Commutair

[DLconnection]

Whats the latest on COMMUTAIR? Do they still have some pilots on furlough or what? Does anyone know if they are rumored to start hiring sometime in the future?

There have been a lot of rumors floating around indicating that Commutair might start doing some flying in other Continental hubs. Is there any truth to these rumors or are they just rumors? Does Commutair plan on taking on any new aircraft deliveries?

 

[mckpickle]

Yup, Im at coex and we're hearing these as well. Either be them or Gulf-crap. We are not happy!

 

[Fozzy]

"We are parking all our turbo-props as the compnay wants to be all jet. " --mckpickle 9/7/02

I guess that is the price you will pay. Some routes will never require a jet. It is just a fact. It sucks, but it is a fact.
Hell maybe my ESOP in commutair will be worth something someday.

 

[LaxPilot]

Those rumors are on going. The pilots at CommutAir get more info from the CALEX guys than their own company. Hopefully the pilot group at CommutAir can get a union together, aka. ALPA and if that is done, CommutAir may hire some of the guys who are on the street at CALEX. (but they need the union big time)

Also look at other jet regionals. They all have some sort of turboprop (company owned or codeshare) flying into there hubs from smaller cities. Take the new route from HPN to EWR. CALEX is putting a 135 on it and they may only fill 7 or 8 seats on it. The crew will be doing the before landing checklist right after there climb check, (there will be ninja hands, all for a 20 min, flight for 7 pax, losing money. Would it be better for a small turboprop to fly it, make money for all involved and have a furloughed CALEX pilot flying for and hired by CommutAir, than nothing at all).

It was not the pilots decesion to go all jet, it was managements.

Get ALPA at CommutAir and everything will fall into place.

 

[SuperD]

DLconnection,


All of our furloughed pilots have been recalled for some time now. We did a bit of hiring back in April and May, but nothing since then. The pilot seniority list is pretty stagnant right now since nobody is leaving, but this really doesn't differ from any other company in that respect. However, we are losing a couple of pilots here and there to AirTran. I really don't see much hiring in the future unless we do get larger aircraft.

The Saab rumor has been floating around here for some time now. Apparently, this is the plane we would be using to supplement CO at their hubs. However, I have a very hard time believing that this will happen at all. Those of you not at CommutAir do not understand how long it has taken for us to get this ALB hub up and running, and how it seems practically impossible to introduce a completely different aircraft into a completely different hub. We still have many bugs to work out here in ALB, but the operation seems to be working as we are on the brink of profitablility (I hear). My opinion is that management will want to just wait and see how well we do in the coming months before we venture out and get new planes. But hey, anything can happen in this business.


LaxPilot,


I agree that the new HPN-EWR jet service is a bit impractical. By the time a passenger gets through security, boards, waits 20 minutes to take off while 10 biz jets land, gets vectored halfway to Wilkes-Barre, and deplanes they could have driven it much easier. But if they're gonna do the service, why not use a plane which with they can make money? The Beech would be perfect in this capacity. However, EWR is only letting cabin-class turboprops in at the moment.

As far as your wish for ALPA around here, very doubtful, but it would be nice to have some sort of job protection. As much as I would like to see CALEX pilots get back into the cockpit, CommutAir won't hire furloughees unless they give up their number. Plus, if we do get larger aircraft CommutAir would pay for them, not Continental. So they really wouldn't have a say in who we hire to fly them. Not quite a "Props-For-Jobs" agreement.


SuperD

 

[mckpickle]

DLconnection,

As much as I would like to see CALEX pilots get back into the cockpit, CommutAir won't hire furloughees unless they give up their number.

SuperD

Not saying that it WILL be Commutair, but if it is wanna bet?

Trust me I dont agree with this but just responding to rumors. I'm all for staying in our own pond.

 

[SuperD]

Not saying that it WILL be Commutair, but if it is wanna bet?

Well, since you guys are getting more info about this than we are, what information do you have that substantiates the claim that we will be forced to hire COEX furloughees? Remember, Continental came to US with this offer.

Believe me, I wouldn't mind having some of you guys here, but I don't think it's right that CO would tell us who we could or couldn't hire.

SuperD

 

[Jack Hass]

Isn't all of this just Super!

 

[mckpickle]

Well, since you guys are getting more info about this than we are, what information do you have that substantiates the claim that we will be forced to hire COEX furloughees? Remember, Continental came to US with this offer.

Believe me, I wouldn't mind having some of you guys here, but I don't think it's right that CO would tell us who we could or couldn't hire.

SuperD

All rumors and Im not saying its you guys at all. Its just you and Gulfstream are the 2 names brought up. As far as you having to hire our guys I dont agree with it either. We should be flying those routes if they need flying so bad!

 

[NEDude]

Don't hold your breath

Commutair is not going into any Continental Hubs. The best guess here is that this is being floated around because of your contract negotiations as a way of saying "you can be replaced". A thinly veiled threat if you will.

Commutair would have to double the fleet size in order to support hub flying. That would mean upgrading all current FOs and conducting new hire training. Commutair does not have the capacity to conduct that ammount of training in a short period of time. In other words it would take probably six months after a deal became finalized before Commutair would be able to handle such an endeavour. You COEX guys should not lose any sleep over this.

The most substantial rumor involving Commutair recently was serving LaGuardia on a dual codeshare agreement with Delta and Continental to three or four cities in the northeast. But that has apparently fallen through.