ATA Growth - Where is it coming from?

[Heavy Set]

It is exciting to see all of the discussion about ATA hiring. Not to be disrespectful, but could someone please tell me where the growth is coming from?

I know that ATA continues to add 737-800s, 757-300s, etc. (replacing already phased-out 727s and L10-11s), but I don't know of many new route additions (besides Ixtapa recently). I also know that ATA's MAC contract has been renewed and maybe extended. I, like many, have heard the rumors about ATA adding 767s as well soon. Midway can only grow so much with the limited gates, etc. - right?

Anyone have any ideas? I hear about all of these newhire classes and I just wonder about new hubs or new routes with new planes. Just would like some clarification.


Good luck to everyone hired or interviewing - lucky people...

 

[ataopsdave]

ata is going to be turning their structure into something like southwest. The 767 cannot land at mdw and i am not sure what they will use it for, but ata has two major hubs which are mdw and ind. The also have some focus cities such as lax and sfo that go to HNL and OGG. They also have just announced nonstop IND-MIA and nonstop EWR-SFO continuing on to HNL. The reason they are hiring alot of pilots is because I think that they want to get their Funjet contract back. They had to drop part of it after the war started because we did not have enough planes to do mil and charter.

 

[sayagain?]

Heard that we lost some of the Funjet flying because Ryan underbid us. At least this is what some of the DTW agents told us.

sayagain?

 

[1800 RVR]

Growth...

A lot of growth is coming from an increase in block hours. From my understanding, ATA has been understaffed for some time. This is due to the fact that we want a/c utilization to go up even higher than it is now. As we all know, an a/c on the ground doesn't make any money. Management wants to fly these new planes upward to 13 hours a day, if not more. More flying = more pilots = more hiring. You will see more redeyes between select markets to reach this goal, as well as increased frequency to current makets, and possibly, some new ones. I think there is GOOD NEWS on the horizon...

 

[ataopsdave]

actually we are still doing the charters out of DTW-LAS. We are also still doing CLE-LAS. I know that transmeridian got the ORD-las flying. We also do the DFW and IAH flying.

 

[Heavy Set]

Can someone remind me:

1. How many new airplanes ATA will receive through end of 2003

2. How many airplanes on order and option total (and which types)

3. Expected pilots hirings to handle new aircraft/routes - any estimates


Also, is there much of a difference between 737-800 and 757 flying besides Hawaii flying for the 757s? Does one fleet handle more charters (MAC or otherwise) than the other? Do the 757s fly many MAC charters to Europe and Middle East - and is that common for the 757s (what % of total 757 schedules)?


Thanks

 

[ataopsdave]

we are going to have a total of 39 737-800's, we currently have i believe 31, we will have a total of 11 757-300's and i believe we have them all, and we will have 15 757-200's and we have all of them. I heard they plan on hiring about 60 more pilots through the end of the year. Most of the military flying is done on the L1011 and the 757. All of the funjet flying is done on the 737-800.

 

[jjbiv]

What a timely question. Keep your eyes open tomorrow!

joe

 

[ataopsdave]

today ata had its eraning conference call and reported a net profit of almost 40 million dollars. They also said that they were planning on replacing the L1011s. They did not say however with what ac, probably the 767 i think, however they also said that they do ot have enough money to pay for their leases in 2004 and are currently negotiating with the lessors. I dont know how we can get the 767 if we dont have enough money to pay for the planes we currently have. They did say that they were confident on restructuring the leases and negotiations were going good.

 

[MDP727]

In response to growth......

A culmination of events has come to fruition. I feel one main reason for the amount of hiring at ATA is the implementation of our new pilot contract. We now have a well needed credit cap. The scheduling section of the contract is far more restrictive.This infused at an already understaffed airline has had a drastic impact on crew staffing. Combined with expansion and managements drive for increased aircraft utilization equates to a tremendous hiring pipeline. Averaging 8 new hires every three weeks. Doesn't sound like a lot, however before a big hiring year at ATA was maybe 60 or 70 pilots.
A lot of folks would disagree with me, however, I think the Funjet type market of flying is a dying breed for those interested in being long time players in the scheduled service side of the industry. I don't think anyone beat us out of our contracts, I think management named the price and wouldn't do it for less. It doesn't make good buisness sense to fly a new airplane one or two legs a day and park it. Remember ATA is still the largest North American Charter airline too. They've been players in this market for a very long time and know what works. Competing with the non- scheds at this level doesn't make sense for us in todays market. The age of the internet is making it even tough for these tour operators to survive.
A most recent post suggested 767's were on short order and would be an addition to the L1011 fleet. Perhaps made possible through a deal in negotiations concerning debt. Financiers don't want airplanes back, they want compounded interest. They will often restructure debt with the commitment of more aircraft deliveries as long as the company is viable in todays market. More deliveries equals more compounded interest over the long term and no returned airplanes.
Well just have to see where the chips fall.