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I am a former employee of Continental Micronesia, and still have friends in Dispatch there. I am hearing rumblings that a significant number of CO dispatchers WILL NOT move north to Chicagoland when the time comes. Chicago has a much higher cost of living than Houston. They have on the order of 130 dispatchers, I could see 20-30 of them retiring instead of moving.
There is nothing left for them to move onto in Chitown. All they'll get is the tarnished image of their once proud airline (CO) being brought down by shoody service and UA's poor attitude, plus getting to freeze their nuts off while the man that sold 'em up the river enjoys winter time in Houston.
What's sad is this isn't an oppurtunity many looking to move onto the majors will even consider because of the airline and location. This is yet another problem facing those of us looking to make that next step. Far less locations than before in which to consider, which only makes getting on somewhere in a good location that much harder.
Pull to Guns.........soooooo let me get this straight....Florida is so wonderful that you moved and live as an expatriate on the other side of the planet...That doesn't exactly sound like a ringing endorsement to me...
Also, I noticed neither of you actually refuted any of my points...and as to temp in FL....no matter what the numbers say, it is physiologically uncomfortable virtually throughout the year in the mildew capital of the U.S.
But hey, what do I know? I only spent 20 years there....just goes to show how peoples perceptions of the same place are vastly different....
And I'm not trying to offend....I will admit to speaking bluntly...
Last I read a few years ago that JB had a very nice tax package to keep their SOC in NYC..
In regards to retirements at SWA, I just took a quick look at our seniority list. We have 195 on our seniority list which includes sups, chiefs, and some mgrs. Of the 195, ~150 have been in the department for less than 20 years.
In regards to age, I'm guesstimating that ~30 are age 50 or older. There's only a handful of those that I could see hanging it up in the next 5 years.
Of course, we had about 40 dx'ers hit the numbers on a lottery ticket recently and split $10K between them. So, if that were to happen again, we'd have lots of openings.![]()
It's crazy for me to understand why these companies remain in these northern climates.. the cost of living is higher, its cold, its crouded.. higher taxes... whats to like..When given the chance to move, the go the wrong way.. north...
I've lived in Florida for 35 years... no income taxes, its 77 as I write this post.. lost of space at many central Florida airports to build... state tax incentives have been offered to boot.. JB turned Orlando down for their SOC which included a new building like they just built for Airtran... Some airline could buy that building at MCO soon as Airtran leaves and never missed a beat... I just don't get it.. Yea we have hurricanes.. big deal.. you can plan for them.. have an alternate SOC like Airtran did in Atlanta for those rare situations.. but with new buildings today, there is no need to leave..
We have Space Coast Regional (KTIX) nice airport with a few businesses on the proerty and the Valant Air command museum.. Melbourne, it's growing with all kinds of manufacturing.. Embraer just opened its first US plant there today for the small Phenom 100 Biz jet.. AAR is coming there and MidAir USA is moving to MLB from NY... doing refurbs on B747's.. It looks like some parts of the industry are getting smart.. the airlines.. like stone..
I would think the executives would love to discuss business on the many golf courses we have here open year round.. go figure...
I would wager that to be comfortable money wise, they would have to net a lot more than 10K each to consider retiring.