Alaska Airline's B737-400 Combi

[AK737FO]

Mud Hen's

We HAD nine 200's. 746AS was put to pasture and turned into a white tail. Alaska won the Southeast postal contract and needed another 200. The postal contract will basically pay for the D check on 746 - so out of the pasture she comes. 743AS was suppose to time out and go to pasture about 3 weeks ago. Since I flew her yesterday, I can verifiy that the old girl is still alive and well. Rumor has it, an extension was obtained to fly 743 until 746 comes back to us in September. Hopefully by mid September we will have 746 on line, and we will fly our own postal contract rather than let Kitty Hawk do it for us. 743 will then go to the desert and we will remain at eight 200's. 2007 is the RIP date - does anybody remember that the MD-80's were ALL suppose to be gone by 2004? I will not be surprised to see 200's on property (maybe in all FR8 config) for many, many more years to come.

I would not call the 200's hanger queens. The airplanes are rode hard and put away wet every day. Yesterday, 743 worked from the first bank in the AM (about 0600) until a 0200 freighter last night without so much as a pen mark in the book. When a 200 breaks, it usually brakes bad - flap problem, hydraulic problem, nuts and bolts stuff. I hear 4/7/9 pilots calling in stuff all the time, most problems sound like computer melt downs on the gee-whiz stuff.

Four of the "new" 400's will be combi. The way I understand it they will have three configuration options. All freight, All pax, or 4 pallet / 70 seat. Quick change time will be longer than the 200's, but our mechanics will get it down to a science. The fifth 400 will be all freight, all the time. So do we loose seats? Looks so on the surface, but that is not considering any growth (800's). I believe that in a year or so they will double the size of the ANC base without reducing SEA.

The big deal on my mind is the 200 write off the company is going to do this quarter. This is our strongest quarter, loads are up, SEA reserve pilots are flying 80+, we are just starting negotiations - and the company wants to take a huge write off, years before the asset is even scheduled to go away. Perfect... Look Mr. Arbitrator, we lost money even in our best quarter, you got to help us get these pilot costs down! It sure would not do to show a profit this quarter, in the midst of negotiations, when they want a 23% pay cut.

Well, it is time to quit typing and start fishin - the reds are in! Fresh salmon at my house tonight!

 

[ILStoMinimums]

AK737FO,

What type of equipment is Kitty Hawk using to serve the southeast? Are they flying the 727's in and out of those places down there? Is all the mail flying originating out of SEA or are they coming up to ANC as well?

 

[mach none]

The big deal on my mind is the 200 write off the company is going to do this quarter. This is our strongest quarter, loads are up, SEA reserve pilots are flying 80+, we are just starting negotiations - and the company wants to take a huge write off, years before the asset is even scheduled to go away. Perfect... Look Mr. Arbitrator, we lost money even in our best quarter, you got to help us get these pilot costs down! It sure would not do to show a profit this quarter, in the midst of negotiations, when they want a 23% pay cut.!

This is the biggest deal we are now facing and you summed it very well. Mr. Ayer is hoping he looks great by the end of 2005, when the new contract(s) is in effect and the company is finally done with all the BS one time write-offs. I will predict record profits in 2005 and everyone in the industry will be toasting this management team for the great job they did in "turning this airline around." It will make the next contract interesting. NO Binding Arbritration.


Small print:
Of course that predictions excludes any terror attacks.

 

[ferlo]

Two things,


1. Airlines will never run out of their "one time charges". There seems be be an endless supply in the old accounting tool box.

2. They obviously want to take the charge so they can say they lost money. Nobody is that stupid, the 10k filing will show everything, which is why the stock price is as high as it is, and why it has been there for so long. It's nothing more than an accounting parlor trick. I can't imagine why airlines think that their employees, especially their pilots are so stupid.

Remember when they tried to convice us that all the post 9-11 money was "free". Hardly, it was all reimbursment. It was our money we earned in the first place. All they did was give it back, without interest I might add. The company never once mentioned that little fact. They even went as far as to say that the small profit sharing we got was from "uncle sam". Do you think the government took tax payer money and handed it over to Alaska Airlines so they could give the employees a small profit sharing check? He*l no. That was a bald faced lie. Like everything else in airline economics, (at least when it comes to the "need" for concessions".