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Colgan Q400 Drivers....What's the Latest Info?

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johnsonrod

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
Posts
4,218
Guys and Gals,

Sorry if this has already been answered - not trying to flame anyone in this post. First, sorry to hear about your continued f#$Ked up situation there. This industry really does blow - I should have taken Engineering in College... I am a fan of the Q400 - I have ridden on the Q400 a few times as a pax and it seems like a great bird.

So, what's the deal now that Republic has the Q400 contract? Any more details? I haven't seen much in terms of clarification of who will staff the Q400s as they are phased over.

Several questions come to mind. Will "former" Colgan pilots be interviewed and picked up by Republic as they are phased over? Will current Republic pilots get first dibs on the Q400 Captain slots? Will current senior Colgan pilots be able to stay at Pinnacle and bid the jet seats? Will the Q400s be flown out of other hubs like ORD and DEN or will they continue to focus primarily on EWR?

What's the latest information? I realize some of it could be pure speculation but there should be some new details...

Good luck to everyone involved!
 
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Wow - it sure it quiet out there.... Crickets Crickets Crickets...

So, what's the deal? Any initial information/speculation?

Thanks
 
Guys and Gals,

Sorry if this has already been answered - not trying to flame anyone in this post. First, sorry to hear about your continued f#$Ked up situation there. This industry really does blow - I should have taken Engineering in College... I am a fan of the Q400 - I have ridden on the Q400 a few times as a pax and it seems like a great bird.

So, what's the deal now that Republic has the Q400 contract? Any more details? I haven't seen much in terms of clarification of who will staff the Q400s as they are phased over.

Several questions come to mind. Will "former" Colgan pilots be interviewed and picked up by Republic as they are phased over? if they apply Will current Republic pilots get first dibs on the Q400 Captain slots? yes Will current senior Colgan pilots be able to stay at Pinnacle and bid the jet seats? already been happening Will the Q400s be flown out of other hubs like ORD and DEN or will they continue to focus primarily on EWR? I think DEN is the first base that will open, they are trying to appeal to the Lynx guys to go back to the Q400s

What's the latest information? I realize some of it could be pure speculation but there should be some new details...

Good luck to everyone involved!

hope that helps
 
Word is Republic will have EWR, IAD, Den bases for the Q400. We have a provision in our contract that has pilots "go" with the aircraft if the a/c leave Colgan.. However, in our particular bankruptcy and other wonderful corporate maneuvering, the frames are going to a lessor/bank, then to Republic-- this circumvents the requirement to have pilots stay with the planes.

With the fences still in place from the Integrated Seniority List, looks like there will be only about 75-95 (depending on the day) of current Colgan captains that will be able to hold CRJ Captain at Pinnacle. That's an extremely SLIM number when you look at overall Captains currently at Colgan.

Make no mistake- this situation ANGERS the Colgan pilot group. Heartburn aside, the Q400 is a *wonderful* airplane.

Not sure how many pilots have left Pinnacolaba for Republic..
 
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And the way that some of the Pinnacle and Mesaba pilots look at it...Colgan is getting what they deserve since we are responsible for the demise of the company. However, this was after we were pressured to join ALPA, integrate the seniority lists and have a joint CBA. Well, it is pretty ironic how all that turned out...Damned if you do, and damned if you don't...
 
Its not the Colgan pilots fault. All this rests on the former executive management team at Pinnacle and Delta Airlines. Hind sight is 20/20 and if we had known how this was all to roll out maybe the clause in the Mesaba contract to merge all the lists should not have been executed. But every indication at the time pointed to it being in the pilots best interest (at least the most senior).

Its a shame that United is using a leasing company and our language for the loss of aircraft to another airline was not stronger. It would be nice for the Colgan pilots to have a choice to go with the aircraft. I had seen a couple posts that some wanted the colgan operation to be split off and let the pilots dangle with the fate of the Q's and the company. I think that is a bad idea. It does have some benefits for the remainder of the pilots but it sets a precedent with regard to seniority that should not be allowed to happen. The SLI is done, we are one pilot group and now we must work together.

Just a note to all you Colgan pilots-Flying out of MSP blows. We have bad winters, its a super senior base, and unless you are super senior you will be on reserve all the time. If you are on reserve the only given is ready reserve. Read the contract and see what that is all about. they have three shifts of ready reserve with up to 2 pilots per seat, per shift. So even if you are a senior reserve-you will be sitting ready. :)
 
How is this all affecting the SLI with colgan, mesaba and pinnacle?

It's still in place, but I think the all pilot groups are seeing that the sword cuts both ways ... There were a lot of relatively junior CJC pilots that would upgrade on the Saab, then transition to the Q400 as a CA because they met the staffing #s inside of the fence (on the CJC side). Now, that there's the CJC wind-down and furloughs happening, some of these very pilots have the most to lose in the pilot group. There will be many current CJC CAs that will be fenced out of the CRJ left seat for some time to come. "Live and die by the sword," as they say...

Curious if JFK has become more senior over time. How does it compare to DTW? Are the lines the same in JFK and DTW on the -200? Thanks.
 

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