Airtran hiring updates

[Crash Pad]

ALPA gets 2%... the 2% at a regional is wayyyyyyyyy less. I can't figure out why ALPA would sign this pile of poop.

 

[fam62c]

I could be wrong but I don't see large RJ's operating in the AAI network for one simple reason that someone mentioned earlier: the CASM'S on these large RJ's is probably higher than AAI's 717's. The regionals may have lower labor costs but these shiny new RJ's are expensive and the lease costs are high. I'll bet they are paying way more for those RJ's than AAI is paying for the 717's. UAL, DAL, AMR are one thing, their costs are so high that it may make sense for them to sign fee for departure deals with regionals for small plane lift, although, I've always been convinced the majors lose money on these deals and the Skywest's and Republic's of the world are the winners.

It seems to me that the folks who run AAI drive a pretty hard bargain and I just don't see them ever signing a conventional fee for departure deal with another carrier where the subcontractor is guaranteed a profit and AAI takes all the risks. The current Skywest deal is much different. The planes don't say Airtran and Skywest has a risk of loss if the routes don't pan out. I would also bet the AAI is watching the loads and fares and as soon as a route becomes viable for a 717 the RJ will be moved to develop the next podunk city for AAI.

Again, I'm not saying it's not going to happen but if they really wanted to do this why wouldn't they have done it already? I don't think that AAI, SWA or JBLU really need regionals because they have such low CASM's and unlike the legacy carriers they don't feel the need to serve every city in the USA to feed their huge hubs. I think that the AAI/Skywest deal simply happened because Skywest got hosed by Republic (after Skywest hosed Skyway) in MKE and they were PO'd and had some 50-seaters and crews in MKE. I'm guessing that AAI has the better end of that deal and Skyest will probably bail out at some point.

 

[Crash Pad]

JBLU doesn't have a regional because they fly the E190 (86 seats). The reason they haven't done it in the past is because scope limited them to 70 seats. SKYW has enough cash to try revenue sharing. They will be more than happy to expand for yet another airline.

AirTran has a sharp management team despite what some may think. They asked for the relaxed scope for a reason.

 

[27 driver]

Copy dat.

If you were a high powered exec with the shiny degree from Harvard, would you fly a 717 with say a combined pilot hourly rate of $249 (Hawaiian rates, 10yr CAPT, 5yr FO) or would you farm out some flying to a tiny little 76 seater with a combined pilot hourly rate of $123 (Skywest, 10yr CAPT, 5 YR FO)?

If you were a pilot would you rather fly for major airline pay or regional pay. Not sure where you are going with this but I was just giving my opinion. Unless the rest of our TA is spectacular I won't be able to vote yes based on this scope language. I can't stand 1 or 2 more years on RES here at the Tranny. You can bet management wanted relaxed scope for a reason. The deal with Skywest just makes giving the growth to them that much better for AAI and does nothing for the pilots. AAI management assumes very little risk. And when oil goes up $10 a barrel and AAI fires/furloughs 200 guys the regional lift stays for the duration of their individual contracts while we sit on unemployment. We will never be able to prove these agreements caused a furlough.

 

[PCL_128]

JBLU doesn't have a regional because they fly the E190 (86 seats).

Those E190s have 100 seats, not 86 seats.

 

[fam62c]

JBLU doesn't have a regional because they fly the E190 (86 seats). The reason they haven't done it in the past is because scope limited them to 70 seats. SKYW has enough cash to try revenue sharing. They will be more than happy to expand for yet another airline.

AirTran has a sharp management team despite what some may think. They asked for the relaxed scope for a reason.

So why didn't they bring in a bunch of 70 seaters over the last several years then? I mean what's magic about 86 seats as opposed to 70? I'm sure they wanted to keep their options open for the future because anything can happen but I still don't see the economics of it making sense. Why would AAI pay another company more to fly an 86 seater under a subcontract than it would cost them to do the same flying in one of their own 717's? Again, anything can happen but the numbers don't look convincing to me. Any 86 seat route that would allow AAI to profit after paying the subcontractor's costs + profit would be viable in a 717 and the cost would be less which means higher profit. The only way I see this happening is if some regional operation comes on hard times and is willing to do a Skywest type deal with big RJ's where the risks are shared and AAI does not guarantee their profit or assume the risk for fuel price increases.

 

[Fly-By-Cable]

Or AT gets into some hard times and republic says, "hey want a $100 million dollar loan? All you have to do is sign a 10 year, 25 AC agreement and stock goes up Mr. CEO. Think about the bonus you'll get for making this deal." With the new scope, they can do it.

 

[T3700]

With the old scope they could do it. Or even better, with the old scope they could transfer 50 717's to the new subsidiary called "Airtran Express" and offer RJ wages to fly them.

 

[Lear70]

With the old scope they could do it. Or even better, with the old scope they could transfer 50 717's to the new subsidiary called "Airtran Express" and offer RJ wages to fly them.

Correct.

Binding the holding company is huge.

Will the 86 seaters end up biting us? Only time will tell... Not the perfect solution, for sure.

 

[ATLplt]

No Lear and PCL, not a perfect solution at all. It very much concerns me.

The remaining open sections of this TA better be gold, encrusted with diamonds! I am emailing all my status reps to voice my opinions on how my expectations for pay and such have sharply risen. I'm watching my career expectations at this company dwindle upon every company press release. FO pay better be AT LEAST Alaska rates at DOS. We're gonna be stuck in this seat for a loooong time. Anything less will be an epic FAIL. We need to drawn a line in the sand and be prepared to utilize what we voted on last spring.