ground schools canceled

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tbaylx
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by tbaylx »

flyingpilot wrote: Tue Apr 25, 2023 2:17 pm Any further updates on ground schools?
Thanks
After monitoring our resignation rate we will not require a May course. We will reevaluate for June sometime in the next few weeks. We may run ad-hoc courses throughout the remainder of 2023 depending on attrition.
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Bil Derberg
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by Bil Derberg »

tbaylx wrote: Wed Apr 26, 2023 5:25 am
flyingpilot wrote: Tue Apr 25, 2023 2:17 pm Any further updates on ground schools?
Thanks
After monitoring our resignation rate we will not require a May course. We will reevaluate for June sometime in the next few weeks. We may run ad-hoc courses throughout the remainder of 2023 depending on attrition.
Any updates?
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tbaylx
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by tbaylx »

JungleRiot wrote: Wed May 10, 2023 1:25 pm
tbaylx wrote: Wed Apr 26, 2023 5:25 am
flyingpilot wrote: Tue Apr 25, 2023 2:17 pm Any further updates on ground schools?
Thanks
After monitoring our resignation rate we will not require a May course. We will reevaluate for June sometime in the next few weeks. We may run ad-hoc courses throughout the remainder of 2023 depending on attrition.
Any updates?
We aren't yet seeing the same rate of resignations we did last summer, so we won't need a June ground school. My best guess would be a potential late summer or early fall class at this point.
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flyinhigh
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by flyinhigh »

tbaylx wrote: Thu May 11, 2023 10:17 pm We aren't yet seeing the same rate of resignations we did last summer, so we won't need a June ground school. My best guess would be a potential late summer or early fall class at this point.
Or, the company realized they you need to pay bills and can no longer fund the aggressive growth so are reducing the amount of airframes planned, resulting in requiring less pilots. Shocker, business 101
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TC.Enforcement
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by TC.Enforcement »

flyinhigh wrote: Fri May 12, 2023 4:33 am
tbaylx wrote: Thu May 11, 2023 10:17 pm We aren't yet seeing the same rate of resignations we did last summer, so we won't need a June ground school. My best guess would be a potential late summer or early fall class at this point.
Or, the company realized they you need to pay bills and can no longer fund the aggressive growth so are reducing the amount of airframes planned, resulting in requiring less pilots. Shocker, business 101
@#$! people are dumb
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the_new_guy
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by the_new_guy »

flyinhigh wrote: Fri May 12, 2023 4:33 am
tbaylx wrote: Thu May 11, 2023 10:17 pm We aren't yet seeing the same rate of resignations we did last summer, so we won't need a June ground school. My best guess would be a potential late summer or early fall class at this point.
Or, the company realized they you need to pay bills and can no longer fund the aggressive growth so are reducing the amount of airframes planned, resulting in requiring less pilots. Shocker, business 101
Growth continues, 2 planes are joining the fleet in the next 3 months. Unfortunately since we saw 4 planes taken away in early March, the planes we added in the months since then and then those 2 other joining the fleet soon have added up, but not as much as we originally planned.

That being said, we will now have more planes on property than we did in early March before we lost 4 tails.

It had already been said early this year that we were not going to expand on schedule due to a variety of reasons (Boeing delivery issues, pilot shortage, training capability, etc) therefore reducing the number of aircraft to be added this year from 8 to 6. With the 2 aircraft joining soon, that will make it 5 delivered since January. We are also to receive another later this year (early winter if I'm not mistaken) which will make it 6 total.

So, we are not expanding as quickly as we planned for, but we are expanding. Was it not for the seizure of 4 planes earlier this year, by the end of the year this would have been a ~30% increase in fleet.

Next year we will be adding more planes also. I believe we are managing our expansion better as a direct result of March's events, and planning better. We also have a greater utilisation of our planes, and have reduced our expenses.

