Feeling sorry for the ComAir guys?

[Ed Harley]

Anyone (Delta pilots especially) on this board feeling a bit sorry for the ComAir guys and girls?

 

[Tail Gunner Joe]

I, for one, do.

They were the pioneers of the small jet to make it work.
Sure AirWis had their 4 engined Avro's for a decade before Comair got into the jet market, but nobody jumped on that bandwagon. Because the Avro was such a risk, the common wisdom was; a little commuter could go bankrupt quick flying empty jets around.

The Canadair RJ line was built because of Comair's interest. When Comair showed the world it could make a RJ sized jet work, the American Eagles and Continental Expresses of the world jumped in (not to mention Embrear and the other RJ makers) with both feet to the tune of a couple of thousand RJ's (total). And far surpassed the pioneering Comair in size, scope, breath and depth of the small jet market.

Pioneers are one that get shot at.

I, for one, raise my glass to pilots of Comair who showed the world it could work.

 

[fugghedabowdit]

As a former Comair employee, yes, I do feel sorry for them. A bunch of great people are losing their careers, and the houses, marriages, etc. that tend to go with them.

There but for the grace of God go I.

 

[BILL LUMBERG]

I do....it's never a happy day when an airline gets shrunk or closed.

In fact those who will find themselves unemployed soon weren't even on the property when JC and his idiotic idea to put his boot in the eye of furloughed Pilots by using them as his vehicle for scope advancement. It's not their fault that their MEC Chairman tried to use his lifer agenda to completely destroy most mainline Pilot sentiments towards the whole group. It lacked class and some at the top of the Seniority list played along and agreed and nobody asked questions why or raised their hand to point out how wrong this was.

Good luck to all who find themselves in a bad place, best wishes for a soft landing at another carrier.

(See below)

TO: Comair Pilots
FROM: J.C. Lawson, Comair MEC Chairman
DATEecember 16, 2002
Your MEC met in CVG with the Delta MEC Chairman, Captain Will Buergey, at his request, to discuss preferential hiring of furloughed Delta pilots at Comair. Through this letter, I hope to dispel rumors and provide a more thorough understanding of the purpose and outcome of that meeting.

The Delta MEC, while in session at the bi-annual October Board of Directors meeting in Hollywood, Florida, formally directed the Delta MEC Chairman via resolution to meet with the Comair MEC Chairman to seek preferential hiring for furloughed Delta pilots at Comair while allowing them to retain their Delta seniority.

The general philosophy held by the Comair MEC is:

We are sensitive to the regrettable plight of all furloughed pilots in our industry.
We encourage our management to hire pilots who seek a future at Comair.
We have formally approached Comair management and our management has agreed to preferential hiring of furloughed ALPA pilots.
We agree with our company's policy that requires prospective Comair pilots to resign their seniority at their previous carrier.
We believe our Company's industry-standard policy requiring seniority resignation is sound and wise. It promotes the general health and welfare of all Comair employees and serves to protect the future of our company.
At our meeting in CVG, Captain Buergey offered preferential hiring to Comair pilots if the Comair MEC would recommend to Comair management that they hire furloughed Delta pilots and allow them to retain their Delta seniority.

Your MEC responded that hiring any pilots at Comair who do not resign their seniority at their previous carrier gives rise to numerous substantive concerns. The Delta MEC's offer of (future) preferential hiring at Delta is not sufficiently substantive to overcome those concerns and solicit Comair pilots' support. We suggested three alternative concepts, any one or all of which might lead to a mutually beneficial solution:

Relax the Delta PWA, Section 1, seat restrictions imposed upon Comair and ASA that limit our growth in 70-seat and larger airframes.
Negotiate Delta Brand Scope language with Delta management that defines all Delta flying within the Delta revenue stream to be performed solely by Delta, Comair, and ASA pilots.
Negotiate a plan for future integration of our Delta, Comair, and ASA pilots seniority lists that fairly recognizes the efforts and contributions of all.

The Comair MEC stands ready to work with the collective MEC's to bring about change that makes sense in a challenging economic environment and works for all pilots who perform flying under the Delta brand. As we stated in the Tuesday, December 3rd meeting, our door is still open.

COMAIR MEC
AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION, INTERNATIONAL
SUITE 120 3940 OLYMPIC BOULEVARD ERLANGER, KY41018
859-282-9016 FAX 859-283-5533

 

[Jetjockey]

I sure hope ALPA MECs from airlines that are hiring step up and get these pilots interviews ASAP! This program works. I've already contacted my reps.

 

[GogglesPisano]

Best of luck, Comair pilots (Lawson and the RJDC losers excluded.)

 

[glasspilot1]

It's so sad to see what's happened to Comair in the last few years. I flew for them from mid 1985 to early '88 when I went to TWA. Many of my contemporaries stayed at Comair for a career because they bought houses, had families and the like. And at the time it looked good at Comair. One of the largest regionals in the country.

When I was there Delta only owned 20% of the company. When I heard Delta bought 100% of Comair years ago I had really bad feelings about it.

 

[PuffDriver]

Anyone (Delta pilots especially) on this board feeling a bit sorry for the ComAir guys and girls?

Nope.

 

[johnsonrod]

Feel very sorry for the junior people who have mouths to feed and mortgages (including flight training) to pay. Some of the senior leadership have proven themselves idiots in the past (merge list with DAL, force furloughed Delta pilots to resign number post 911) and I don't feel as sorry for them. The senior pilot leadership back in the early 2000s did a lot to hurt the rest of the pilot group. Comair became a dirty word among Delta pilots as a result. Sad that many of those same jerk senior people will probably stick around.

Good luck to those impacted.

 

[imacdog]

In fact those who will find themselves unemployed soon weren't even on the property when JC and his idiotic idea to put his boot in the eye of furloughed Pilots by using them as his vehicle for scope advancement. It's not their fault that their MEC Chairman tried to use his lifer agenda to completely destroy most mainline Pilot sentiments towards the whole group. It lacked class and some at the top of the Seniority list played along and agreed and nobody asked questions why or raised their hand to point out how wrong this was.

You are about the only Delta pilot that understands this simple fact. Losers like PuffDriver seem to be representative of the rest of the tards on this website.