AA to hire in 2003!

[whizVFA201]

Our chief pilot said that AA plans to hire in 2003 and to have everbody (including my furloughed as*) back within the year.
Once the NMB declares us a single carrier with TWA they'll also recall the 209 guys who were furloughed out of order.
He also said our March loads are above what they predicted (he said loads...).
With UAL recalling a bunch of F/A's next month I think things are starting to turn around.
But we're also in contract talks and there are thoughts that we'll be used as "chips" by both sides.
Should be an interesting spring.
Whiz

 

[DIAMONDDD]

Dude, I hope you are right. BUT, where did you get your intel.? Are you one of the 209 or below that. I say again, Dude, I hope you are right.

 

[whizVFA201]

CAPT Kudwa spoke at a "town hall meeting" out on the west coast last week. Direct quotes.
I'm below that 209 but just below.

 

[ex nav]

rest of the story??

To add on to Herk's enlighting post:

-----
Recall Rumors

Q: Okay, I've heard this rumor from 3 different sources now. Will we be recalling pilots in March or April? The numbers I've heard are 50 to 200 and mostly from DFW. Is this true?

A: Sorry. No truth to the rumor. We have no room to train recalls at this point. We are in the process of training 450 B727 pilots on other equipment. We expect it will take until June or July to complete this.

----

So with Herk's math in public (good job) and a (optimistic) recall in July, hiring could start in 2003 for a class date in Jan 04.

Just to add my 2 cents...

 

[Mil-BushPilot]

Prior to Sep 11 wasn't AA hiring/ training 100+ a month? Even at 100/mo it would still take a year to retrain the furloughees though.

Mil Pilot

 

[madison2]

Mil pilot,
You assume that they didn't cut the training department back? I know they have been reduced in numbers, by how much who knows?

 

[SF3CA]

Another monkey wrench in this problem is that there are about 300-400 Eagle pilots, most with sen #'s that are senior to the AA and TWA furloughed pilots. Nobody knows if they are going to recall the AA pilots in true seniority order, which means the Eagle pilots first, or if they are going to recall everyone that was on property first. The Flow thru agreement says that when a pilots transfers to AA, they will be offered one out of every two new hire positions. We have been hearing that ALPA's interpertation of that is that 1/2 is a floor not a ceiling therefore all the new hire classes in the near furture could be all Eagle pilots (untill we run out of jet captains waiting to flow).

Another thing: The AA pilots that flowed back have no seat lock at Eagle. However I don't think that AMR would train them just to see them go back to AA in a few months. AMR is going to get their money out of these guys. I think they will be at Eagle for at least 14 months or more. JMO

good luck,

SF3CA

 

[whizVFA201]

Herk/Ex Nav:
Good posts... But remeber where you got that info: "Ask and Avoid".
Also AA can train as many pilots as they want. They were training 100 new hires a month, along with all the recurrent, upgrade and transition folks before our enlightened Arab brothers paid us a visit. The school house was burning the midnight oil. Saying they can only train 50 a month is a stretch. And even if they cut the training department all they need to do is recall the folks they let go. I don't think the sim instructor job market phone is rininging off the hook so it shouldn't be too hard to recall.

And even though the integration deal reads like a Rubbick's Cube I thought that the TWABs can only be recalled to St. Louis for now and that AA furloughees recalled wouldn't be training in St. Louis.
Talking with some union guys recently it sounds like the furloughed group will be used by both sides during these negotiations as a big poker chip.
"We'd love to recall everybody if only the APA would do ______"
Or "Sure you can fly all the RJ's you want if you recall everybody and ___________"

So while things certainly look better than they did a couple of months ago, I'm expecting a long haul and hope to be pleasantly surprised if it's shorter. The fact that the recall rumors are beginning to fly are good; we could be at UAL where the rumors are going the other way, by the thousands.

Hope I get activated to Key West for a year,
Whiz
American furlough, patriot, organ donor

 

[PHX767]

The 50/month training flow is optimistic at best. Our systems instructors are not all going to be coming back to training. Their skill sets make them qualified for many other technical jobs, not just in training, and not just in aviation.

The APA furlough hotline mentioned the "208" a few times last week, and had me thinking WTF? Then I remembered we lost a guy in the 3/12 class. I still think they should refer to us as the "209" just out of respect for him.

 

[bayoubandit]

SF3CA

I had read some stuff from either APA or AA that said the Eagle flow throughs will not come over until all of the AA guys and gals who were on property are recalled. I don't if it is going to take AA hiring again for those with Eagle folks with AA numbers to flow through or not, but I imagine it would.

On another note, does anyone know how many flowbacks have actually been trained and are online?

Historically at AA, haven't the furloughs been held hostage for contract negotiations? That's how the whole B scale thing got started. It pretty much shows are fate. Let's hope it's different this time.