CommuteAir to buy QX Q200's?

[Q400 Gear Bitch]

Had a guy on the plane yesterday who said that Commutair was gonna purchase 16 QX Q200's with an option for 27 of em. Any commuteair guys out there hear that? He also said that the first one would be operated by commuteair 2/07 with one a month arrival after that. Anyone? Buehler? Buehler?

 

[ScumBum]

sounds right

Had a guy on the plane yesterday who said that Commutair was gonna purchase 16 QX Q200's with an option for 27 of em. Any commuteair guys out there hear that? He also said that the first one would be operated by commuteair 2/07 with one a month arrival after that. Anyone? Buehler? Buehler?

I am not from there but I heard the same thing from a guy who works at Commutair. He said they wanted to have them a few months sooner so they are gonna be trying to get things going quickly. Good news for them, they've been waiting for a cabin-class tp for a long time.

 

[onionluvr]

16 Q200's with options for an additional 12. First one on property 1/07 and one a month thereafter.

 

[ReverseSensing]

16 Q200's with options for an additional 12. First one on property 1/07 and one a month thereafter.

Don't suppose you can say what your source is?

 

[onionluvr]

Company memo....issued two days ago.

 

[WestSide]

What would this mean in regards to upgrade at QX?

 

[Icelandair]

rumour at QX was we were losing 9. Now it is up to 16?

 

[ReverseSensing]

What would this mean in regards to upgrade at QX?

Upgrade is always anyone's guess, but the original plan to remarket 9 200's and take delivery of the 400's was only a net increase of 4 airframes. Not exactly staggering growth. If this rumor is true, we'd be about even at the end of '07, with a net loss in '08 assuming we don't exercise some more 400 or RJ options or get something else.

Originally it seemed like upgrade would come down over a year once the last pre-9/11 new-hire upgraded next year, but it may creep back up to 6 years based on this rumor. Who knows. Betting on upgrade times is usually folly anyway.

 

[WestSide]

Good point- I guess the real question is whether or not they will excercise the options on more RJs or 400s...or bring back some RJs from Denver.

 

[P-Dawg_QX]

They'll probably give us some crap about how they can't afford to replace the airframes because we're paid too much, so we need to take a paycut. Paycuts or furlough!

But of course I hope I'm wrong.

 

[ReverseSensing]

Paycuts or furlough!

"Fellas, we're doubling the seating available in 1/4 of our fleet, which means we're gonna have to add one FA: someone's gotta pay for that."

Paycuts or furlough? I don't think it'll come to that, but if that's the next play out of management's playbook, I believe they'll be told to pound sand -- by the CNC, EXCO, and pilot group.

How about this scenario: Since we don't have a parent letter with Ayer Group, 190's will be proposed as a growth platform. When we don't agree to fly them for the same rates we have now (or less), an alter-ego plan will be hatched. We've got to get the parent letter. Everything else is window-dressing if we can't scope the Ayer Group.

 

[ceo_of_the_sofa]

Any idea of what the payscale will look like for the Dashes at Commutair?

 

[P-Dawg_QX]

We've got to get the parent letter. Everything else is window-dressing if we can't scope the Ayer Group.

Absolutely agreed. The good news is that's at the top of the to-do list for our negotiators right now.

 

[ReverseSensing]

Absolutely agreed. The good news is that's at the top of the to-do list for our negotiators right now.

Yeah, I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall when our negotiators said, "sure, we'll take a look at your opener, but we've got this little parent letter which we're gonna need you to look at."

Oh well, I guess in a way, time is on our side. Whaddya think? 2010?

 

[Swann757]

16 Q200's with options for an additional 12. First one on property 1/07 and one a month thereafter.

I used to work there up to about a year ago and too bad this is at least 7 years behind for a larger turboprop.

 

[ReverseSensing]

Any idea of what the payscale will look like for the Dashes at Commutair?

It'd probably be a good deal for the Commutair pilots if the payscale came with the airframes. Don't know if that's realistic. Oh, and by the way, if you Commutair guys get 364, that stain in the FO's seat was there when I got the airplane. I swear.

 

[CA1900]

LOL, I just pity whoever gets N856CA when we return it. It smells like burning, spoiled fish every time we climb out, and nobody can figure out why. (Think the "unbelievable B.O." in Jerry Seinfeld's car.) Ewww.

 

[PropPiedmont]

LOL, I just pity whoever gets N856CA when we return it. It smells like burning, spoiled fish every time we climb out, and nobody can figure out why. (Think the "unbelievable B.O." in Jerry Seinfeld's car.) Ewww.

Then you must have some uneducated mechanics and pilots. Every Dash pilot knows what that smell is.

Or you must have some extremely well maintained equipment and have never had to deal with an inverter going bad.

 

[shamrock]

Any idea of what the payscale will look like for the Dashes at Commutair?

FO: $16/hour for the first 90 days, $18/hour after that, $1/hour raise each year.

