ATA pool

[its none ya]

C8 guys can kiss the RJ rumor goodbye. George already told our Upgrade Class that, the only RJ coming on this property is the B 717. He feels that the customer does not want to ride in RJ's, they want to ride in something with some room, and baggage space.

George is happy with the Saabs for what they do.

But the good news is C8 guys should get pref. hiring for the new planes, if we get them. And anybody in the pool should get an interview. I think these aircraft will be on the property before the summer is up, If the Union and Company can come to an agreement. BIG IF THOUGH!

 

[ataopsdave]

C8 guys can kiss the RJ rumor goodbye. George already told our Upgrade Class that, the only RJ coming on this property is the B 717. He feels that the customer does not want to ride in RJ's, they want to ride in something with some room, and baggage space.

George is happy with the Saabs for what they do.

But the good news is C8 guys should get pref. hiring for the new planes, if we get them. And anybody in the pool should get an interview. I think these aircraft will be on the property before the summer is up, If the Union and Company can come to an agreement. BIG IF THOUGH!

I heard the same from a TZ Check Airman

 

[Dart]

I think so to! RJ's will never be on the property if the 717 come online. I do agree with that!! Th saab is a good airplane and suits our route structure great.

But.....do you really think the 717 will be on the property by the end of the summer? Kinda hard to belive! Lots of stuff to work out first.......or maybe they already have!

 

[PingPong]

I agree with Dart...It's hard to believe a 717 would show up on the property overnight but Im hopin so just like everyone else. But is it realistic that they could have them by the end of summer? August is 3 months away. George must be the type of guy to just "get things done!"

 

[texanpilot]

I will play devil's advocate.

Is 4 fleet types at a company our size smart?

I love this place and hope everything works out, but it sounds like some pretty large decisions are going to be made. However, it's nice to hear we arent going to get locked at $37.50 for 2 more years.

 

[vclean]

Many of us at C8 knew the RJ was a carrot. The 717 will fly the expansion C8 was hoping for. The Saabs do well for the short routes, but an hour enroute is pushing the comfort level. The airframes take a beating. Max power t/o, every other flight into MDW and 10-12 cycles/day combine to put hard hours on the A/C.

I cannot see a big future if the 717 becomes reality.

 

[njcapt]

It's too bad that Bombardier isn't as hot to get rid of the Dash-8 400's as Boeing seems to be to get rid of 717's. The 400 would be a tremendous aircraft for C8, assuming a way could be found to fit it on the south ramp (or anywhere else at MDW).

C8 could do a lot more for ATA than they are right now; it's unfortunate that a decent(read: cost effective) replacement for the Saab doesn't seem to exist.

 

[ATA73Pilot]

Here's another thought....

The aquisition of the 717's will have a direct impact on our Brother (and Sister) aviators at C8.

For all intents and purposes, the 717 will be a de facto RJ for ATA.

This will severly limit opportunities for growth and expansion at C8.

As part of the negotiated "Partners" settlement that we make with the company, wouldn't it be a nice gesture of solidarity to offer an honest to goodness "Flow Through" agreement as part of the package?

It's a win/win scenario for all and costs nothing extra to implement.

 

[FlyaGuppy]

It would be a first in this industry to see the mainline pilots care enough for their regional pilot partners to work hard to ensure a future for them should that regional disappear. It would probably good for the industry to see a sign of unity like that.

The pilot groups at ATA and Chicago Express are a real top notch group of guys and gals, for sure. It would be nice to see you guys work something out.

 

[mach zero]

From FlyAGuppy

It would be a first in this industry to see the mainline pilots care enough for their regional pilot partners to work hard to ensure a future for them should that regional disappear. It would probably good for the industry to see a sign of unity like that.

Agreed!

 

[FlyBoeingJets]

I hate to break it to you guys but the EMB and the 717 are not going to fill the role of the RJ. They will do mainline type flying. After all, it works great for Airtran.

The market has changed and it is harder to fill a 150+ aircraft unless you are in certain markets. The cost savings of a 100-130 seat aircraft are significant and smart people are trying to exploit that fact. Domestic capacity has seen growth equal to 6 ATA's and yields have, once again, come down. We need to fight back.

Southwest made about $2.50 of profit per passenger a quarter or two ago. 2.5 passengers per SWA flight meant the difference between a profit and a loss.

Smaller narrow bodies are the ones making money in the most markets, not the 175+ ones on routes that continue to get more competitive. Don't get me wrong, the 737-800 is still a good way to go, but lets put it only on the routes that will work for it. The others should get different size aircraft (717 or 757). If we do it right, it will work wonders.

We are losing money by not being able to get as high a RASM as SWA. I'm betting our quarterly report will show that...AGAIN. We have to get an advantage to offset the debt burden. We need to shake things up. Will it be pay reductions or aircraft changes? Or both? I vote for the flexibility of more types of aircraft. I want the 717 on the property.

We could also use another hub that doesn't go head to head with SWA. I can appreciate the apprehension of making such a big change at ATA, but unless we change the future looks murky to me. If we don't act soon the opportunity may slip by.

 

[Heavy Set]

I'm thinking that putting 717s into PIT or CLT would be a good move and not directly compete with SWA . My question is whether you guys at ATA can build a 717 fleet fast enough - are there many idle 717s out there that you could access (and train on) right now? Also, are there enough gates at PIT and CLT to support expansion?

 

[MooseTrax]

CP Hotline

The CP hotline was pretty generic this weekend. No real news. Hopefully some news will break soon. Does anyone know when ATA will report 1st qtr stats?

 

[Citrus Jockey]

My question is whether you guys at ATA can build a 717 fleet fast enough - are there many idle 717s out there that you could access (and train on) right now?

No there is not. From reading alot of these posts it sounds as if a lot of people think there are a bunch of 717s sitting idle just waiting to be scooped up by someone. That is not the case because if there were Airtran would have tried to get them. They got all 23 AA/TWA 717s. Like someone said earlier Long Beach can only churn out 1 717 a month, and with AirTran and Midwest still receiving deliveries it will be awhile until one could be delivered to ATA. If Boeing really wanted to shutdown the 717 line they wouldn't be talking to ATA about ordering a bunch of 717s.

 

[its none ya]

Boeing is just trying to recoup some of the money they lost from the Sprit deal that ended up going to Scarebus.

The company says (take it for what is worth) that it will only take 4 months from the time we sign the deal with Boeing and the Union that the first airframe will be on the property. This would lead me to believe that Boeing has some planes somewere...

 

[jettypeguy]

First there are B717 in short term storage out there, can they be bought buy ATA who knows, heres 2 I found with a quick search, more can be found with a more detailed search;

number 1

number 2

second, just because long beach is only producing 1 plane a month dont be fooled into thinking this production line can't be sped up. Also the 757 line is shut down and could easily be retooled to a 717 line, or maybe production can begin in chicago (don't know the status of that plant though). Just remember if theres a will theres a way - if theres a customer theres a plane....

 

[Citrus Jockey]

I don't know about #2, but #1 is in Airtran colors now. Air Tran received all ex TWA 717s last year with the last one coming in January 04'.

 

[ataopsdave]

ATA put in their infoline today that they are looking at a 100 seat ac. They said they are analyzing the EMB-190 and the B717

 

[MooseTrax]

Which infoline? I just listened to the CP infoline and the MEC info line and heard nothing about either aircraft on the messages.

 

[beech1900kid]

MT,

go to the employee website to read about it