Flight Options pilots vote-in new policy governing seniority status 

Flight Options, a leading provider of fractional shares in jet aircraft, announced today that the company’s pilots have adopted a new policy governing pilot seniority, called Modified Date-of-Hire.  The policy was chosen from three concepts formulated by the pilots, then put to a mandatory pilot vote in August, with the policy taking effect October 1, 2002.

Modified Date-of-Hire combines Flight Options’ pilot seniority list with the seniority list of the former Raytheon Travel Air pilots who joined Flight Options when the two companies merged operations earlier this year.  It is based upon modifying your days employed based on the longevity of the company.   Seniority is an important issue determining the order in which crewmembers can be named Pilot-in-Command of their aircraft and submit bids to transfer into other aircraft – usually larger.

Flight Options’ Chairman and CEO Kenn Ricci requested that Flight Options’ pilots form seniority committees.  The committees had to consist of pilot representatives from both Flight Options and former Raytheon Travel Air.  The committees formulated various options to address issues regarding the merger of the two seniority pools -- three of which were voted on by the pilots.

“As the new policy directly affects our pilots, it was important for them to formulate, vote on and ultimately make the final decision on how seniority rankings were going to be established following the combination of Flight Options and Raytheon Travel Air,” said Ricci. 

“Management does not live in the seniority world and it was important for pilots to construct and control their seniority destiny,” Ricci continued.

In July, the concepts developed by the pilot seniority committees were posted on Flight Options’ internal Web site for the pilots’ review.  Pilots could determine which concept benefited them the most by reviewing a brief synopsis of each program and that program’s seniority list.  “I am very proud of our pilot’s ability to tackle this very difficult issue in a professional manner and as quickly as they did,” said Joe Salata, senior chief pilot.

“Pilot integration typically is a very contentious issue in any combination.  Many airlines have not been successful at integrating their seniority lists and maintaining the expectations of the pilot workforce.  It is a tribute to our pilot group that they succeeded where many have failed,” noted Ricci.
 
Founded in 1998, Flight Options pioneered the concept of offering shares in previously owned jets.  This allowed the company to present a cost savings of 35% on comparable programs offered by their competitors, opening private jet travel to a broader audience.  Following its combination with Raytheon Travel Air, a division of Raytheon Corporation, the company continues to be an innovator in the industry with the sale of new aircraft.  Flight Options offers fractional shares in its fleet of over 200 aircraft, which includes the world’s largest fleets of Beechjet 400A’s and Hawker 800’s.  The fleet also includes the CitationJet, Citation V, Citation 650, Hawker 800XP, Falcon 50, Citation X, Challenger 601 and Gulfstream IV."