Quick few questions on Porter's Halifax base. I did some searching around and found old articles saying there is about 80 employees there. Is that still accurate? Do all FO's start in Toronto? If so how long till you can call Halifax home?
Thanks

Most F/Os start at Toronto but potentially if your timing is right a spot could open up there - however you'd probably be behind others in the seniority list who would want to move there. Presently for pilots there are around 15-17 for each position.

You're foolish to be thinking about a job with Porter. Think of it as applying for a job on the Titanic.

No Quarter wrote:You're foolish to be thinking about a job with Porter. Think of it as applying for a job on the Titanic.

Can you elaborate why not porter?

What would you do if you had Jazz and 10 years on right seat, SR and all the pilots hating it, WJ encore and the ridiculous wages? You just wish you make it straight to the biggies...

saying there is about 80 employees there. Is that still accurate?

80 total employees between Flight Crew (30), Cabin Crew (30), Ramp, CSR's.

Do all FO's start in Toronto?

98% of the time, new FO's are hired into the YTZ base.
Porter currently has about 275 pilots across its 3 bases (YTZ, YOW, YHZ).
There is currently 15 Capt and 15 FO positions in YOW & YHZ.

Rumor has it that if/when the expansion goes well, YOW and YHZ might expand.
I know that if the numbers were, for example, to swell to 20, YOW would already be full with interested candidates.

If so how long till you can call Halifax home?

In the last 2.5 years there's been 4 FO's that moved to YOW. 3 permanent, and 1 temporary, filling a maternity leave.
These spots opened up due to the fact that 1 FO moved back to YTZ as part of a mutual base trade.
The other 2 was due to attrition.

As for YHZ, there was a temporary spot that opened up this summer.
Previous to this there was an open spot due to an upgrade that went unfilled in Apr 2013.
It was filled by a new hire in Oct 2013.

I believe almost all the FO's in YHZ were hired specifically for the base.

I believe almost all the FO's in YHZ were hired specifically for the base.

When they first opened up the YOW & YHZ bases over 3 years ago, people were given the opportunity to move out east.
Some people did, and the rest were hired in.
Since then, as mentioned, there has been few instances of people getting hired directly into YOW and/or YHZ.

Grey_Wolf wrote:

I believe almost all the FO's in YHZ were hired specifically for the base.

When they first opened up the YOW & YHZ bases over 3 years ago, people were given the opportunity to move out east.
Some people did, and the rest were hired in.
Since then, as mentioned, there has been few instances of people getting hired directly into YOW and/or YHZ.

Not really. In most cases those bases do not attract SR FO's, simply because the upgrade will be much longer compared to staying in TO. I believe the latest FO's who moved to YOW were all Junior. When YHZ opened I believe only two FO's bid for it, they're now YHZ captains. Since then only one FO has moved from YTZ to YHZ, the rest have been external hires. The YHZ base has had 0 attrition, only movement has been from expansion. IIRC

Thanks for replies! Appreciate it.

To the Porter guys, why was YUL not chosen as a base? Is there any intention or desire to open a base there in the future? Lots of Montreal-based guys would love to work there, but commuting is apparently not realistic.

One day man....one day...keep the faith!

Canadian Skyhawk wrote:To the Porter guys, why was YUL not chosen as a base? Is there any intention or desire to open a base there in the future? Lots of Montreal-based guys would love to work there, but commuting is apparently not realistic.

Commuting isn't realistic? There is something like 16 flights a day between YTZ and YUL. It doesn't get much more realistic for commuting.

justwork wrote:

Canadian Skyhawk wrote:To the Porter guys, why was YUL not chosen as a base? Is there any intention or desire to open a base there in the future? Lots of Montreal-based guys would love to work there, but commuting is apparently not realistic.

Commuting isn't realistic? There is something like 16 flights a day between YTZ and YUL. It doesn't get much more realistic for commuting.

Exactly. There's a flight almost hourly between ytz-yul, and there's a few FAs that commute. It's also one of the most frequent layovers. You could easily bid at least half your layovers there.

I am aware of the YUL-YTZ schedule. However, as a pilot officially based in YTZ, would you not be on call (i.e. 90 or 120 minutes to the gate) much of the time? How would this be possible from YUL? I am just trying to get a handle on how realistic flying for Porter would be for a junior FO living in YUL. How many nights a month would you realistically expect to sleep in your own bed? Thanks for the input.

Canadian Skyhawk wrote:I am aware of the YUL-YTZ schedule. However, as a pilot officially based in YTZ, would you not be on call (i.e. 90 or 120 minutes to the gate) much of the time? How would this be possible from YUL? I am just trying to get a handle on how realistic flying for Porter would be for a junior FO living in YUL. How many nights a month would you realistically expect to sleep in your own bed? Thanks for the input.

I would say as an FO you could expect an easy commuting schedule with little to 0 reserve in about 6 months or less. Then bid YUL overnights and get to go home every night. Officially the FOAG says no commuting, but unofficially people commute.

So is this a comment on the need for FO's in the YHZ base?
If so, where do I go to apply for that base in particular, because that would not be such a bad deal to me.

racer-pilot-rob wrote:So is this a comment on the need for FO's in the YHZ base?
If so, where do I go to apply for that base in particular, because that would not be such a bad deal to me.

These days, Porter only hires into the YTZ base, and as mentioned above, the HZ base is typically quite senior.