/events/etc. You are correct that there is an economic argument involved. That argument is that the cost associated with employee happiness (airline tickets, bidding system) is less than the cost associated with pilot attrition. I hear what you are saying, and we were much closer to the scenario you described 10 years ago, but today what you have written is not accurate.

Regards,

AirSprint HR
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AirSprint HR
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Re: AirSprint Fleet Transition

Post by AirSprint HR »

the AK wrote:The company I currently work for isn't unionized and does about 40% charter and 60% sked work and is able to still pump out a schedule for its pilots every month. I'm sure Air Sprint does spend a large amount of money on airline tickets for their pilots. I'm also sure that they only spend that money if the amount is less than the cost of a hotel room + overtime pay. I can't fault them for that because it's good business to do that. Lets be clear on one thing, we all do this for the money. If companies stopped paying their employees the love of aviation would be quickly replace the financial reality of necessity. For me the money they were offering wasn't on par with the work, simple as that. Everyone is different and well I can't speak at all to Air Sprint's ability to retain pilots past 3 years (I honestly don't know) I have seen it at other companies. Once you start missing weddings, birthdays, holidays, etc because "sorry a trip came up and we need you to fly" it wears thin rather quickly. After over 12 years doing this I can read between the lines and see what the reality is and more importantly if that will work for me. It's their company and how they wish to operate it is entirely up to them, but don't expect me to work there.
I will add one comment about your interview experience, and I should clarify that I am speaking in general as I do not know who you are and had nothing to do with the interview. Our experience with people coming from the 705 world is that a high percentage don't really know what they are applying for when it comes to flight certainty and client interaction, which is obviously less than ideal. This is strictly an observation and not a judgement as we have had a number of former 705 pilots excel with us over the years. To help identify this potential issue, we often provide examples of the worst possible scenarios that a pilot could experience at AirSprint in the interview process to see the reaction from the applicant. I suspect that this was your experience and as such the interview accomplished it's mission: for both parties to determine if the fit for employment is best.

Regards,

AirSprint HR
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Fly By Magic
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Re: AirSprint Fleet Transition

Post by Fly By Magic »

Thanks for being so transparent Air Sprint! It's a pleasure!

Just curious on the hiring situation for the future?

Would love to be part of your great operation so we could prove all this negativity wrong!

Safe Flights!

Cheers!
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AirSprint HR
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Re: AirSprint Fleet Transition

Post by AirSprint HR »

Fly By Magic wrote:Thanks for being so transparent Air Sprint! It's a pleasure!

Just curious on the hiring situation for the future?

Would love to be part of your great operation so we could prove all this negativity wrong!

Safe Flights!

Cheers!
Happy to do it. Not sure of the hiring situation for the next few months. As you know there is some uncertainty out there right now. We will likely be a little cautious over the next few months. I'll post on here and LinkedIn when we are hiring next.

Regards,

AirSprint HR
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JohnnyHotRocks
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Re: AirSprint Fleet Transition

Post by JohnnyHotRocks »

Fly By Magic wrote:Thanks for being so transparent Air Sprint! It's a pleasure!

Just curious on the hiring situation for the future?

Would love to be part of your great operation so we could prove all this negativity wrong!

Safe Flights!

Cheers!
First post and already kissing ass! Lol
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loopa
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Re: AirSprint Fleet Transition

Post by loopa »

JohnnyHotRocks wrote:
Fly By Magic wrote:Thanks for being so transparent Air Sprint! It's a pleasure!

Just curious on the hiring situation for the future?

Would love to be part of your great operation so we could prove all this negativity wrong!

Safe Flights!

Cheers!
First post and already kissing ass! Lol
I got no bone in this, but clearly the guy/gal is simply excited and is hoping to get on with a carrier they are interested in working for. I can't see how one would be successful in the job screening kissing the ass of HR with an anonymous name on an internet forum. Kind of like using a scissors to split rock! I am also impressed with Air Sprint's transparency about the operation, and I have no interest in working there as the corporate life probably isn't for me. I may try it one day, who knows!

Keep your eye on the prize FBM.
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AWOS
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Re: AirSprint Fleet Transition

Post by AWOS »

I know it has already been said many times before, but I really respect AirSprint's transparency. I've worked places where I can't even get a simple answer from my own employer. It'd be nice to see other companies live up to the standard that AirSprint has set here.
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floats4fun
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Re: AirSprint Fleet Transition

Post by floats4fun »

AirSprint HR,


Does AirSprint still operate out of CYKF at all or has everything moved over to CYYZ?
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AirSprint HR
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Re: AirSprint Fleet Transition

Post by AirSprint HR »

floats4fun wrote:AirSprint HR,


Does AirSprint still operate out of CYKF at all or has everything moved over to CYYZ?
Our operations are now based at YYZ. We have a few pilots that still live in the YKF area but they are based at YYZ.

