Comair Classes???

[bvt1151]

"saw the training plan as well, and one of two things are controlling it:

1) the removal of 30 aircraft has not yet been officially announced (although the union has been warned)."

So your source for the removal of 2 70 seaters and all others you have mentioned is an UNOFFICIAL WARNING from someone to the union?

The CMR MEC has not put out anything so is there another source?

While I agree that these aircraft are leaving, your source is definitely in question.

Then perhaps you should speak to him personally.

 

[JECKEL]

"Unfortunately, all I have are ideas; most of which will inevitibly reveal a fatal flaw once they're bounced around some of the better minds. What is important is that ideas start bouncing around some of the better minds, and I don't mean union leaders. I commend them for their service...yada yada yada, but there needs to be some direct pressure placed on them to fix this problem. The most effective way of doing this, I've found, is to brainstorm ideas, refine the good ones, and offer them publicly as suggestions. If the suggestions are accepted, great. We both know they most likely will not, in which case the pressure must continue and organization and increased population of such pressure would be the next step."

What kind of crap answer is that?
Are you studying to be a politician?

Brainstorming ... Bouncing around ideas ... Refine ... Conitinued pressure

Come on, ya running for city council?

I guess the bottom line is that you have NO IDEAS.

Thanks for your time.

 

[JECKEL]

Who is the "HIM" you want me to talk to?

 

[bvt1151]

You sound like you're on the Comair MEC. The Comair MEC are the only people I know who become so offended by other pilots brainstorming without the overall "supervision" of the MEC. They've even been so kind to offer their "supervision" to pro-stans now as well.

This is a public forum, and while it has outstanding benefits, you've clearly demonstrated one of its flaws. Inevitibly somebody is going to offer the suggestion "one contract," "re-regulation," or my personal favorite "fire management and let pilots run the show." This is a problem beyond complaining about, and we need real people who are willing to accept their own mistakes and the hard reality to fix it. I respect the opinions of the pilots on this board, but we all know its not limited to just pilots.

This has to happen. Not just by the ever-present threads titled "ALPA needs to do this...", but some hard, and perhaps painful recognition of the situation and brainstorming. The union leadership is a smart group of people whom I all respect individually, however their tendency to control all information and decision making requires their exclusion from this group. I'm not suggesting a coup, rather an aggressive effort at fixing the problem that obeys all rules and by-laws. The leadership must always be a representative of the pilots, and as such, remain susceptible to the pressure of the pilot group.

I do have ideas, but I'd rather not compromise them by spilling them on a public board just to counter your attacks. My ego is insignificant in such an important situation, and I'm more than willing to take a loss in reputation for
a step forward for our pilots.

 

[CMRJetDriver]

Fresh off the Comair Employee Website.




