AA Plans

[HA25]

well said rapidD, I agree with that statement 100%, and sorry guys for my crappy spelling, I tend to spell bad as it is, then add to it the heat of a debate and I turn into an spelling slob.

 

[publisher]

ggod points

Good points but there will always be another SWA and another Alaska.

The fact is that left to their own devices would revert to pre deregulation type pricing and polcies.

The SWA's of the world always come along to keep them honest in both fairs and employee compensation.

What has not be recognized here is that a systemic change is going on and that it began almost 6 years ago. The percentage of people on an aircraft at discount has risen steadily for many years. Eventually it was going to catch up with the industry. Business travel diminishes and that's the ball game. We will see how long this lasts.

 

[HA25]

Carty and AMR acknowledge that pricing structure change is inevitable, and AMR seems to be proactive in this area, as in the past during hard times, which will help them. But there is one fact that cannot be escaped ......an airline has NEVER made it by shrinking ....growth is a key driver in rising earnings. Don’t think that AMR is gonna defer all aircraft orders for ever. Wait the the 17th of July and listen to the conference call, I’m sure some interesting news will come out.

 

[Jakeair]

SWA does not want market share !

As a SWA Pilot (about one year), I can tell you that SWA does not want to complete with other airlines. SWA does not care about market share like other airlines, it's all about profits.

Take a look at the cost of moving one SWA seat, one mile.
About 7.54 cents (2001)

(UAL about 9.2, U about 8.9 and on and on.)

Now look at the Yield per RPM.
About 8.51 cents (2001)

After Sept. 11 the yields are down. However, so are the costs.

In 2001 the Average Passenger fare is $83.46.

27.3 % of SWA aircraft are leased, the rest are owned.

Long-term Debt 1.3 billion.
Cash 2.27 billion.

As you can see the company is run like a business, not to buy other business (car rental comp. or Hotels). When it makes money, it pays off its liabilites.

I think the interim contract offer will pass. In 2006 with the super Mediation language in the offer, I think the pay will come up that last 15-20 % in 2006 (if you count the stock opts).

SWA will always be a low cost, lower paying(?), grow at 9-10% per year, secure, well run airline. Who's management knows how to stay the course.


Jakeair


PS. You can cross the Pacific in a 737-700 (with the APU runing !!)

 

[HA25]

The key is that SWA is not really in competition with AMR, they are a niche company who does better in tough times. I still maintain that when the pilots and others get paid closer to AMR wages, as they eventually will, that cost of moving a seat will rise, as will the fare.

 

[Draginass]

What DAL, UAL, NWA, and AA managements want to do is gut scope and dumbdown pilot jobs to commuter scale compensation. When they get done with that, they want to open up cabotage and internationalize their companies. That way they can get rid of those overpaid commuter scale guys now flying wide-bodies and get even cheaper labor from South America and eastern Europe.

 

[ex nav]

more AA pilot furloughs?

Ex-TWA pilots could be caught in layoff

By Christopher Carey
Of The Post-Dispatch
Bloomberg News Contributed Information To This Report.


American Airlines could have to furlough more than 100 former TWA Airlines LLC pilots to comply with a seniority-integration agreement it signed before the carriers combined operations.


Fleet reductions since the terror attacks Sept. 11 have left American with an "excess" of ex-TWA captains at its St. Louis hub, said Stephen Tankel, a spokesman at American's headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas.


Under the formula for combining the seniority lists, the number of former TWA captains at the St. Louis hub was capped at a fixed percentage of the number of American captains at the carrier's Chicago and Dallas/Fort Worth hubs.


The strictest interpretation of the agreement between the airline and the Allied Pilots Association would require the airline to park about a dozen jets operating from Lambert Field and to displace at least 103 captains. Such a move could lead to an equivalent number of layoffs at the lower end of the seniority list.


Negotiators for American met Tuesday with negotiators for the Allied Pilots Association -- the union representing all 12,400 pilots in the merged airline -- to discuss alternatives to furloughs.


About 310 former TWA pilots have been idled.


American has outlined three options, Tankel said.


The airline's preferred option would be to amend the maximum number of ex-TWA captains in St. Louis to "more closely reflect the realities of the current environment."


It also would be willing to create a satellite base for the excess pilots at LaGuardia Airport in New York, relocating their flying until retirements, attrition and aircraft conversion eliminate the surplus.


American said its least favored option would be grounding jets and laying off pilots.


The union also offered some options, said Todd Wissing, an American first officer who serves on the union's communications committee. "The things that we've proposed would not result in any displacements," he said.


The seniority-integration plan developed last fall envisioned that the merged airline would be operating about 880 aircraft today. Because of fleet adjustments, the figure stands at 823 aircraft.


Jeff Darnall, a former TWA captain who could be displaced, believes that neither American nor the Allied Pilots Association wants to see more pilots leave the work force.


Whatever imbalance exists between the number of ex-TWA and American captains should work itself out in the next year or so as TWA veterans reach the ends of their careers, Darnall said.


American plans more cuts


American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp., will eliminate more jobs gradually as it cuts costs to compete with no-frills carriers, the company's chief executive, Donald Carty, told employees Tuesday. "Eliminating duplication, simplifying and otherwise streamlining the business . . . will no doubt mean that, over time, we'll need fewer people," Carty said in a recorded message.


"We don't anticipate wholesale changes to happen tomorrow."


AMR employed 123,732 people March 1.


The airline has no information beyond what was included in Carty's message, a spokesman said.



Reporter Christopher Carey:
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 314-340-8291

Published in Business on Wednesday, July 3, 2002.

 

[publisher]

Sell AE

Some anticipate the selling off of Eagle as one thing coming/ It would be no surprize.

It is hard to be all things to all people. As I have said before this does not have much to do with pilot pay as with a changing market.

It used to be that discount had a bad tone. Today both Southwest and Airtran are not looked on as discount carriers but in a positive light.

There is as much chance that major carrier pay will come down than these carriers up. In either case, you cannot directly compare. The big disparity in pay per hour that impacts costs are the larger aircraft of the majors.

 

[HA25]

Spinning of AE would be a God send!

 

[alek]

AE and TWA

I dont't think they will sell Eagle, they desperately need feed, and other commuters are tied with other majors.

I think we might see, if APA agrees, B-scale pay for new airline within AMR, using TWA airplanes/pilots, call some furlough people back, and start point to point operation like SWA. August 1 AA announced 2 daily roundtrips from Kansas City to New York. This might be the beginning of point to point or just try-out. Kansas City is Maintenance base but not the hub for AA, I wonder if other cities will follow.

I hope AMR learned lesson from SWA expansion. SWA didn't expand with 70% market share overnight. Jet Blue is doing same thing in their backyard in New York. I believe 2 days ago they announced 40 extra flights to Florida this fall. If Jet Blue can find passengers then AA should also expand. AA has crew domicile there, and also TWA use to have big domicile in JFK.

I like how everybody blames SWA for their expansion and their market share. That didn't happen overnight, and instead of fighting with unions over last 10 years about pay issues Managers of Big 4/5 should realize what's happening with their Airlines and their own market share.

Alek