Regards,

AirSprint HR
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Ex99guy
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Re: AirSprint Fleet Transition

Post by Ex99guy »

I will add one comment about your interview experience, and I should clarify that I am speaking in general as I do not know who you are and had nothing to do with the interview. Our experience with people coming from the 705 world is that a high percentage don't really know what they are applying for when it comes to flight certainty and client interaction, which is obviously less than ideal. This is strictly an observation and not a judgement as we have had a number of former 705 pilots excel with us over the years. To help identify this potential issue, we often provide examples of the worst possible scenarios that a pilot could experience at AirSprint in the interview process to see the reaction from the applicant. I suspect that this was your experience and as such the interview accomplished it's mission: for both parties to determine if the fit for employment is best.
I have to love the transparency that AirSprint is providing but I find it hard to believe they provide their employees with this much "transparency". Assuming their "close to single type fleet" it's easy to cover someone when their off request comes up but at other companies where the fleet isn't so "black and white"'I encourage extreme caution. Time off is as rare as it is to get one of these jobs in the field. Corporate can be some of the best jobs out there but make sure your position can be covered. I have known guys that have been denied time off for funerals because it's hard to find contractors for their position.

Just my 2 cents
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Everyman
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Re: AirSprint Fleet Transition

Post by Everyman »

You make a good point about time off which is a rare commodity at AirSprint. They are very proud of their “bid” schedule however it isn’t much of a bid when guys literally get 0% of their bid fulfilled. That’s right 0% satisfaction, which means there is no schedule there.

The “transparency” that everyone seems to praise them for is just lipstick. But I assure you; under that lipstick is a pig. Coming on Avcanada and spouting off an idealistic and fictional version of the job is not transparency, folks.

Reading between the lines I notice a number of first time posters being critical of AirSprint. Perhaps some of those posters are doing so in an effort to remain anonymous from the company while putting the warning out there. Perhaps they want to remain anonymous because the company has a tendency to be punitive with employees they dislike. My advice is to heed the warnings.
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AirSprint HR
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Re: AirSprint Fleet Transition

Post by AirSprint HR »

Everyman wrote:You make a good point about time off which is a rare commodity at AirSprint. They are very proud of their “bid” schedule however it isn’t much of a bid when guys literally get 0% of their bid fulfilled. That’s right 0% satisfaction, which means there is no schedule there.

The “transparency” that everyone seems to praise them for is just lipstick. But I assure you; under that lipstick is a pig. Coming on Avcanada and spouting off an idealistic and fictional version of the job is not transparency, folks.

Reading between the lines I notice a number of first time posters being critical of AirSprint. Perhaps some of those posters are doing so in an effort to remain anonymous from the company while putting the warning out there. Perhaps they want to remain anonymous because the company has a tendency to be punitive with employees they dislike. My advice is to heed the warnings.

Edited... I'll go back to just answering questions again.

Regards,

James
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Last edited by AirSprint HR on Thu Sep 24, 2015 12:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Everyman
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Re: AirSprint Fleet Transition

Post by Everyman »

Hi James

Respectfully, there is a reason I didn’t address my posts to you, I addressed them to the general masses that may be reading this and believing that all the positivity indicated in this thread reflect the environment of AirSprint. Part of why I did not address my posts to you is because I knew that you would justify the shortcomings rather than address them. There is a common joke among line pilots, “Oh you say you are unhappy and over-worked? Well, I have an excel spreadsheet that says otherwise.” The point being, while I don’t know the numbers and percentages, I can tell you that people frequently talk about their low bid satisfaction numbers and that regardless of those numbers they feel exhausted, overworked and under-appreciated. But, as the joke goes, you have a spreadsheet to prove that incorrect. In line with that sentiment is that feeling that voicing concerns could have negative consequences. One does not want to end up on the “shit list” which would result in less desirable scheduling among other things. Hence, the phone call-ins are ineffective. You have a mute pilot group on the other end of the line, many of whom are thinking the same thing but afraid to speak up.

You worked hard to justify the expense associated with the “bid” as a way to improve the quality of the lives of the pilots. Most of us see that justification for what it actually is. We understand that no such decisions are made without the consideration of the bottom line. But the bottom line works in this case. The “bid” has allowed you to crew more effectively eliminating the need for additional pilots on salary. The salary savings improve the bottom line and justify the associated expenses. The result, unfortunately, is not an improvement of the quality of life for the pilots, but quite the opposite. We are all worked a little harder as the company runs a little leaner. I’m not suggesting that this is bad business, I’m just trying to dent the image that suggests AirSprint is concerned about pilot happiness.

