Air Wis Classes Have Officially Resumed!

[sonic340]

As a former Mesaba guy, let me say welcome to air willy! I left xj in Sept. and just like all of you I played every "what if" angle I could dream up.
So here's my viewpoint. Even up to the day I started class at air willy, I still had my doubts as to if I was doing the right thing. Once class started and got to meet all the big wigs in Appleton and hear all the positives, I haven't looked back. The people here are great! They run you through training quickly, 7 weeks from start to checkride including 1 week off, and the pay cut was minimal. Much of the systems on the RJ is computer-based which you do on your own at whatever time of day you choose. I had class from 8am to noon and then a lunch break, took a nap at the hotel and went over to the training center in the evening to work on the computer lessons. Very laid back. 3 days after my ride I started IOE, sat reserve in Chicago in Dec and Jan and for Feb. lucked out and got a line with 15 days off in Denver. In 2 years at Mesaba I never had 15 days off. The upcoming new-hire class might sit reserve a little longer than normal due to the transitioning of people off the 328, but after that things should pick back up. The whole United deal is making a lot of people nervous, but air willy has a excellent product that in the worst case scenario any other airline would snatch up our service in no time.
And finally the best part of all of you coming over from Mesaba.......you're junior to me!! Just kidding. Good luck everyone and welcome!
One more thing- your Mesaba uniform is the exact same one as air willy so all you need is the hat brass and wings. Saves you about $700!

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

I just read an article somewhere (I don't know where) about the UAL feed (SkyWest, AWAC and ACA). The analyst believed that no matter what happened with UAL, the feeders will be needed to feed whoever picks up any dropped UAL routes.

There are a lot of UAL feed aircraft flying a lot of passengers. It is not practically possible to just stop their flying and pick it up with a new airline-they don't have enough extra planes/pilots, etc.

I was at TSA, which was TWA Express (along with Chautauqua and Corporate). All 3 of them were retained to continue their feed when AA bought out TWA.

Additionally, since AWAC now has feed for AirTran, that will cushion them should there be scheduling disruptions in the event of a shift from UAL feed to whatever airline(s) takes over is UAL goes Chapter 7.

Cliff
GRB

PS-I can't believe the UAL situation. It seems they will not make it out of Chapter 11. 3 Years ago I thought they were the best airline in the world.

 

[Rottweiller]

I have the feeling that UAL will come out of this whole affair pretty strong but they may have to take of the gloves off and weald an iron fist to get some things done.

They have already suggested that they want to increase the amount of regional aircraft in the system significantly and even allow / want the regionals to be operating 70 seaters soon.

Given they (UAL) want to start a new low cost airline and increase the frequency of flights but also reduce their pilot staff to 6000+ I think you can start to see where the "growth" here is going. Personally I see UAL in 12-18 months flying hub to hub and internationally with 3 or maybe more regionals flying 400+ RJ's point to point several times a day, from west to east.

On a side note, the new hire class of 12 on 2/17 may have some slots for the 146 in ATW. Seems they are short of FO's there after the last realignment bid. Good luck to the lucky 12 and welcome onboard.