ASA MGMT Wasting more $$$$

[Pogue Mahone]

C'mon. Spill the beans. You've got my curiousity up now.

It's 'cause he's one biscuit shy of three hunert pounds, I reckon....

 

[~~~^~~~]

Don't you think this might be Jerry following thru on what he said he would do? When will some of you realize that these aren't idle threats?

Jerry has done exactly as he said he would do in the crew lounge. Can anyone think of a reason why Jerry Atkin would not execute the plan he outlined?

Not only does Jerry Atkin's plan make economic sense (for Jerry), it feeds ALPA a crap sandwich at the same time ALPA is trying to sign up pilots at SkyWest.

I encourage those on this board to post solid, objective reasons why this post is wrong (not personal attacks wich have nothing to do with anything in the end game). Focus on what matters people.

Candidly, I think we will probably get a contract that gives our CNC much of what it wants - but - I think it will not matter for long if ALPA and our CNC fail to get scope language that keeps SkyWest from transferring the 700/900's off the property.

How do you say "pyrric victory" Frank?
~~~^~~~

 

[~~~^~~~]

Know Your Enemy

Francisco A. Lorenzo (b. 1940) is a former airline executive and corporate raider in the United States. His controversial and confrontational tactics, especially with labor unions, for a time made his Texas Air airline holding company the largest in the world, but also threw chaos into the travel industry and won him the moniker "the most hated man in America."
Lorenzo was born May 19, 1940 to Spanish immigrants in Queens, New York. After attending public schools, he graduated from Columbia University in 1961 and Harvard Business School in 1963, and went to work in the finance divisions of Trans World Airlines and Eastern Air Lines.

In 1969 he and Robert J. Carney established an aircraft leasing company called Jet Capital Corporation. In 1972 Jet Capital acquired Texas International Airlines (TI), a struggling intrastate carrier based at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas previously known as Trans-Texas Airways. Donald C. Burr, the later founder of People Express, was made vice-president.
While Burr pushed for lower fares to attract more customers, Lorenzo turned his attention to drastic reduction in costs, especially labor.

Lorenzo and Burr continued to disagree philosophically, however, and Burr left shortly after the passage of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978.
Lorenzo saw opportunities in the newly deregulated national market. He had competed with other carriers successfully in the unregulated intrastate market, whereas the major airlines were exposed to competition for the first time in an environment of high fuel prices and high interest rates.
By reducing costs (especially at the expense of labor unions) and using junk bond financing, he had the tools to create an empire from distressed carriers. Indeed, the weakness of the giants was revealed in 1979 when Lorenzo forced the iconic Pan American World Airways into a bidding war for National Airlines.
Pan Am, keen to enter the U.S. domestic market, won the takeover battle but at a price of $400 million; the merger proved disastrous for Pan Am (see related article) but TI profited handsomely.
[edit]

New York Air

On June 11, 1980 Lorenzo created a new Jet Capital-controlled holding company for TI called Texas Air Corporation, which he used to dismantle TXI and to acquire other airlines.
Shortly after forming the company, he transferred gates, airport slots, aircraft, and funds from TI into a new venture called New York Air.
Based at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, New York Air would compete against the Eastern Shuttle, but it gained far more attention as a completely non-union carrier.
In addition to sharply reducing labor costs there, he used the threat of transferring operations away from TXI to New York Air to win concessions from TXI's pilots union, whose contract had expired.

 

[~~~^~~~]

Know your enemy #2

Continental Airlines
Texas Air continued to acquire stakes in airlines. TI was merged into Los Angeles, California-based Continental Airlines in June 1982. TI ceased to exist and the new Continental moved its base to Houston Intercontinental Airport. Lorenzo scored a coup when Texas Air gained majority control Continental on October 31, 1982. Lorenzo ruthlessly took Continental into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Not only were striking workers forced to return, but the law stipulated immediate cessation of union contracts. A new agreement was then imposed which furloughed a significant proportion of employees, cut the wages of retained employees nearly in half, and added stricter work rules and longer hours.... labor relations afterwards were caustic, and employee morale and customer service suffered.
In 1985, Texas Air attempted a takeover of Trans World Airlines. Although TWA's management favored Lorenzo over his rival Carl Icahn, TWA's unions feared Lorenzo so much that they negotiated special concessions with him, and the Board accepted Icahn's lower offer.
[edit]

Frontier and People Express

In October of the same year Lorenzo made an offer for a second Denver carrier, Frontier Airlines, opening up a bidding war with People Express, headed by his former associate Don Burr.