One more thought which I believe strikes the core of the issue. I never asked you to be a “scheduled airline”, I never compared you to one or expected you to act like one or even mentioned airlines. You mentioned that several times which I think says a lot. You have people working for you who do not want to work for an airline. Some of us are not interested in that side of the industry. But in my opinion you fail to see this, you believe that people will move on regardless of what you do so you take advantage of us while you can. With a few relatively small improvements AirSprint could be the career company that you try to portray. But it has to be a people first mentality. You have to actually care about your people, not just claim to in order to lure them in and hold them down as long as you can.
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AirSprint HR
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Re: AirSprint Fleet Transition

Post by AirSprint HR »

Everyman wrote:Hi James

Respectfully, there is a reason I didn’t address my posts to you, I addressed them to the general masses that may be reading this and believing that all the positivity indicated in this thread reflect the environment of AirSprint. Part of why I did not address my posts to you is because I knew that you would justify the shortcomings rather than address them. There is a common joke among line pilots, “Oh you say you are unhappy and over-worked? Well, I have an excel spreadsheet that says otherwise.” The point being, while I don’t know the numbers and percentages, I can tell you that people frequently talk about their low bid satisfaction numbers and that regardless of those numbers they feel exhausted, overworked and under-appreciated. But, as the joke goes, you have a spreadsheet to prove that incorrect. In line with that sentiment is that feeling that voicing concerns could have negative consequences. One does not want to end up on the “shit list” which would result in less desirable scheduling among other things. Hence, the phone call-ins are ineffective. You have a mute pilot group on the other end of the line, many of whom are thinking the same thing but afraid to speak up.

You worked hard to justify the expense associated with the “bid” as a way to improve the quality of the lives of the pilots. Most of us see that justification for what it actually is. We understand that no such decisions are made without the consideration of the bottom line. But the bottom line works in this case. The “bid” has allowed you to crew more effectively eliminating the need for additional pilots on salary. The salary savings improve the bottom line and justify the associated expenses. The result, unfortunately, is not an improvement of the quality of life for the pilots, but quite the opposite. We are all worked a little harder as the company runs a little leaner. I’m not suggesting that this is bad business, I’m just trying to dent the image that suggests AirSprint is concerned about pilot happiness.

One more thought which I believe strikes the core of the issue. I never asked you to be a “scheduled airline”, I never compared you to one or expected you to act like one or even mentioned airlines. You mentioned that several times which I think says a lot. You have people working for you who do not want to work for an airline. Some of us are not interested in that side of the industry. But in my opinion you fail to see this, you believe that people will move on regardless of what you do so you take advantage of us while you can. With a few relatively small improvements AirSprint could be the career company that you try to portray. But it has to be a people first mentality. You have to actually care about your people, not just claim to in order to lure them in and hold them down as long as you can.
Edited... I'll go back to answering questions specifically.

Regards,

James
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Last edited by AirSprint HR on Thu Sep 24, 2015 12:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
loopa
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Re: AirSprint Fleet Transition

Post by loopa »

Sounds to me that there's a disconnect between what "seems" like the pilot group, and how management sees things. I don't think you can make everyone happy at any company, but if the majority feel the same as Everyman, perhaps this transparent and what seems like involved management group should address their employees concerns internally instead of on avcanada. In my hopes, I'd like to think that Everyman is able to approach James in person and get his feelings about Air Sprint validated and acknowledged without any real punitive reimbursements. Hopefully in the case of Everyman's integrity, this isn't about you and a few of your buddies at work circumvent similar feelings to have something to bitch about, but rather a generic and very real impression of what the majority feel is the case at ASP. In which case, I hope James - you can address this and hold onto your valuable employees. Obviously no management group wants to ever feel like employees are in charge of dictating company operations/policies; but I think working with them to address their issues would no doubt be better for morale, and financially speaking right? Attrition can't be cheap; even with a 36k bond.

I have heard of people leaving ASP from captain positions making over 100k/yr for the airlines mainly for the schedule, even though they weren't overly enthusiastic to fly for the airlines. I'm sure James can speak to this more than I can, but if it is true - there should be better dialogue between the groups. I think everyone appreciates James' hard work and bringing about new systems, but it's like achieving goals. Once you achieve a goal, you move onto the next to make things better. You can't keep one or two great accomplishments on a pedestal and expect to evolve as a company.

Best of luck to both sides either way. So far - ASP does seem very different in their transparency than other places. Keep it up.
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Re: AirSprint Fleet Transition

Post by AirSprint HR »

I've been asked a few questions recently about the actual schedule bid satisfaction results. I have attached a summary of the results since we started it a year ago. It details the satisfaction score (what you received compared to the best that you could get based on the system rules) of each pilot per month, as well as the average scores. Of note, Block 11 was a bad month for the CJ2+ Captains (top group) as we granted too much vacation and had too many people on recurrent training at the same time. Our system is set up though so that if you have a bad score one month, you usually get what you want the following month.

Regards,

James
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