Any news about Mesaba???

[Raskal]

we are 110 pilots heavy at the mo...i bet realignment notice to come very soon cos i dont think to many old guys are gonna take the early out

I'm not entirely clear on what exactly a realignment entails but from everything I've read it seems to be a pretty expensive option for the company to exercise. Am I correct in thinking they'll try just about everything else to avoid it?

 

[Motown]

So, bottom line and in all sincerity, what facts don't I have straight?

All dates within a couple of months. May be missing some details:


08-2000 ++ Last Avro arrives. We now have 36 jets (Avros) and about 72 props (Saabs).

06-2001 ++ Contract negotiations begin. Company wants a Zero Cost Contract.

09-2001 ++ 9/11 = all hiring stopped. Stagnation started. FOs on the verge on an upgrade won't see the upgrade for another 3-4 years.

10-2002 ++ Still stagnate. Still negotiating contract. Company recently formed MAIR Holdings and made Mesaba Airlines a subsidiary. MAIR buys Big Sky Airlines in Montana, viewed as a thinly veiled threat to shift all planes and flying to them if we didn't start caving in to company demands. (On a side note, we went from 36 Avros to 35 when a couple of mechanics plowed #28 into a jetbridge.)

10-2003 ++ Contract negotiations still going nowhere. Company threatens to park all jets and become a 49-Saab all prop airline. Company begins to park Avros.

12-2003 ++ After our 30-day cooling off period expires, the company shuts down the airline in anticipation of our strike. We never actually walked off the job, so we continued to get paid for a few days while the final agreement was reached.

01-2004 ++ New contract signed. Magically, NWA announces the return of our Avros, and the 5 or so parked in the desert return to service.

2004-2005 ++ Somewhere in late '04 to early '05 our upgrades began again. I can't remember why... maybe we were getting more Saabs from PCL? We still had only 35 jets (Avros). Average seniority for a Saab upgrade drops to about 6.5 years in late '04 and 5 years in early 2005.

04-2005 ++ The company announces that we are getting 15 CRJ-200's. For the first time in half a decade morale is high at Mesaba. (It didn't last long.)

09-2005 ++ NWA and Delta declare bankruptcy on the same day in front of the same judge in NYC.

10-2005 ++ Mesaba Airlines is drooling at the prospect of doing the same, but we have no debt. No problem: we shift $148M to MAIR Holdings, sign a "services" agreement to pay the holding company some obscene 7-figure service fee, arrange for NWA to miss a single payment to us, and problem solved! The airline is bankrupt (even though we're profitable), and the request is made to slash our contract. Pay no attention to the fact that Big Sky has operated at a loss every quarter since they were purchased while we posted a profit during each of those same quarters... we are bankrupt and they are not. The CRJ-200 deliveries stop after we receive just 2 aircraft. We fly a fleet of 2 CRJs for a few months, and then a fleet of just 1 for another year or so (the 2nd one became the aircraft used to keep the ACA/Independence certificate active while Compass was developed.) PCL took delivery of new CRJ-200s after we canceled our deliveries, but these were not our planes. I'm still a little fuzzy what happened there... at some point I just stopped caring.

12-2005 ++ Most of the 5 to 7 year pilots who just recently upgraded are pushed back to the right seat. The process of parking all of our jets (35 Avros and 2 CRJ-200s) begins in 2006. 10 to 15 year pilots are flying props again.

2006 ++ Even as all of our Avros and many of our Saabs are parked, and we become an airline with 49 Saabs and 1 CRJ, our labor groups continue fighting the fake bankruptcy.

12-2006 ++ Under threat of concessions forced by the bankruptcy judge, we vote in pay cuts with some snap back provisions. 72-hours later NWA announces that we are receiving new jets (they didn't even try to make it look unrelated).

05-2007 ++ 7 to 8 year FOs are just beginning to upgrade again.

09-2007 ++ The first CRJ-900 arrives for proving runs. Somewhere soon after the announcement is made that we will finally receive 15 CRJ-200s after we canceled deliveries two years earlier. The planes are coming from PCL, but these are not our planes because we never actually took delivery of our planes. I'm still a little fuzzy what happened there... at some point I just stopped caring. NWA pulls the strings and we're all pawns in their game.

06-2008 ++ 8-9 year pilots finally see the left seat of a jet, and life looks good from the outside... but morale remains low. None of us trust that the good times will continue. We're all waiting for stuff to be taken away again.

I am sure I have some dates wrong, and I might have missed a few milestones... but this should give you an idea.

To address the original point, in late April 2004 we were getting 15 firm orders of CRJ-200s with options for 25 more (or was it 35 more?). Those firm orders disappeared 6-months later when we entered our fake bankruptcy. Furloughs followed.

 

[WMUSIGPI]

Actually it was 20 firm orders with the next 15 options, if used, guaranteed to come to us for the CRJ 200s plus just before the bankruptcy we signed a new 10 year agreement to keep operating the Avros (that they obviously had NO intention to honor) Otherwise I think you pretty much have it. And now the recent newhires are having their taste of the crap that is this industry with the games with the 15 additional 900's

 

[submachXJ]

And to add we were acquired by NWA in April. Here is the quote from the Mesaba website.

"April 24 - Mesaba Airlines emerges from bankruptcy protection and is officially acquired by Northwest Airlines as a wholly owned subsidiary of the longtime partner. The successful restructuring, brought about by the dedication of the airline’s employees, competitively positions Mesaba for future growth in the industry."

 

[submachXJ]

Raskal,
Had you been around XJ for the last 10+ years, you'd know that this is the first time that XJ has been proactive in hiring for aircraft. Whether it be the Saab, the Avro, or the last bunch of CRJ's, they always waited and played the short staffed game. (Anyone else remember canceled summer vacations?) In a sick way, it's ironic that management here is being treated from "their upper management" the way they've treated the pilot group. . . Being s$%t on at the last minute. I'm not defending management here, but they were planning on more than just 5 aircraft coming. That doesn't help the guys at the bottom of the list though. No furloughs until J.S. came to run the ship (A.K.A. he drove the ship right into the ground). You reap what you sow J.S. and J.R.

J.S., btw, are you more concerned with winning aircraft contracts and flying or ground servicing contracts?

Everyone has there Ideas of who the the evil one was during the bankruptcy, but my money was on Foley as the man behind the curtain (MAIR sham) That I had the most contempt for. JS was in my opinion not the one calling the shots. I am not advocating for the guy but he has not been the top dog calling the shots till NWA made us the wholly owned in April 2007 or possibly earlier when the court severed Mesaba from MAIR.

 

[Crizz]

To address the original point, in late April 2004 we were getting 15 firm orders of CRJ-200s with options for 25 more (or was it 35 more?). Those firm orders disappeared 6-months later when we entered our fake bankruptcy. Furloughs followed.

Im sure you meant 2005...

Just to avoid confusion.

 

[Motown]

Im sure you meant 2005...

Just to avoid confusion.

Oh yeah, thanks, I did mean 2005. Good catch!

 

[PBRstreetgang]

Direct entry Captains??? Really???

The F/O's are coming up on child molester charges, no one to upgrade.
PBR

 

[Fly4PayNoMore]

Just issued Time Off Without Pay notice today for the month of March. I don't know the totals, but they were looking for:

Capt and FO MSP SF3
Capt and FO DTW SF3
Capt and FO MEM SF3
FO MSP CRJ200