As with TWA, the unions pushed hard to avoid Lorenzo, and as with Pan Am, People Express won only a Pyrrhic victory.
It paid a substantial premium for Frontier's high cost operation, funded by debt, and Lorenzo-controlled Continental undercut them sharply.
On August 24, 1986 People Express filed for bankruptcy, and on September 15, 1986, People Express and Frontier were added to Texas Air's stable.
On February 1, 1987, People Express, New York Air, and several commuter carriers were merged into Continental Airlines and ceased to operate under their own names.
[edit]

Eastern Air Lines

Meanwhile Lorenzo had also been pushing negotiations with another troubled carrier, Eastern Air Lines. In an attempt to gain leverage over the unions, Eastern's chairman, Frank Borman, threatened to sell the airline to Texas Air.
The ploy doubly backfired, however; the unions declared a strike, and Lorenzo was able to acquire Eastern for $615 million, a substantial discount, on February 24, 1986.
Lorenzo gained a computer reservation system, an extensive new network, and one of the signature names in American aviation, and at the end of 1986 controlled the largest airline company in the world outside the Soviet Union.
Lorenzo repeated many of his signature tactics. He transferred many of Eastern's assets to Texas Air, including its reservation system and several aircraft, and reorganized the company into divisions that could be sold off, including its Northeastern air shuttle.
He placed Continental planes — and their non-union pilots — onto Eastern's routes. He failed to gain leverage over the employees, however, and tensions remained high.
When the International Association of Machinists struck in March 1989, and were joined by both the flight attendants and pilots, Lorenzo pushed Eastern into bankruptcy.
However, he accomplished far less than he had with Continental due to the 1984 reforms. Besides the militancy of Eastern's unions, especially the IAM and its head Charles Bryan, Lorenzo's personal image was low not only among airline workers, but in the general public.
President George H. W. Bush did not act on a National Mediation Board recommendation to appoint a presidential emergency board to attempt to settle the strike.
Ultimately, Judge Burton Lifland, overseeing the bankruptcy case, ruled Lorenzo "unfit" to run the airline and named Martin Shugrue as its trustee. In 1990 Lorenzo sold his personal investments to Scandinavian Airlines System and also resigned as CEO of Continental, shortly before that airline filed for its second bankruptcy inside of a decade.
Having sold off its shuttle to Donald Trump (refitted and redubbed the Trump Shuttle) as well as routes, gates, and aircraft, Eastern was ignominiously liquidated in 1991. Texas Air was renamed Continental Airlines Holdings, Inc. to reflect its primary remaining subsidiary.
In the same year, American Broadcasting Corporation News anchor Barbara Walters called Lorenzo "the most hated man in America."
In 1993 Lorenzo tried to found a new airline, but the United States Department of Transportation did not allow him to do so.

 

[ASARJMan]

If Bizjet, Pennekamp, ASARJMan are any indication of how our union reps are, we are in serious trouble.

At least we know how to preflight the RJ. Seemd Mr Driver here was observed taxing out at Peachtree City a few years ago and about halfway down the taxiway the flaps came down! Hmmm, and this dude's an IP?

VOTED IN FAVOR!
Have another biscuit, why thank you, I'll have three mo!

 

[~~~^~~~]

Also voted in Favor

My understanding is that the flap inspection will go away once the entire fleet is confirmed having some sort of newer part number position sensor installed. Perhaps he knows something we don't while operating his part 91 flight.

We don't get to do low passes in RJ's at Peachtree City either - so my guess is that the FAA provided a waiver for that entire flight operation.

Anyway - what has any of that got to do with us getting a contract, or our airplanes being transferred?

These guys in the G.O. (who happen to be ASA pilots who like airplanes and the idea of more of them) all are saying the same thing about ASA's future. They are more in a position to know that you and I. They also have their pay based on the contract pay rates - so their interests should be more or less aligned with ours.

Again, lets focus on the objectives, using objective information.

 

[Anaconda]

The following info was received by an IP in RGT last week. Skywest, Comair, and CHQ do not have the OWE and are not looking to get it for two reasons.
1. The cost of keeping all aircraft certified. The last three days that I have flown, I've had mechanic on my airlplane as soon as I hit the gate to make sure that every life vest holder has a security tag on the box. Evidently the FA's cannot do this. My flights have not been anywhere near the water.
2. It took ASA a year to get the OWE. He stated that for any other DCI carrier to get the OWE it would take a about a year.


701EV

comair is in the process of getting the exemption now for flight to CUN

 

[John Pennekamp]

It's 'cause he's one biscuit shy of three hunert pounds, I reckon....

Bingo!