Life for a new 737 F/O isn't bad at all. The issue is getting through that first 18 months of low wages, a problem that seems to plague airlines in Canada. It's almost as if they treat it as an apprentice job for the first few years despite the fact that they hire people with years of experience. Right now months 1-18 take home about $1500 every two weeks after tax and before perdiems. Perdiems vary depending on what pairings you are doing, its a TAFB system..figure $500/month ish on the Boeing. At 18 months the take home goes up $1000/month, and another $500/month 6 months after that. Essentially you suffer for 18 months, but by the end of your second year the pay is in the $70K a year range.KenoraPilot wrote:Just wondering what life is like as a newbie 737 F/O. I currently live in YYC and would love to get YYC basing, but is it possible to commute to YEG on a low seniority number? I really don't have any intention of moving to YEG. How about the pay ($3700/mth gross), what do you take home every 2 weeks after taxes before per diem? Average hours of flying a year? Is it over all a good place to work? People happy? Just wanting to get a pulse on the place, because doesn't seem like there is much conversation about it. Does anyone think layoffs will happen at Canadian North with this First Air take over?
I really appreciate the information, thank you!
Cheers
KP
I would guess around 600 hours/year of actual flying time, depending on what pairings you do. If you were trying to commute from YYC it's certainly doable if you don't mind some driving. You can try and ask for multi day trips to avoid the one day pairings in YEG. Out scheduling system is very archaic, and not at all sophisticated so it make it a bit more difficult as we are only able to bid for days off. We live in hope that we eventually get a decent computerized bid system. At the moment our Calgary Base is expanding, so there are positions opening up for internal movement there all the time. No idea how long it would take you before you could be based there though. I don't know of any other airline that you can be at home as much if that is what you desire. Plenty of one day pairings that get you home almost every night. A good variety of flying if you're looking for multi day layovers as well.
The million dollar question is IF the 7F buyout happens how it will affect both companies. Lets put it this way, I've never heard of a merger that has gone well for pilots. Someone is always unhappy. There are the types at both companies that just want to get themselves ahead at the expense of the other group, but at the end of the day if we can't come up with a reasonable solution to both groups an arbitrator will, and I view that as a failure of professionals to act like one. Not sure at all if it would involve layoffs, at the moment I can say we are short pilots and expanding/hiring so I would suspect that will continue for awhile, merger or not. Your guess is as good as mine, and many of us would like the same answers. No information at all is forthcoming from the company though, only rumors making people nervous.
Overall most people are happy here. There are some issues, like with any airline. The people you work with are great, the flying is interesting and challenging. If you're looking for exotic layover destinations in the sun, flying shiny new equipment then this isn't the place for you. Some pilots treat this as a stepping stone to get on with WJ or AC. I argue that is shortsighted and that its a career airline once you get in the left seat of the Boeing, however some pilots want for whatever reasons to cross multiple time zones in the middle of the night flying wide body aircraft for a 24 hour layyover somewhere "exotic" only to spend most of the time sleeping in a hotel in order to turn around and come back the other way. How long an upgrade here takes really depends on the state of the economy and the 7F merger though. If the upgrades slow down there will need to be an increase in the F/O pay scales at the upper end in order to keep guys here longer term in my opinion.