12 Jan Class???

[Heat]

Hearing rumblings about a January 12th class... anything to add? My SWA buddies haven't had much to say regarding class information as of late, and can't understand the delay. Reserve callup rates are high, scheduling challenges during the recent California fires, lots of JA, etc. Some I spoke to were concerned that mid-west and east coast winter weather may stretch crew availability pretty tight.

Would luv to hear folks getting the calls before the Xmas holiday.. What a great gift that would be! Besides, I haven't had a whole lotta changes to make to the SWA pool lately!

Wishing you all a great holiday season!

Heat

 

[shootr]

Heat,

Check this thread...

http://forums.flightinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25371

Many of the names from our list are in the January 12 class. Hopefully bringing it back to the top will help nudge a few to let you know who else has been called. BTW, I'm #57 on our unofficial list and LL told me a few days ago that I'm no more than 4 classes out, possibly 3. Several guys have already deferred class dates for other jobs or military obligations.

Good luck all,
shootr

 

[chase]

Discussion on SWA classes

I'm posting some info on the aircraft delivery schedule for next year for SWA. This partially explains the "current" (this means at this moment in time, anything/everything can/may change at SWA) plan for only 1 class in Jan & more classes in the Mar (hopefully) timeframe.

Delivery -200
Dates # of A/C Ret Actual

JAN 2 -1 388
Feb 1 -2 387
Mar 2 389
Apr 6 -2 393
May 2 -1 394
Jun 8 -2 400
Jul 4 -2 402
Aug 2 -1 403
Sep 4 -1 406
Oct 5 -2 409
Nov 3 -1 411
Dec 3 -2 412

Total 42 -17 412

This list doesn't include the 5 new aircraft announced at the last quarterly financial webcast. Adding those in to the numbers give you a net of 30 aircraft for the year.

When you look at aircraft delivery & retirements the company actually has fewer airplans in Feb than in Jan '04. Having people on the property when you don't need them waste money. The 2nd variable that has been discussed previously is the implentaion of the new checklist for all crews. Training is to begin for all pilots in late 1qt'04 with implementation in 2qt'04. Bringing more new folks in (folks you don't need yet since you have a reduction in aircraft) to train them in the old checklist to turn around & then re-train several months later isn't a good use of time/energy. Delaying future classes after the Jan class for several weeks accomplishes both efficiencies.

Continue to be patient. All of the above is only one FOs opinion & things change overnight so if you get a call in the middle of the night & it says SWA, pick it up!!!! If they decide to go all out (which they have in the past) after Jan to start training, everything is in place to make it happen....that's the beauty of where the company sits right now---it is geared to be a training behemoth...lots of instructors, sim availability, etc.

 

[CoopDog]

Question

Chase,

So if my cypher'n is correct, and they're looking at a net gain of 6 a/c by the end of April, does that equate to approx 3 classes trained and ready to fly by then?

Also, where do the other 5 fall in the schedule? They're still taking 47 in '04, right?

Coop


ps- Heat, hopefully we're going to keep you pretty busy on the pool list updates very soon.

 

[SWAdude]

Coopdog,

They say we are a little overstaffed right now. Like 60 pilots. Which doesn't explain the Jan class so we all expect Feb class or classes and from there on. We also have 5 to 10 retirements a month for at least a few years.

We will see what happens.

SWAdude

 

[chase]

Coop

I updated my orginial post, trying to post charts on here is tough!!

Here is the quote from the 10K listing exactly as it is worded. As you can see the only hint is that the lease aircraft is showing up sometime in '04. At first I thought it meant early '04 but after re-reading it, it could be anytime. As for the other 4, it just says 'o4 sometime.

Also, in October 2003, the Company exercised one Boeing 737-700 option for 2005 delivery and four 2006 options for accelerated delivery to 2004. The Company also entered into an agreement to lease a new Boeing 737-700 beginning in 2004. These changes bring the Company's total firm orders to 46 aircraft for 2004 plus one leased aircraft.

cheers

 

[chase]

Overstaffing

I've heard the same thing. There is also discussion that is on-going that the reserve manning isn't meeting the required contract numbers & that reserve numbers maybe going up. I know there are honest differences on how these numbers are being matched up. It is also thought that this dog has been on a leash for so long & that with new aircraft pending, it is time to unleash it & let it run (my thoughts only).

I visited a res center the other day & they informed me they believed the yields would be up based upon several factors.

A slightly higher percentage of full fare tickets being sold. Less discounting. The traditional pre-holiday big sales that have gone on the in past, well you aren't seeing them this year & that is the first that has happened in a long time according to them.

Direct marketing to spanish speaking demographics is going well. This groups buys on average the highest one way Y fare of any other group. While their sales are small in comparison to all fares, it is growing & along with higher yields from regular customers, this bodes well for us.

New technology to allow us to meet new postal requirements for carrying mail should be implemented soon. This is a money maker for the cargo folks & us. A friend is working this issue & it seems like it is in the final phases of development.

Lower personnel costs. Feb 28, 3 res centers close. 1900 folks will either re-locate to new SWA locations or removed from the payroll (as I have been told, nothing official, anyone choosing to leave SWA received 3 months of severance pay, continued coverage of medical for a period of time & some coverage w/COBRA payments for awhile longer, flt benefits , 1 yr of flying for every 2 yrs of employment). Anyone's guess as to how many will depart the payroll for good but this will lower our ratio of employees to aircraft from its current number of around 86 per airplane. As a side note, several other service related industries have offered the SWA employees who wish to remain where they are jobs. I've been told JBlue, AOL & several other companies. This should ease the pain for some but demonstrates again the value other companies have (even in a soft job market) in well trained & loyal employees like the ones who will reluctantly choose to remain in SLC, DAL, LIT. We will miss them all & wish them all good luck. The other res centers are pleased to welcome any of the newcomers.

We still have $2b in cash with another 1/2 billion on call. Expansion beyond what has been announced is possible but the good thing is we can flex or go with the current plan. To those waiting to come, good luck & for those wishing to interview start getting all your information, previous job addresses, phone numbers, references lined up, the time will come quickly when apps wil be accepted (hopefully 1qt '04) & the race will be on.

That's a little more rambling than you asked for, just trying to put everything in perspective, from my perspective only which is EXTREMELY LIMITED!!! Only one FOs opinion.

 

[CoopDog]

Thanks

Chase,

Your "ramblings" are always welcome (and appreciated). Keep 'em coming.

Whenever you can get the scoop on the additional 5 delivery dates, please let us know. If they're sooner than later, it should make a couple of classes worth of poolies very happy.

Looking forward to '04!

Coop

 

[GEO]

Latest from the luv shack (training dept) as of 5 Dec...1 class starting 12 Jan, no classes in feb due to start of new checklist procedures, 2-24 newbody classes a month starting in march until a least jun/july. Total new-hires projected for year 393...not 392 and not 394 but, you guessed it, 393. All this means squat really since its now 6 Dec, but hopefully it comes to pass.

phx/fo (still ) geo

 

[737tanker]

I talked with my chief pilot last week. He said that there would be a class starting Jan 12th. There would be no classes in Feb due to the number of military pilots who said that they would be returning so they are essentially the Feb classes. Starting in March there would be 2 classes a month, of at least 20 per class, until SWA has hired 400 pilots.