Fleet UpdateJuly 5, 2006
As part of the Chapter 11 process, Delta has been in active negotiations with various lessors of Comair's fleet since last Fall. Many of you know our initial restructuring plan identified approximately 30 aircraft at risk for rejection and return through this process. Accordingly, we modified our business plan and reduced company-wide staffing for a fleet complement of approximately 144 by the end of 2006.
We have only returned six aircraft to-date. However, through the remaining lessor negotiations, we expect to lose another 22-28 planes beginning in early Fall with all returns complete by the time Delta and Comair emerge from bankruptcy, targeted for the first half of 2007. While Delta is seeking to focus the returns on 50-seaters, we are aware of a few 70-seaters today that are at risk for return. That number could change depending on the outcome of negotiations with lessors.
Additionally, Delta has recently reached an agreement with Bombardier covering a wide range of issues. One result of this agreement is our ability to convert our 40-seat aircraft to 50-seats with the majority of the costs being covered by Bombardier. Comair's Maintenance team will begin the conversions in July. Even after the conversions are complete, these aircraft are still subject to negotiation and potential return.
The fleet negotiation process is still very dynamic, which is why we cannot provide exact aircraft counts for returns or specific tail numbers to help those involved in the operational planning areas. However, we are using this time to prepare for the anticipated changes and minimize operational impact. Our Planning & Performance team is coordinating closely with Delta's Network Planning and Comair's operating departments to balance the aircraft schedule and operating requirements. The goal is to ensure an effective transition that minimizes the impact to our people and operations.
To briefly summarize some key impacts:
Network schedule - The initial return of aircraft and capacity reductions will likely coincide with seasonal reductions for the typically lower-demand Fall season. Delta Network will then evaluate appropriate changes as traffic increases for the holiday period.
Staffing - Our objective is to manage crewing levels through attrition and avoid furloughs. We have adjusted hiring, and we will require higher crew utilization through the heavy travel periods of July and August. This is a better scenario than hiring and training crews only to furlough them within a matter of months. The overhead and support staffing levels have already been reset with the planned fleet impact. Additional reductions in these areas are not anticipated.
Additional Maintenance work - The Maintenance Planning team is drafting a schedule and aligning support requirements to convert our 40-seat aircraft to a 50-seat configuration. We anticipate the Cincinnati Heavy Maintenance line will continue this work through the end of 2006 and possibly into early 2007. While we never want to lose aircraft, there is room for optimism. As we get through our restructuring, we can work to replace our fleet losses by competing aggressively for new aircraft opportunities with larger-gauge aircraft with Delta and other mainline carriers. Only with restructuring to a competitive level is it realistic to achieve our long-term goal of increasing our larger-gauge aircraft footprint and restoring our growth.
As always, thank you for the continued care of each other and our customers. As lessor negotiations and fleet changes become clearer, additional information will be shared.

 

[RJ Bum]

Six month lag time is NOTHING in this industry. Delta told us last winter they needed to get rid of 30 aircraft...while they were bringing on 30 Mesa aircraft.

Who is flying where is really not my concern. What is my concern is that Comair has lost 30 aircraft worth of the highest paid pilots, to be replaced by Mesa's lowest paid new-hires. If you can't see the obvious connection here, I'll waste no time arguing with you. Rather, I'll spend the time dealing with pilots who are interested in keeping it from happening again.

First of all, I'm not arguing with you. If anyone SEES the obvious outsourcing to lower paid pilots in the DCI system is the MCO crews. (I'm one of them) It is definatly not out of sight out of mind down here. He11, we share everything down here with them from the gates, tugs crewroom down to the soda machines.

I was merely pointing out the original arrangement with Freedom. We have all heard about loosing 30 a/c, they have been holding that over out heads since Randy was here. Nothing new here.

 

[V-1]

A thought:

Perhaps instead of ALPA organizing informational picketing at the airport terminals, ALPA should instead organize informational picketing at flight schools nationwide.

Reduce the supply of prospective candidates for this career, and the cost of producing the product will rise accordingly. One would think that a dose of the new reality prospective regional pilots face might be a powerful tool to use.

 

[standaman]

Fresh off the Comair Employee Website.