As a side note, our schedule is fully flown (except for the odd bird strike every now and again), planes are stacked full of passengers, OTP is really high (highest of any major airline in Canada).

It's not perfect, but things are good here at flair. I personally am looking forward to good times for the company, and seeing better quality of life and working conditions for our pilot group in the coming months and years.

Cheers, and support our westjet peers in the next few days and weeks if you can make it out there.
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SPR
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by SPR »

the_new_guy wrote: Mon May 15, 2023 7:24 am Growth continues, 2 planes are joining the fleet in the next 3 months. Unfortunately since we saw 4 planes taken away in early March, the planes we added in the months since then and then those 2 other joining the fleet soon have added up, but not as much as we originally planned.

That being said, we will now have more planes on property than we did in early March before we lost 4 tails...With the 2 aircraft joining soon, that will make it 5 delivered since January.
What aircraft have joined the fleet since the start of the year? The last aircraft registered to Flair was added to the register on Oct 31, 2022, and the total number of aircraft hasn't changed since the seizures.

https://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/saf-sec-sur/2/ ... hSimp.aspx

Those tails that were supposedly coming from Bonza never materialized.
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tbaylx
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by tbaylx »

SPR wrote: Mon May 15, 2023 9:30 pm
the_new_guy wrote: Mon May 15, 2023 7:24 am Growth continues, 2 planes are joining the fleet in the next 3 months. Unfortunately since we saw 4 planes taken away in early March, the planes we added in the months since then and then those 2 other joining the fleet soon have added up, but not as much as we originally planned.

That being said, we will now have more planes on property than we did in early March before we lost 4 tails...With the 2 aircraft joining soon, that will make it 5 delivered since January.
What aircraft have joined the fleet since the start of the year? The last aircraft registered to Flair was added to the register on Oct 31, 2022, and the total number of aircraft hasn't changed since the seizures.

https://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/saf-sec-sur/2/ ... hSimp.aspx

Those tails that were supposedly coming from Bonza never materialized.
Three aircraft that were delivered last fall but parked and were scheduled to be put into operation in April/May were activated in March. The next aircraft (Bonza) arrives as scheduled on June 12th and the next in late June. They haven't been delivered yet so aren't on the register.
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the_new_guy
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by the_new_guy »

SPR wrote: Mon May 15, 2023 9:30 pm
the_new_guy wrote: Mon May 15, 2023 7:24 am Growth continues, 2 planes are joining the fleet in the next 3 months. Unfortunately since we saw 4 planes taken away in early March, the planes we added in the months since then and then those 2 other joining the fleet soon have added up, but not as much as we originally planned.

That being said, we will now have more planes on property than we did in early March before we lost 4 tails...With the 2 aircraft joining soon, that will make it 5 delivered since January.
What aircraft have joined the fleet since the start of the year? The last aircraft registered to Flair was added to the register on Oct 31, 2022, and the total number of aircraft hasn't changed since the seizures.

https://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/saf-sec-sur/2/ ... hSimp.aspx

Those tails that were supposedly coming from Bonza never materialized.
I guess I should have been more precise. Like tbaylx said, those aircraft were waiting to be put in service. So what I should have said is that since the beginning of the year 3 planes joined the line. Now add the 2 that will soon follow and a further one more later in the year, totaling 6 tails joining the flight line.

So we will soon have more planes flying than what we had early March before the seizure.
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wingmaster
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by wingmaster »

tbaylx wrote: Tue Apr 11, 2023 9:35 am
pilotguy53 wrote: Tue Apr 11, 2023 8:45 am Does anyone have any updates on this one? Are we still looking at likely a 2024 resumption for ground school starts? TIA.
We are tentatively planning a May 23rd ground school to cover an increase in block hours per aircraft. Primarily YEG openings.
Any Ground school planned after May 23rd? reply will be greatly appreciated
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tbaylx
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by tbaylx »

wingmaster wrote: Thu May 18, 2023 10:36 am
tbaylx wrote: Tue Apr 11, 2023 9:35 am
pilotguy53 wrote: Tue Apr 11, 2023 8:45 am Does anyone have any updates on this one? Are we still looking at likely a 2024 resumption for ground school starts? TIA.
We are tentatively planning a May 23rd ground school to cover an increase in block hours per aircraft. Primarily YEG openings.
Any Ground school planned after May 23rd? reply will be greatly appreciated
None at this time. We are adequately crewed for the summer at this point.

