Continental Airlines

[daysleeper2621]

I have been reading through the threads on this site for the past few months and have not ever come across any news about Continental Airlines. How are they doing these days? Losing money, gaining money?? A flight instructor at my school just got a job with the company and was wondering how the future was looking for the company. Thanks guys for the info.

 

[ILStoMinimums]

Got a non-flying job at CO? I think they have under 100 furloughees and should have everbody on-line this year.

 

[satpak77]

Continental now (2004) is actually considered one of the "better managed" airlines out there, and allegedly has the youngest fleet amongst the major carriers. (This may no longer be true with LUV's growth and new aircraft arrivals)

If you read the book about Gordon Bethune, which came out a few years ago, you will see the tremendous changes that have occurred at CAL since the 80's when things were not so peachy. Note that Frank Lorenzo was in charge in the 80's.

 

[Dewey Oxberger]

CAL still has about 440 pilots on furlough. If the rumors of big impending recalls are true then there is a chance they could all be back by the end of next year. Then there is still the 112 on "Schindler's list" that get to flow over, and hopefully the few hundred more guys at COEX who have letters of hire if CAL will actually honor them. Don't expect off the street new hires any time soon.

CAL is doing OK financially. They will attempt to show doom and gloom until the pilot contract is done, then suddenly they'll be rolling in cash and of course mgt will get their huge bonuses. All of that "great place to work" rhetoric only aplies to the non-union koolaid drinkers. Flight Ops is run with the Lorenzo mentality and work rules are so lacking that despite higher pay rates the CAL pilot contract is still cheaper than UAL or AMR. And don't forget the very vocal minority of scabs in IAH who are about to succeed in splitting the MEC and will then try to get ALPA off the property.

Of course, I'm just another poor silly soul at Express, this is just my opinion, I could be wrong.....

 

[daysleeper2621]

Thanks for the info guys. When I said I knew someone who just got a job with continental I meant he was hired to fly for COEX. He seemed really excited about the company and his job. Although who wouldn't be excited getting hired by an airline these days when you're still in your early 20's. I hope to intern with COEX this coming up spring and hopefully follow in my friend's footsteps one day.

 

[Boeingman]

And don't forget the very vocal minority of scabs in IAH who are about to succeed in splitting the MEC and will then try to get ALPA off the property.

Of course, I'm just another poor silly soul at Express, this is just my opinion, I could be wrong.....

Minor correction here. There are many non scabs at CAL that want a split from the MEC. To just summarize that it is just the scabs who want it is at best immature and in the least a denial about what is going on.

With my seniority I don't fly with any scabs (since about 99% are Captains) mostly 87 hires - 90 hires, even ex Express pilots. The general feeling is the same, they all want Express out of the MEC and to move on.

As far as the conspiricy about getting rid of ALPA, not going to happen. To paint with such a broad brush is not very smart either.

 

[satpak77]

shouldn't we see most of the CAL "scabs" be gone within the next 3 to 5 years anyway?

 

[Boeingman]

shouldn't we see most of the CAL "scabs" be gone within the next 3 to 5 years anyway?

More like 5 - 10, but I haven't really paid much attention to the dates. Aside form a very vocal and small minority, most are on board with the union and don't concern me as much as some who didn't cross and were hired after the strike.

 

[Ponchus pilot]

As far as the conspiricy about getting rid of ALPA, not going to happen. To paint with such a broad brush is not very smart either.

I've heard this from a few scabs as well as non scabs. They say they want to decertify ALPA and they cant do it with the Coex guys on board. Either way I don't think it will make much of a difference for us.

 

[Nova]

Divide and conquer.

 

[daysleeper2621]

Why does Continental (at least some of the employees) want Continental Express to separate itself from CAL? Are they not bringing in a ton of revenue the way ASA and Comair are for Delta? My hopes were to one day fly for COEX and then transfer over to Continental whenever I got the chance. Does this process seem doubtful to you guys?

 

[Nova]

We're now seperate companies which leads some to believe that we'll be better with seperate unions. Could be but only time will tell. We do generate money for CAL through our Capacity Purchase Agreement but isn't the deciding factor when it comes to keeping the unions together. It's politically driven, not monetarily driven.

As for working at both ExpressJet and Continental, now it's even easier than it was before. Pre-ExpressJet IPO the flowthrough agreement dictated that pilots at Continental Express had to move up to CAL in seniority order at a 1:3 ratio (COEX pilots to Off the street pilots). That meant if you were number 1000 in the company you had to wait for 4000 pilots to be hired at CAL before your number would be called (1000 from COEX and 3000 off the street). There was no way to speed up your chances of getting to CAL, you couldn't even apply directly like the off the street pilots.

Now with it being seperate companies you can apply like every other pilot out there once they start hiring.