It seems to me that AA is in the best position to really be the trailblazers here since Eagle does about 90% of the RJ flying. They could make scope be a total non issue by making ALL flying done by an AA pilot by putting everyone on 1 list! Then AA could finally compete effectively within the 70-100 seat market in which they woefully lag behind the other carriers. The only thing I can think of is that the APA won't tolerate their military buddy new-hires(if hiring ever resumes again) having to fly an RJ until their seniority can hold what would be considered mainline equipment(737-MD80). The same type of attitude that resulted in all these pesky RJ's being flown by the bottom feeding regional carriers we have today.
If fences and seat locks were created to keep all those 15 to 20+ year Eagle guys from jumping ahead of the more recent AA hires of the late 90's and 2000-2001, I think in the long run it would be best for the majority involved. And I bet if you polled the Eagle pilot group, the vast majority wouldn't mind a staple anyway. The only ones who would gripe are these pathetic 15-20+ year Eagle Captains who had plenty of opportunity to move on to bigger and better during the hiring spree the legacies had back in 1998-2001, but instead, just sat on their collective a**es waiting for some presumed "flow-through". And besides, from what I have heard, 600 Eagle pilots are going to have AA numbers anyway.
It's hard to know where to start with this one. First of all, the APA cannot dictate combining AE pilots into their seniority list and contract. AE ALPA has a 5 more years on a cheap contract with AMR and even if the APA wanted a single seniority list AA would tell 'em to pound sand. Further, there's the other employee groups. Secondly, it's the general feeling that AE pilots disdain the APA in general and I doubt they would want to come to what they see as the dark side. Thirdly, there's an arbitration going on right now because AA has fallen below a pilot manning threshold in which the APA can demand that Eagle be shut down. The disposition of Eagle is still up to question. Fourthly, there are about 2000 AA pilots still on furloughs, and I doubt that Eagle would agree to being furlough fodder.
Eagle being sold off is a much more possible than any thoughts of combining the companies. AE has only 25, 70 seat airplanes because AMR wants to only pay commuter compensation for a narrow body airliner. They could have all the 70, 90, or 100 seat airplanes they want. But don't expect the APA to cave on scope like Delta and NW ALPA did.
If AA wants a BK compensation and BK scope style contracts, they're going to have to take the company to bankruptcy.
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