Fleet UpdateJuly 5, 2006
As part of the Chapter 11 process, Delta has been in active negotiations with various lessors of Comair's fleet since last Fall. Many of you know our initial restructuring plan identified approximately 30 aircraft at risk for rejection and return through this process. Accordingly, we modified our business plan and reduced company-wide staffing for a fleet complement of approximately 144 by the end of 2006.
We have only returned six aircraft to-date. However, through the remaining lessor negotiations, we expect to lose another 22-28 planes beginning in early Fall with all returns complete by the time Delta and Comair emerge from bankruptcy, targeted for the first half of 2007. While Delta is seeking to focus the returns on 50-seaters, we are aware of a few 70-seaters today that are at risk for return. That number could change depending on the outcome of negotiations with lessors.
Additionally, Delta has recently reached an agreement with Bombardier covering a wide range of issues. One result of this agreement is our ability to convert our 40-seat aircraft to 50-seats with the majority of the costs being covered by Bombardier. Comair's Maintenance team will begin the conversions in July. Even after the conversions are complete, these aircraft are still subject to negotiation and potential return.
The fleet negotiation process is still very dynamic, which is why we cannot provide exact aircraft counts for returns or specific tail numbers to help those involved in the operational planning areas. However, we are using this time to prepare for the anticipated changes and minimize operational impact. Our Planning & Performance team is coordinating closely with Delta's Network Planning and Comair's operating departments to balance the aircraft schedule and operating requirements. The goal is to ensure an effective transition that minimizes the impact to our people and operations.
To briefly summarize some key impacts:
Network schedule - The initial return of aircraft and capacity reductions will likely coincide with seasonal reductions for the typically lower-demand Fall season. Delta Network will then evaluate appropriate changes as traffic increases for the holiday period.
Staffing - Our objective is to manage crewing levels through attrition and avoid furloughs. We have adjusted hiring, and we will require higher crew utilization through the heavy travel periods of July and August. This is a better scenario than hiring and training crews only to furlough them within a matter of months. The overhead and support staffing levels have already been reset with the planned fleet impact. Additional reductions in these areas are not anticipated.
Additional Maintenance work - The Maintenance Planning team is drafting a schedule and aligning support requirements to convert our 40-seat aircraft to a 50-seat configuration. We anticipate the Cincinnati Heavy Maintenance line will continue this work through the end of 2006 and possibly into early 2007. While we never want to lose aircraft, there is room for optimism. As we get through our restructuring, we can work to replace our fleet losses by competing aggressively for new aircraft opportunities with larger-gauge aircraft with Delta and other mainline carriers. Only with restructuring to a competitive level is it realistic to achieve our long-term goal of increasing our larger-gauge aircraft footprint and restoring our growth.
As always, thank you for the continued care of each other and our customers. As lessor negotiations and fleet changes become clearer, additional information will be shared.

Considering the fleet is not at max utilization (as I peer into remote). With anticipated cuts for the winter months. While disappointing I am pretty sure it is a no harm no foul situation. Pretty sure the equation will change again in lets say about two minutes.

 

[wmuflyguy]

That memo is crap. They announced the return of a bunch of aircraft in January. After the LOA was passed, the aircraft that were supposed to leave ended up staying.

Now that the company couldn't coerce the FA's into taking a 8.9 mil pay cut, they have to go bak to the pilots and ask for them to take the paycut anyway.

So of course, NOW we are REALLY going to lose 22-28 planes, unless we agree to it again.

I hope our mec will let us vote on the "revised" LOA, so it can be voted down.



Oh and as for out staffing, I'm on reserve and credit 102.5 hours(83 hours block) in June. The month was pure hell, and July hasn't started any better.

 

[bvt1151]

First of all, I'm not arguing with you. If anyone SEES the obvious outsourcing to lower paid pilots in the DCI system is the MCO crews. (I'm one of them) It is definatly not out of sight out of mind down here. He11, we share everything down here with them from the gates, tugs crewroom down to the soda machines.

I was merely pointing out the original arrangement with Freedom. We have all heard about loosing 30 a/c, they have been holding that over out heads since Randy was here. Nothing new here.

Didn't mean to sound argumentative. The 30 aircraft currently under question did not enter the equation until after bankruptcy. This was the same time Freedom signed a deal to fly 30 aircraft for Delta. It is a one-for-one transfer of aircraft from Comair to Freedom. Just because they're not flying the same airplanes doesn't change a thing as it applies to pilot groups: Comair shrunk by 300 pilots while Freedom grew by 300 pilots. One would not have happened without the other. Management knows this, and we just sit back and say "well, it must have been a coincidence, or something."

We've lost our grasp of the situation, to the point where we're not even sure what we need to fix. Sure, we all want pilot salaries to increase, but low salaries are really just a symptom, not the problem. Low ticket prices? Same thing; a symptom of the real problem.

We are trying to enforce rules that don't apply in this capitalistic game. Management does not have an inherent advantage over us. We just don't understand how to play the game. We've given up the initiative and seem to have no desire to get it back. We're constantly suprised by events that should be easily predicted, if we understood the constraints within which events are happening. I'm in no way saying I understand these things. I'm saying we, as pilots, need to refocus on the basics before we can compete with management.

We have to understand the problem before we can solve it. With that said, what exactly is the root of our problem?