How many Jazz pilots took LOA to work at Sunwing

[Gilles Hudicourt]

I've been hearing that Jazz has been granting LOA this winter and that a number of Jazz pilots are taking this opportunity to go work at Sunwing as winter seasonal pilots.

If confirmed , this would be a great turn of events.

How many Jazz pilots have actually taken a LOA and how many of those have applied/been hired as seasonal pilots at Sunwing ?

Gilles

[TrailerParkBoy]

I cannot say any were granted LOAs to go to Sunwing, however, I do know that some quit Jazz to go to Sunwing full time!

[truedude]

I don't know the number of LOA's that were granted, but I can confirm that some of the pilots who were granted LOA's have taken seasonal positions with SunWing. Seems to be something that works well for everyone.

[Gilles Hudicourt]

So does Jazz have much more flying in the summer than in winter?

[47north]

So does Jazz have much more flying in the summer than in winter?

Yes there is an imbalance between the summer and winter schedule. That's why the Thomas Cook flying worked out well from a crewing perspective.

Maybe AT and Jazz should explore a pilot interchange for the winter months. Would make both companies more efficient and better than contracting foreign pilots to do the work.

[Gilles Hudicourt]

How many excess pilots are we talking about ? Jazz did no seasonal lay offs as far as I know, so they just bit the bullet and kept the pilots on board during winter months.

I heard of rumors of a Jazz/Sunwing agreement on pilot sharing this winter but am unable to get confirmation. I am getting conflicting information.

Some Jazz pilots told me they knew about it but when they applied to Sunwing they were turned down.
I heard that other Jazz pilots wanted to go work at Sunwing as seasonal pilots but had their LOA turned down by Jazz. Some went anyway so basically quit. Others decided to stay put, not willing to quit a full time job for a seasonal one.
Some pilots know about the deal, other insiders tell me they have never heard of it

What is really going on ?

I have a feeling this is being kept hush hush........ and I think I know why.<

I think that an Air Transat/Jazz pilot sharing scheme is a great idea for the 2014/2015 season should we require additional seasonal pilots.

Gilles

[mbav8r]

Gilles,
I know of one Captain for sure who has an LOA and went to Sunwing. As for how many were given out, I have not seen anything in writing so your guess would be as good as mine. My understanding is that we have a surplus of Captains and a shortage of FOs, so our MEC and the company came up with a short term solution to allow surplus Captains to be assigned FO flying during the monthly bid as well as on reserve.
When we get the forecasted summer 2014 flying, if there is still a surplus of Captains, I suspect there will be downgrades and no need to hire for FO positions, of course that is unless we continue to lose FOs to other companies.
Also, it is my understanding that no FO LOAs were approved, so some quit and took seasonal spots at Sunwing, hoping for it to turn full time.
I'm very curious about this,

I have a feeling this is being kept hush hush........ and I think I know why

PM me if you don't want to speculate out loud.
Cheers

[Gilles Hudicourt]

My hush hush speculation did not concern Jazz...... but another company whose business plan would not allow it admit there were qualified pilots in Canada if the even if the said pilots all camped out on their front lawn........

[tdp19]

LOA's apparently were rewarded solely on type of airplane/bas
you flew and if they were heavy or not on that airplane for winter months. I know of three pilots forsure on loa to sunwing, i think the actual # on loa to sunwing is between 7-10

[scooby]

Does anyone know roughly how many excess Captains there currently are?

[mbav8r]

I believe it was in the neighborhood of 30.

[rudder]

I've been hearing that Jazz has been granting LOA this winter and that a number of Jazz pilots are taking this opportunity to go work at Sunwing as winter seasonal pilots.

If confirmed , this would be a great turn of events.

How many Jazz pilots have actually taken a LOA and how many of those have applied/been hired as seasonal pilots at Sunwing ?

Gilles

In the spring of 2013 when SW posted permanent vacancies approximately 6 pilots left Jazz for permanent employment at SW. In the fall of 2013 when SW posted seasonal vacancies approximately 12 Jazz pilots accepted positions.

You are correct that this appears to be a perfect scenario for a formal crew interchange agreement between Canadian companies but no such arrangement exists anywhere yet. Hopefully that will change if not at SW then perhaps at AT.

[indieadventurer]

Also, it is my understanding that no FO LOAs were approved, so some quit and took seasonal spots at Sunwing, hoping for it to turn full time.

I know one FO who got his LOA for Sunwing.

[scooby]

Any word on hiring for the new year?

[Gilles Hudicourt]

If Sunwing and Jazz had signed an agreement where Jazz would agree to provide Leave of Absence to 100 pilots from Nov 1 to April 30th to go work at Sunwing, this would allow Sunwing to no longer have to import foreign pilots. They would train the 100 to 130 pilots on the 737, let them go back to Jazz for the summer season and would come back to Sunwing the following winter with their 737 rating still valid.
This would be a win/win/win situation for Sunwing, Jazz and Canadian pilots.

Now I have a couple questions to Jazz pilots about that scenario:

1) Could Jazz spare that many pilots in the winter ? Could the flying that needs to be done in the winter be done by the remaining pilots ?
2) Would Jazz pilots have the incentive to do that? It would involve changing aircraft types twice a year and maintaining currency on two types.

[TrailerParkBoy]

I just have to say that Air Canada didn't like Jazz flying charters for Thomas Cook, and would guess that sharing resources with ACs competition would ruffle some feathers!

[teacher]

That seems like a lot of pilots to spare, not sure what the numbers would have to be to make it work. I'm sure it would ruffle some feathers at AC HOWEVER this is not an economic agreement that would be bad for AC. Getting people off Jazz's payroll would actually help keep costs down I'm sure. I can't remember how big the 757 roster was but I'm guessing a total of 60 or so pilots maybe a little more.

[biatch]

73 pilots at its peak

[razorblade]

@scooby - way to change the topic, buddy. Post in the appropriate thread, please.

[av8ts]

Well lets see...first Jazz did Thomas Cook flying in competition with AC (and deadheaded crews on Westjet just to rub some salt in that wound). And Jazz has taken AC to court at least twice that i know of....I'm guessing theirs no feathers left to ruffle.