CA: $30/hour starting, $1.20/hour ($1.40?) raise each year after that. No longevity for pay purposes when upgrading.

Wait a minute, that's the same payscale as the 1900. Oh well, the money for the FAs has to come from somewhere!

Does Terry still work there? I think she'd be great at FA recruiting. Her FAs probably wouldn't take any cr*p from the pax, but then again they might get offended when the pax say "excuse me, sir" to get their attention. uke:

 

[Swann757]

FO: $16/hour for the first 90 days, $18/hour after that, $1/hour raise each year.

CA: $30/hour starting, $1.20/hour ($1.40?) raise each year after that. No longevity for pay purposes when upgrading.

Wait a minute, that's the same payscale as the 1900. Oh well, the money for the FAs has to come from somewhere!

Does Terry still work there? I think she'd be great at FA recruiting. Her FAs probably wouldn't take any cr*p from the pax, but then again they might get offended when the pax say "excuse me, sir" to get their attention. uke:

It is too bad that the minimum wage and the cost of living has increased since Commutair came into the business but not the pilot salaries.

 

[C425Driver]

"Fellas, we're doubling the seating available in 1/4 of our fleet, which means we're gonna have to add one FA: someone's gotta pay for that."

Did you expect the ticket sales to pay their salaries?!? Silly you!

C425Driver

 

[shamrock]

Did you expect the ticket sales to pay their salaries?!? Silly you!

C425Driver

Such bitterness! You must have worked at a DCI carrier!

 

[NWaviator]

When I interviewed with BgiSky a few months ago they said that they were talking with Alaska and Horizon about filling in the gaps with the 1900 where the Q400 won't be full. Anyone else hear that?

 

[ReverseSensing]

When I interviewed with BgiSky a few months ago they said that they were talking with Alaska and Horizon about filling in the gaps with the 1900 where the Q400 won't be full. Anyone else hear that?

Sounds like they were referring to more codeshare, maybe. Big Sky picked up the business out of PIH when QX closed the station. QX might pull the plug at PDT next year when the current EAS runs out. Big Sky would be an obvious candidate to replace that service.

Supposedly the 400 makes money half-full, and the additional deliveries will probably initially be utilized on existing high load factor segments, so I don't think QX's near-term plan is to code share with Big Sky on our existing route structure.

What happens down the line, when and if the last of the 200's are phased out is an open question. With an all 400 fleet (believe it when I see it!), will QX drop frequencies to places like EAT, YKM, YYJ, etc.? Or will there be more triangles, e.g. SEA-EAT-YKM-SEA? Who knows.

 

[Icelandair]

Options on 27 of them? QX has 28, what are they going to do leave 1 in the fleet for good luck?

 

[propsarebest]

Options on 27 of them? QX has 28, what are they going to do leave 1 in the fleet for good luck?

363???

 

[dkwid]

http://www.ainonline.com/Issues/07_06/07_06_tprop_80.htm

Meanwhile, another Continental Connection partner, Plattsburgh, N.Y.-based CommutAir, has finally secured the financing to obtain a long-coveted fleet of 30-seat turboprops to fly from Cleveland. Now flying 14 Beech 1900s, CommutAir has agreed to replace the 19-seat turboprops with between 10 and 15 thirty-seaters, most likely Saab 340Bs. On hand in Dallas, Saab Aircraft Leasing president Michael Magnusson said that he has placed the last of his portfolio’s 340Bs. American Eagle will begin returning its 25 340BPlus machines in September at an average rate of one per month until the end of 2008

 

[CA1900]

Then you must have some uneducated mechanics and pilots. Every Dash pilot knows what that smell is.

Or you must have some extremely well maintained equipment and have never had to deal with an inverter going bad.

Well yes, we do have extremely well-maintained equipment, but I have an an inverter fail on me. However, in the 1900, the inverters are in the rear section of the engine nacelles, on the top side of the wing. It'd be a neat trick being able to smell that from the cockpit!

 

[PropPiedmont]

Well yes, we do have extremely well-maintained equipment, but I have an an inverter fail on me. However, in the 1900, the inverters are in the rear section of the engine nacelles, on the top side of the wing. It'd be a neat trick being able to smell that from the cockpit!

Is that anywhere near your bleed air source or ACM? I'm unfamiliar with the 1900.

 

[CA1900]

No, it's nowhere near it at all. The air inlet is near the center of the nacelle (it's a reverse-flow engine), drawn from an intake just behind and below the propeller, in a position that's below the wing. The inverter is in the portion of the nacelle on the top side of the wing, all the way in the back. Here's a very quick and dirty picture I drew that might help.

The only way I could see a burning inverter's smell going into the intake is if we were parked with a strong tailwind or something. Moving forward (which is when we smell the ... ugh... fish), I can't see how it'd get in. Oddly enough, it usualy only does it as we're climbing or descending through the teens; normally nothing on the ground, or at high altitude. Weird....

I'm still convinced that MX is putting a fresh mackerel under the floorboards during each inspection, just to torture me.