I expect we'll likely run one or two ground schools later this year and monthly beginning again in early 2024.
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Tdicommuter
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by Tdicommuter »

Does that mean upgrades are still happening for people with less than 2 years in property? That sounds like slow upgrade times. Won't people be stuck on that first officer scale which was not improved?
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tbaylx
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by tbaylx »

Tdicommuter wrote: Sun May 28, 2023 6:45 pm Does that mean upgrades are still happening for people with less than 2 years in property? That sounds like slow upgrade times. Won't people be stuck on that first officer scale which was not improved?
Nope, upgrades are proceeding. Everyone on the property who is qualified has been offered the command upgrade program as of July 1st. We anticipate potentially hiring DEC's at the beginning of 2024 to support growth.
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co-joe
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by co-joe »

flyinhigh wrote: Fri May 12, 2023 4:33 am Or, the company realized they you need to pay bills and can no longer fund the aggressive growth so are reducing the amount of airframes planned, resulting in requiring less pilots. Shocker, business 101
Even if you were right about the money (which I believe is not the case), having growth slow down slightly has been highly, highly beneficial to the overall operation. Having been here a few years and experiencing some of the disorganization last year first hand, this year feels totally different. Problems are being identified and repaired more quickly, questions are being answered more quickly, and overall the operation is running far more smoothly than this time last year. Attrition is way down, the mood is amazing, the loads are huge, OTP is way up, and literally every aspect of life at Flair has improved tremendously since the repo man kicked us in the nuts. The only thing that's down is OT, because for the first time in two years we're fully staffed at every level of the operation, from FAs, to IFDs, to CSAs, ground ops, OCC, dispatch, the training department, and on and on.
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lament
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by lament »

co-joe wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 3:31 pmliterally every aspect of life at Flair has improved tremendously since the repo man kicked us in the nuts.
Ask the YXX crews how their lives are improving
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flyinhigh
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by flyinhigh »

That’s great to hear, that’s how an operation should operate and is directly attributed to the kick in the nuts. Haha

Only thing i’ll argue is the load factor. Even Jetsgo had great loads till the day they shut down. Doesn’t matter if you’re 100% with $1 fares. You still need to make money and in this market your barely getting by charging $50 a ticket.
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tbaylx
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by tbaylx »

flyinhigh wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 5:44 am That’s great to hear, that’s how an operation should operate and is directly attributed to the kick in the nuts. Haha

The only thing I’ll argue is the load factor. Even Jetsgo had great loads till the day they shut down. Doesn’t matter if you’re 100% with $1 fares. You still need to make money and in this market, your barely getting by charging $50 a ticket.
Ryan Air charges 1 Euro for a ticket and yet seems to be successful. Ticket prices aren't a reflection of profitability, much the same as load factors aren't. It's all about costs vs revenue. Ticket sales are only one part of revenue.

High load factors do demonstrate a high demand for the product however.
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by cdnavater »

tbaylx wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 10:40 am
flyinhigh wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 5:44 am That’s great to hear, that’s how an operation should operate and is directly attributed to the kick in the nuts. Haha

The only thing I’ll argue is the load factor. Even Jetsgo had great loads till the day they shut down. Doesn’t matter if you’re 100% with $1 fares. You still need to make money and in this market, your barely getting by charging $50 a ticket.
Ryan Air charges 1 Euro for a ticket and yet seems to be successful. Ticket prices aren't a reflection of profitability, much the same as load factors aren't. It's all about costs vs revenue. Ticket sales are only one part of revenue.

