This might be a dumb question. I found the cool airline domicile map that ATP has, here is the link for anyone who hasn’t seen it Airline Domiciles Map / ATP Flight School
What I am trying to find out is what domiciles are junior or senior domiciles so I can have a rough idea of where one would likely be living when hired at the various airlines. I see people on here mention that certain airports are senior or junior but where can I find that? I’m sure that information is out there SOMEWHERE in some internal documents that made it to the internet but I haven’t been able to find it on company websites or google searches very easily. Any useful links that may have it? Thanks in advance.
Mason,
Not a dumb question at all… The map you found is a great general resource to see how a career in aviation can be spent in living nearly any where you like. Just depends on your priorities, the airline you choose and the base you are assigned how easy/difficult it is to commute. Is there any specific airline/few airlines and a base you’d like to hear about specifically?
-Hannah
Thanks guys. I will check out that other thread. Hannah, I don’t have any allegiance to any one airline but I really enjoy my trips to western states and would love to live there. By western states, I don’t mean west coast but rather Wy, Co, ID, UT, MT and others. Looks like there is basically Denver and Salt lake for the majors and legacy carriers. Any knowledge on those two bases?
Not too sure about SLC but from what I’ve read from the United guys over at AirlinePilotCentral, Denver is very senior. Not too surprised anyway, it’s a nice place to live.
I’m sure Chris can speak more on that though as he flies for United.
Mason,
I can speak to the regional side of things… Skywest and Horizon are the bigger regional carriers out west. @Tory can speak to bases for Horizon. Skywest has more than a dozen west coast bases. Denver and Boise are super junior bases. Most new hires get assigned that right out of training while salt lake is super senior.
Take a look at this great resource to get an idea of the Skywest bases (Domicile map tab) and the most jr pilot at each base (Seniority tab).
You are not truly going to find an answer to your question as seniority varies not just by base, but by the fleet and position within each base. For example, in Newark our narrow body positions are fairly junior, but the wide body positions are pretty senior.
As for Denver, it is on the more senior side, new hires usually do not get it right away, but typically can within a few months or a year or two. Now upgrading to Captain is very senior there and will take many years longer than at other bases. What little international, wide body flying is in Denver is extremely senior.
Horizon has SEA, PDX, MFR, GEG and BOI bases. To be honest, I don’t keep tabs on any of them. I fly the 175. The 175 really only has one base: SEA. Since the rest are Q400 bases, with the exception of PDX (PDX is both a Q base and a 175 satellite base), I wouldn’t be able to rank the bases from most junior to most senior. I’m sure you could find an answer on AirlinePilotCentral.com though.
Keep in mind base, seniority fluctuates almost daily. I understand that you just want to get an idea, but just know that things could change by the time it’s your turn to choose.
At 2.5yrs as a CRJ FO here’s my seniority in different bases.
ORD 24% - SLC 45% - PHX 60% - DEN 20% - LAX 48%.
This is not all the bases but it gives you an idea. I’d me most senior in DEN and most junior in PHX.
But you have to factor in how many pilots are in each base. ORD and DEN are huge and in general are easier to pickup and swap trips to get a schedule you want. PHX is smaller and that could constrain your bidding and swapping of trips.
Like Tory said, things change often and what is JR now might not be in 6months.