American Pilot Group, Guess What?

[BLUE BAYOU]

So what if AA buys us? They haven't hired a soul since 2001 and they fuloughed most of those... Half of their pilot group retires in the next 10 years. AA has hundreds of Airbuses on order, where else might they find a current and qualified group to fly them?

They should be marrying LCC while in bankruptcy allowing for the most beneficial lease and contract workups, failure to do so is just stupid.

Furthermore, why would AA buy us and remain the number 3 carrier behind Delta/United? They were #1 before, after the TWA thingy; linking up with LCC would make them #1 or #2 again.

Finally, you know it's not going to happen when Jetblue is erecting their multimillion dollar sign above their new Long Island City HQ this coming week

 

[Splert]

SWA did!

Crickets ...

 

[Splert]

So what if AA buys us? They haven't hired a soul since 2001 and they fuloughed most of those... Half of their pilot group retires in the next 10 years. AA has hundreds of Airbuses on order, where else might they find a current and qualified group to fly them?

Over the next 10 years I'm sure AMR will find 8 weeks to train a new hire at first year pay rates instead of 12th year.

Plus BlueJet pilots would have to undergo a training course to fly on AA certificate.

It is not as simple as changing uniforms.

Get ready to fly at the bottom on the MD - 80 list for a long time (fenced) as those who might be junior to and are already in AA uniforms bypass you for larger equipment.

This is what you wanted and I expect you to smile as it is given to you.

 

[Bringupthebird]

Where is the #1 MD 80 CA making $80 an hour with no work rules or retirement supposed to be integrated?

Number #2 at AA?

Pilots are such kindergartners'.

#2 in the most similar equipment and slotted at the ratio of pilots in similar equipment all the way down.

Why is that so hard to understand?

 

[SWA Bubba]

Crickets ...

What exactly were you looking for, in a a post designed solely to inflame? Are you really looking for a serious response?

Bubba

 

[Splert]

#2 in the most similar equipment and slotted at the ratio of pilots in similar equipment all the way down.

Why is that so hard to understand?

It isn't.

 

[Full of LUV]

Where is the #1 MD 80 CA making $80 an hour with no work rules or retirement supposed to be integrated?

Number #2 at AA?

Pilots are such kindergartners'.

In the 80's - 90's there was two ways to become a career major pilot.

1. Get hired.
2. Go to a crap job with mediocre benefits and no retirement and pray like heck that your company get's acquired.

Some went each route.

 

[$$$4nothin]

Finally, you know it's not going to happen when Jetblue is erecting their multimillion dollar sign above their new Long Island City HQ this coming week

A little depressing when this is one of the only two reasons that I have heard that make me think AA won't be buying B6.

 

[xanderman]

WTH are you guys talking about?

Seems to me that your collective mental masturbation over JB merging with AMR is...um...premature.

From the WSJ:

Discount carrier JetBlue Airways Corp. JBLU +1.18% is flattered by the recent merger attention from American Airlines parent AMR Corp., AAMRQ -0.20% but the company thinks it is having too much success playing the field.

JetBlue has carved out a dominant position at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and in recent years has leveraged that gateway by entering a series of lucrative tie-ups with mostly international carriers.

"We're focused on our own plan of organic growth, which we believe will produce better value for our shareholders, crew members and customers," Chief Executive Officer Dave Barger told employees in recent meetings.

Last week, Mr. Barger declined to say if JetBlue has received a nondisclosure agreement from American, which, if signed, would allow the two carriers to share confidential financial data to see if a combination was worth pursuing. But a person familiar with JetBlue said the airline hasn't received such a document and wouldn't sign it if one arrived.

AMR, which is in bankruptcy-court protection, is under pressure from its creditors to explore merger possibilities as an alternative to a plan to exit from Chapter 11 on its own. The Fort Worth, Texas, company, which has a smaller hub at JFK, recently identified five possible candidates and began the process by sending a nondisclosure agreement to the largest, ardent suitor US Airways Group Inc., LCC -0.73% late last week.

People familiar with AMR indicated it that "multiple" confidentiality agreements have been sent in recent days, without saying which of the other carriers besides US Airways have received them. Details of the language couldn't be learned.

JetBlue, which has declined to join one of the three global airline marketing alliances, is focusing on what it calls its "open architecture" model of joining with a growing roster of airlines. Those carriers want access to JetBlue's extensive route networks out of New York, Boston and, to a lesser extent, Los Angeles and several Florida airports.

In 2010, American joined JetBlue's club as a way of bolstering its domestic offerings from New York and Boston. American offers its passengers travel on more than two dozen domestic JetBlue routes that the larger airline doesn't serve. JetBlue passengers can fly on more than a dozen American international routes from New York and Boston.

By inking such "interline" agreements with others, JetBlue can take a partner's passenger arriving from abroad to interior U.S. points and to the Caribbean with a single ticket and automatic luggage transfer. And it make available seats on partners' overseas flights to its domestic customers.

