Do you have a good chance of getting based in New York with an airline if you are a pilot?

Question

Do you have a good chance of getting based in New York with an airline if you are a pilot?

Answer 1

No.

Answer 2

Sure, if your airline has a base in New York.  Several do, like JetBlue, Comair, American and others.  In fact, I'm sure it's a junior base for many, so that means you can get it right when you start working there.  That's because noboby else wants to live there.  Too cold, too expensive, too much traffic, well, you get the picture.

PS, if you really want to be a pilot, you should be flexible on where you might have to live.  That is, however, unless you want to fly for a company that home bases you, like Netjets or some cargo companies, or if you don't mind commuting to work.  From what I've heard, commuting is no fun at all.  Good luck.

Answer 3

It's possible, and like it was already mentioned, the NYC area tends to be a junior base for many carriers.

In all reality, if there is a set place where you want to live (NYC or anywhere else in the country), you can't ever count on getting the base you want.  To live where you're based certainly makes life easier, but a lot of pilots and flight attendants commute to their base.  Plan on needing a crashpad.  That's an apartment that you split with 6-10 other people and just sleep there for the night before and after a trip.  For example, if you have a Chicago base with a Wednesday-Saturday trip, you would commute to Chicago on Tuesday, stay in the crashpad that night, work Wednesday through Saturday, probably stay in the crashpad Saturday night, and commute home on Sunday.  Even though you might share rent with 10 other people, there's a good chance that you may never see any of them because they are all doing the same thing.

Answer 4

You might or you might not.  Every career is different.  Seems like you have a basic decision to make between living in NYC and being a professional pilot.  Make that decision first.