Alaska Airline's B737-400 Combi

[ferlo]

Are any other alaska pilots concerned by the fact that they are parking 10 200's and only replacing them with 5? I know they are notorious hanger queens but at about 5+ crews per aircraft multiplied by 5 aircraft, that's a lot of jobs that just vanished. I'm a little concerned.

 

[flx757]

Are any other alaska pilots concerned by the fact that they are parking 10 200's and only replacing them with 5? I know they are notorious hanger queens but at about 5+ crews per aircraft multiplied by 5 aircraft, that's a lot of jobs that just vanished. I'm a little concerned.

They are not exactly "replacing" the 10 -200s with only 5 -400s. They are only retrofitting 5 -400s for a combi configuration. Other flying will be taken up by 4/7/9s without the combi config. No jobs have "vanished" due to this conversion of the fleet. In fact, there will be new hires before the end of the year, and the CEO is standing by his goal of growing the company by 6.5% in 2005 (or so he still recently claimed). I think you are unduly alarmed. Are you an Alaska pilot? If so, maybe you could share more of exactly what has you concerned. I may be missing something, since we are typically only shown the lower right hand corner of the big picture...

While I hate to see the -200s go, I was REALLY sad to see the end of an era at DUT. I can remember when THAT runway required the gravel kits. But things change, and hopefully the company can get things back on a profitable track, and everyone can prosper in the long haul. We all walk a very fine line in this business.

 

[ferlo]

FLX,

Yes I'm an Alaska pilot. I guess I'll hold my final opinion about this until I see what aircraft, or how many I should say are going to be delivered to fill in the the retrofitted aircraft. The bottom line is 5 aircraft are leaving, and thus far and not scheduled to be replaced. Seats are jobs. It does us no good as a pilot group if the slack is drawn up by larger airplanes. 10 seats are 10 seats. I'm not worried about a furlough, or anything drastic like that but I hate to see the fleet shrink even slightly.

 

[mach none]

I don't think we will see a reduction in the fleet totals. To attain the seat costs they want, we need to grow. I suspect we will see some -800's after the contract is settled. Notice the conversion is not slated to begin until april 05 through 2007. Look for an a/c order announcment in May of 05.

I am not supporting "the vision" either. Just my opinion.

 

[av8instyle]

FLX,

Yes I'm an Alaska pilot. I guess I'll hold my final opinion about this until I see what aircraft, or how many I should say are going to be delivered to fill in the the retrofitted aircraft. The bottom line is 5 aircraft are leaving, and thus far and not scheduled to be replaced. Seats are jobs. It does us no good as a pilot group if the slack is drawn up by larger airplanes. 10 seats are 10 seats. I'm not worried about a furlough, or anything drastic like that but I hate to see the fleet shrink even slightly.

We don't have 10 200's on the property anyway.

 

[flx757]

We don't have 10 200's on the property anyway.

av8instyle,

Since I am on the other side, I really didn't know the exact number of -200s, so I was taking ferlo's word for it.

BTW...it was good to meet you the other day. Stop by anytime, and take care.

 

[inline]

At the two companies which I worked where we flew the gravel equipped -200s, this was a strictly prohibited procedure. Sure, there were guys that used that "techinique" because they got themselves into a bind...but no one "bought off on it". In fact, it was rare to "get away with it", and most wound up paying some sort of price.

Hate to break this to you, but it was an accepted PROCEDURE, not some rogue pilot's "TECHNIQUE", on the -200s at MarkAir. It surely wasn't prohibited.

 

[flx757]

Hate to break this to you, but it was an accepted PROCEDURE, not some rogue pilot's "TECHNIQUE", on the -200s at MarkAir. QUOTE]


'Nuff said....

(BTW...I thought that's all there were at MarkAir..."rogue pilots"... )

 

[av8instyle]

FLX,

Will do, BTW thank CT for me for the vehicle useage. I got my little problemo taken care of.

 

[flx757]

av8,

I'll let him know. I'm on vacation this week, then he is gone for the end of this month and the beginning of next doing some airshow stuff, Oshkosh, and on to Windsor, Ontario with the Wildcat...but I think we overlap in there for about a week, so I'll pass the message on. Take care.