JetBlue's Dances

Discount carrier is building a roster of airlines that links their networks to JetBlue at its big New York base. A partial list:

Air China: coming this summer a linkage at JFK and LAX
Cathay Pacific Airways: coming this summer will link its Asian routes to JetBlue's domestic network via JFK and LAX
El Al: connects with JetBlue at JFK
Emirates Airline (cq): links traffic at JFK, puts its flight code on some JetBlue domestic routes, has frequent-flier tie-in
Japan Airlines: puts its flight code on JetBlue domestic flights that link to JAL's flights landing at JFK, LAX and Boston
Korean Air: hooks up with JetBlue at JFK, LAX and Washington's Dulles International Airport
Lan Airlines: connects JetBlue in JFK to its Chilean and Peruvian flights
Deutsche Lufthansa: code shares with JetBlue via JFK and Boston
Qatar Airways: hooks up with JetBlue in JFK and Dulles
Singapore Airlines: links with JetBlue in JFK and Newark, N.J.
South African Airways: code shares with JetBlue from JFK and Dulles
Tam: links its Brazilian route network with JetBlue's domestic one at JFK and Orlando
Virgin Atlantic Airways: connects with JetBlue at JFK, Boston, Dulles and Orlando
Source: JetBlue

JetBlue, which signed its first partnership in 2007, now has 21 such relationships, with carriers as diverse as Emirates Airlinein Dubai; South African Airways; Aer Lingus EIL1.DB 0.00% of Ireland and Deutsche Lufthansa LHA.XE +0.39% of Germany. It signed up Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways 0293.HK +2.05% last week, and Beijing's Air China 601111.SH -1.35% in June.

JetBlue said the number of passengers received through its partnerships is up 40% over last year. It won't break out the total number or overall revenue gains, but said on flights between JFK and Boston, about 125 passengers a day are coming from or connecting to the partner airlines. The relationships have boosted JetBlue's passenger counts by 50 a day on both the JFK-Los Angeles route and the JFK-Tampa route, the company said.

"Rather than join an alliance and be restricted to working with a pre-defined subset of airlines, JetBlue is 'going retro' by remaining independent and signing contracts with a broad mix of airlines it sees as complementary partners," said Henry Harteveldt of consultants Atmosphere Research Group. "JetBlue just needs to be sure it doesn't have too many partners who step on its toes."

Interline agreements are common in the airline industry, and allow carriers to price and sell connections between their flights and partners' flights. But many are perfunctory. JetBlue said it puts more work into its relationships, according to Scott Resnick, JetBlue's director of airline alliances. He said he recently visited Johannesburg and Dubai in a 10-day stretch, with a stop in New York in between. JetBlue must contract how the revenue is divided up with its partners, tweak connecting times when it can and make travel agents aware of the new routing possibilities. This comes on top of the challenges of volatile fuel prices and JetBlue's relatively high growth rate, which could be upended by an economic slowdown.

While acknowledging that it is hardly blazing a trail with these types of partnerships, Mr. Resnick said, "We're selective about who we work with, the brand fit and network fit, and we're very personalized and nimble in how we work with our partners."

In a few cases, JetBlue takes the relationships further. Lufthansa, Emirates, South African, Japan Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines put their flight codes on select JetBlue flights and sell them as if they were their own. In some cases such as American, JetBlue has frequent-flier tie-ins as well.

The epicenter of the passenger exchanges is at New York's Kennedy Airport, where JetBlue commands 39% of the passengers carried on U.S. airlines and offers flights to more than 60 destinations in the U.S., Caribbean and Latin America.

"While we're only 5% of the U.S. marketplace, we have the 5% that everyone wants and needs in order to be successful," Mr. Barger said in a recent employee blog post. More than 60 international carriers fly to JFK, but most have little access to interior U.S. points unless than have a big U.S. partner through a global alliance.

Aer Lingus, JetBlue's first international partner, said the relationship enables it to offer its customers 30 destinations JetBlue serves from JFK and Boston. "We've more than quadrupled our connecting passengers in New York," said Jack Foley, the Irish carrier's executive vice president of North America, from fewer than 4% of customers before 2008 to more than 16% today. Aer Lingus once was in a global alliance, but quit.

Alliance-free Emirates teamed up with JetBlue in late 2010 and received 300 bookings in the first month, said Jim Baxter, the airline's vice president for U.S.A., Caribbean and Central America. Bookings now are running around 6,000 a month, he said. The program also "expands what we have to sell in countries outside the U.S.," he said, because Emirates can sell a ticket that takes a passenger from Orlando to Mumbai, via New York and its hub in Dubai.

Emirates plans to add a second daily superjumbo A380 flight to JFK from Dubai in January, which will represent an increase of 1,000 seats in both directions every week. "That is a challenge," Mr. Baxter said. "That is where JetBlue comes into play."

Even if JetBlue were interested in looking at a merger with American, some analysts think such a deal would face antitrust barriers because the pair would be so large at Kennedy, a slot-controlled airport with limited entry. Among U.S. carriers, American controls nearly 17% of the passengers at that airport.

 

[Flyby1206]

A little depressing when this is one of the only two reasons that I have heard that make me think AA won't be buying B6.

Lol, I was thinking the same thing. Sad