1. Long duty days - average 12-13hrs, most days
2. Short overnights - 10-12hrs, occasionally you get a little more
3. Start early on day one, get home late on your last day
4. Management is extremely vindictive & petty, esp. to the senior pilots, they have also began intimidating junior pilot
5. They'll ask you to fly with broken items, they will not push back if you say no, however, you may get questioned at a later date in a formal setting
6. Low base wages, a significant part of you income is variable; if you're not actively flying your paychecks will be significantly less, this is by design, to keep you working hard
7. Duty days - 100% variable and so are your start times. One day you'll have a 5am show, and 12hrs of duty, and another day you'll have a 1pm show and 12hrs of duty. There his no consistency
8. Facade - Looks great from the outside, falling apart on the inside
9. Very limited growth opportunities for employees/almost non existent
* Additional Duties *
Besides being a pilot, here are your additional duties on a non attendant fleet - F/O Greet the passengers, load their bags, gather their catering, brief them, serve them, clean up after them (cabin, lav, restock catering). CPT Greet the passengers, identify their luggage, verify their identity, verify their itinerary, help load bags, help with catering, help with boarding and deplaning, and occasionally help with cleaning the aircraft.
* Organizational Strategy - Make a profit on everything *
The company charges the owners a premium on top of a premium for the services provided, the company in turns pay their pilots 50-60% less over a career for doing 50-60% more work than their airline counterparts.
They sell everything at a premium, however, they get and want everything at a bargain value.
Aircraft - They purchase aircrafts in bulk at a much lower price, then sells them to owners at a higher price. (making a profit)
Hotels - They negotiate hotels prices in bulk, base on volume, they want everything, guaranteed rooms at the lowest guaranteed price, risk free cancellation policy, shuttle service, etc. (making a profit because they're not paying market rate)
Crews - They want the best and the brightest with the most experience, yet they pay them 50-60% less over a career. Bargain Value. (making a profit)
Maintenance - Same strategy, bargain value with vendors and maintenance staff. In an effort to get maintenance to sign their contract they threatened to relocate the maintenance base.
Crew Food - Same strategy, bargain value with vendors
Dispatchers - Same strategy, bargain value
Flight attendants - Same strategy, bargain value, dirty politics and intimidation to get them to sign their contract
This company is not a true corporate aviation company, it is an airline with private jets. You will travel to cool places, but you will rarely have time to enjoy said places. Average overnights are 10-12hrs.
Why do people stay - Home basing, medical, age, laziness, issues with their record etc.
Even the worse jobs and employers have employees.