High load factors do demonstrate a high demand for the product however.
Ok, but if you were making money selling at a buck, you wouldn’t have had the issues you recently had requiring another bail out from you guardian angel and a scale back of growth, respectfully.
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SPR
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by SPR »

tbaylx wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 10:40 am Ryan Air charges 1 Euro for a ticket and yet seems to be successful.
No they don't:
The price of fuel has made those fares untenable, so is it not the same for Flair? In any case, Ryanair's regular fares are approximately the same as Flair's and their average stage length is just over an hour, so it makes sense that they can be profitable selling €100 tickets on short hops with each tail operating 10-12 legs per day. How does Flair make a profit selling $89 tickets between YKF and YVR that are four hours long and only have each tail fly 2-3 legs per day?
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by co-joe »

lament wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 6:29 pm
co-joe wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 3:31 pmliterally every aspect of life at Flair has improved tremendously since the repo man kicked us in the nuts.
Ask the YXX crews how their lives are improving
Probably the same as the Swoop pilots who were kicked out of YEG, or the Air Transat pilots in YVR... Life goes on. From what I hear all 16 YXX pilots will be just fine driving an extra few minutes to YVR.
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tbaylx
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by tbaylx »

SPR wrote: Sat Jun 03, 2023 9:45 am
tbaylx wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 10:40 am Ryan Air charges 1 Euro for a ticket and yet seems to be successful.
No they don't:
The price of fuel has made those fares untenable, so is it not the same for Flair? In any case, Ryanair's regular fares are approximately the same as Flair's and their average stage length is just over an hour, so it makes sense that they can be profitable selling €100 tickets on short hops with each tail operating 10-12 legs per day. How does Flair make a profit selling $89 tickets between YKF and YVR that are four hours long and only have each tail fly 2-3 legs per day?
The ULCC model is well documented. There is plenty of online reading material on how revenue/yield management works for a ULCC.
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by flying4dollars »

co-joe wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2023 5:07 am
lament wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 6:29 pm
co-joe wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 3:31 pmliterally every aspect of life at Flair has improved tremendously since the repo man kicked us in the nuts.
Ask the YXX crews how their lives are improving
Probably the same as the Swoop pilots who were kicked out of YEG, or the Air Transat pilots in YVR... Life goes on. From what I hear all 16 YXX pilots will be just fine driving an extra few minutes to YVR.
It's more than a few mins and there are a few senior skippers there that will feel that extra commute time. Especially the ones in Chilliwack and Sumas area. I feel for them but no, it's not the end of the world.
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TeePeeCreeper
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by TeePeeCreeper »

flying4dollars wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2023 10:26 am
co-joe wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2023 5:07 am
lament wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 6:29 pm

Ask the YXX crews how their lives are improving
Probably the same as the Swoop pilots who were kicked out of YEG, or the Air Transat pilots in YVR... Life goes on. From what I hear all 16 YXX pilots will be just fine driving an extra few minutes to YVR.
It's more than a few mins and there are a few senior skippers there that will feel that extra commute time. Especially the ones in Chilliwack and Sumas area. I feel for them but no, it's not the end of the world.
“A few minutes” lol! Someone’s never driven that stretch of road or hasn’t recently…

Although I agree with you flying4$’s, it’s a brutal change to their commute. I have family in Chilliwack and just the drive to YXX can be nightmarish during peak times. Having to drive further to YVR would force me to reconsider working for that employer or having to sell an already expensive property in the valley for an even more ridiculously expensive shoe box in the city…

TPC
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FlyGiep
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by FlyGiep »

So when are the next batch of A/C arriving exactly ?
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tbaylx
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Re: ground schools canceled

Post by tbaylx »

FlyGiep wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2023 10:11 am So when are the next batch of A/C arriving exactly ?
One June 12th, the crew are in SEA today completing the C1 flight. Next one in July sometime.
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