ACA announces furlough of 87 pilots

[logolight]

56 furloughs starting April 3rd, 31 more as of May 1st. All 87 are not expected to be re-called in 2003. Any more furloughs beyond this number will result in "Bump-and-Flush" bidding. ACA may also have to retire all of it's J41 fleet later this year due to a potencialy expensive AD. If this happens, ACA is looking at about 460 total furloughs.


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"Direct Bearz, direct O'hare..."

 

[sydeseet]

That stinks!!!!!!

Curious, what kind of seniority dates will be affected by the current furloughs?

 

[burping_boy]

What AD might this be? This is terrible news!

My hopes go out to all those about to be furloughed in this crisis and their families.

 

[46Driver]

87 furloughs goes back to a hire date of Sept 16, 2002. If we retire the J-41's, then say roughly 500 total pilots are furloughed, then that hire date goes back to Apr 30, 2001. I forgot what the items are on the J-41 but they are significant - it might make more sense for the company just to retire them and go all jet. Right now, everything is up in the air as United fights to survive.

 

[Publishers]

j41

The J41's were to be retired already and 9/11 actually kept them going.

 

[Tim47SIP]

Curious

What are the total number of pilots there?
What is ACA's largest contractor, i.e. United, Delta??
If United goes out, how many pilots will that affect?
Do you ACA guys think that DCI will epand using ex United aircraft?? Thanks. Tim.

P.S. Sorry to hear the news and I hope you guys and ACA survive as I have been told it is a great airline! I also hope United and US Air survive as well!

 

[46Driver]

Roughly 1700 pilots. 85% of our revenue comes from United. Don't think we will expand any of our Delta ops - we did buy back our AC Jet operating certificate from Delta so our management has Plan B ready (of which there is much speculation) If United goes under (and it looks more and more like it every day), nobody knows how it will affect furloughs, suffice to say it will be ugly....

 

[328dude]

If it helps, PSA is accepting ACA furloughs for future class dates in the Dork. I know we are nothing compared to ACA but atleast it gets you off the street.

Just thought I'd pass the word.

 

[logolight]

J41

The AD on the J41 is in the FDR. The cost for the repair is in the range of about $80,000 or so per aircraft. ACA is deciding if this is going to be cost effective since they will be retiring them soon. As for "plan B", rumor is ACA has been talking to Northwest and Jet Blue. We'll see.


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"Takeoff/Takeoff ALTS armed...TCAS..."

 

[Beantown]

I've been furloughed for about a year and can sympathize with you guys. Good luck. -Bean

 

[46Driver]

Rumor I heard "Plan B" was of all things codesharing for expanding Alaska Airlines. Then again, maybe that was "Plan 9 from Outer Space".....

 

[Herman Bloom]

Just to give you folks an example of how rampant these rumors are running around ACA...I was over at the training center today and here is a list of all the rumors I heard in about a two hour period.

1) ACA to drop J41 fleet, furlough roughly 500 pilots
2) J41 fleet to stay "indefinitely". (thought it was funny that I heard both of these from different people within about 5 minutes!)
3) Other codeshare partners: USAir, Northwest, Jetblue, even Southwest. Hearing ALOT about Jetblue.
4) ACA to go out on its own
5) any and every combination of the above. Good lord.

What seems to be perfectly clear is that nobody over here knows just WHAT is going to happen. Could be literally anything, especially considering our management's history of aggressive business decisions. We'll see.

 

[ArcticFlier]

Had an ACA jumpseater out of SMF Sunday night, and he had heard the rumor, checked the hotline before leaving home and the furlough rumor was debunked on the hotline.

Scratching My Head,

AF

 

[Herman Bloom]

87 by May 1st. And it's official as of today.

 

[tarp]

The "500" rumor was debunked by the hotline message. "87" is right from ALPA and is the number they are planning around right now.

War, United at Chapter 7's door, We can't (or won't) get financing for the 3 CRJ's that were supposed to be delivered (yeah, and when can we bid for April), and we're retiring our J-41's right on schedule or to avoid installing $80K FDR's.

Our rumor mill can pump out any scenario you want right now.

 

[logolight]

I also heard the rumor about Alaska. The ACA website has admited today that they are in talks with other airlines but they don't say who. The newest rumor is that we could become the next American Airlines express carrier for the East coast. Interesting proposition since American is about to file Chapter 11.


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"Gear dissagree...Gear dissagree..."

 

[46Driver]

Good News - well, at least its not as bad as it could be. Looks like we are planning on keeping the J-41's - so no massive furlough. Also, there seems to be a lot of interest in voluntary leaves of absence. Hope this helps.

 

[StopNTSing]

3) Other codeshare partners: USAir, Northwest, Jetblue, even Southwest.

Ya....you can take that Southwest codeshare rumor to the bank!

Seriously though, hope it turns out for the best for you guys.