Flexjet

[BentOver]

I bet the layoff number is around 20. I haven't heard any rumors of us being sold but, that sounds like a really good idea at this point. What good is bombardier to us? Obviously, nothing.

Do you think that this is somewhat the same scenario as what is happening at CS? IE: What good is Flex to Bombardier? Very small revenue stream to Bombardier for the hassle/risk of running a whole flight department that has historically struggled to make money and has a small share of the market given the 800lb gorilla?

With CS and now Flex, I'm wondering if it's a industry wide problem now. And how soon the shoe drops at NJA or others....

 

[DUATS]

I bet the layoff number is around 20. I haven't heard any rumors of us being sold but, that sounds like a really good idea at this point. What good is bombardier to us? Obviously, nothing.

Would it not be more economical to offer an incentive package to get 20 senior guys to retire now, rather than furlough from the bottom? Knock off the highest earners, less two captain crews, no need to drop the guys who have been back less than a year.

 

[exagony]

Would save on training costs in a year when these pilots leave and have to replace/retrain pilots to fill their spot

 

[jonjuan]

Maybe this is the big announcement?

Bombardier Flexjet is taking its rebranding efforts to the next step with the addition of Christopher Bero as the company’s new director of marketing. He joins Flexjet with more than 15 years of experience in brand marketing and communications. Most recently, Bero was responsible for managing strategic marketing activities and media initiatives at Samsung Mobile Electronics. In his new role at Flexjet, he will be responsible for the development, implementation and evaluation of marketing plans and communication strategies to further strengthen the fractional provider’s market position and brand recognition.

 

[jetmaster727]

Gotta love pilots; dropping pants already!

 

[CALRepublic]

Would it not be more economical to offer an incentive package to get 20 senior guys to retire now, rather than furlough from the bottom? Knock off the highest earners, less two captain crews, no need to drop the guys who have been back less than a year.

the problem with that is some of these guys think they can fly until they're 75... some of the "highest earners" won't take it

 

[CALRepublic]

Well if Flex is being set up to be sold, I'm sure the senior cool aid drinking pilots are going to regret their rejection of getting a union on property... Union won't help keep company from being sold but would help with integration with whoever buys us.... Too late now!

and who's gonna buy you?? as far as biz jet operators go, only NJA could buy Flex, and NJA has bigger fish to fry, like staying alive.

Bombardier and Berkshire are stuck with these two for the moment. Let's be realistic, who's going to buy into this mess?

 

[gret]

and who's gonna buy you?? as far as biz jet operators go, only NJA could buy Flex, and NJA has bigger fish to fry, like staying alive.

Bombardier and Berkshire are stuck with these two for the moment. Let's be realistic, who's going to buy into this mess?

You are 100% correct!

 

[BentOver]

But I thought NJA was making $200 milion + a year:laugh:

Ok end of thread drift.. Back to Flex

 

[doylehargraves]

lol. There is not one pilot working here that saw this coming. Everyone here thought things were headed in the right direction. The reason everyone here thought that is because THAT IS WHAT WE WERE TOLD. This came from absolutely no where. The last layoff was anticipated for a long time and this one came like a fart in the wind.

 

[doh]

I was surprised because I have been flying 3-5 legs a day and that includes first and last day too. If it's so dead here, how can that be?

 

[V1 Rotate]

@doh Same here for the most part but also a lot of standby this year. If you look at the ODQ and Live Hours Variance numbers on the BB for the past few months they are way down just like in '09 before the layoffs began. Whatever the reason, none of this cool. I propose that FR take a paycut big enough to save one job. Since he can't seem to create any jobs here at Flex maybe he can at least save one.

 

[Propilot77]

Guys those numbers are based on THEIR budget. Not year over year!

 

[V1 Rotate]

That's true but the driving factor, based on what they tell us, are those two numbers, along with with Net Cum, that determine staffing levels. I'm not defending their decisions. I was just responding to Doh because a lot of us have done tons of standby lately along with watching the numbers spiral down. If those numbers are a true indicater of the company's finances then we're all in trouble.

 

[racingrob]

The frustrating thing is that there was no warning. No preventative steps. No options provided to the pilot group. Not yet anyway. From recalls and we're kicking ace to dropping the axe. Funny how that happens.

You're right - it's incredibly frustrating. No warning or attempt to prevent this from happening. How much money could the company have saved if we'd looked at reducing the yield months ago? How many of our pilots would have looked at the voluntary severance package if it had been offered earlier? Not impressed with the way the company has handled this...

 

[DirtyBeech]

You're right - it's incredibly frustrating. No warning or attempt to prevent this from happening. How much money could the company have saved if we'd looked at reducing the yield months ago? How many of our pilots would have looked at the voluntary severance package if it had been offered earlier? Not impressed with the way the company has handled this...

The dooom and gloom email from the previous week was setting the table which means that the brain trust has known about this for for two weeks minimum. In typical FJ style they elected to wait until hair on fire/let's stamp it out with a hammer mode was reached.

I'll echo another pilot on the belly in that I will be very disappointed if we cut so deeply that the yield is back up to 16 days and we're all back in FR's patented meat grinder. I'm disappointed that they didn't give the senior guys more than two days to pull the trigger on early retirement. And it's going to be interesting seeing how the fleets are effected as their are a lot of 45 and 300 guys on the bottom of the list as well as a relatively large number of 604 guys given that we just traded two FO's fleet assignments to staff it up again. Also curious to see how many people are downgraded.

 

[XBI]

This whole thing smacks of incompetent management in total panic mode. Inexcusable.

 

[V1 Rotate]

Here's some intel from the Benefits Department:

The early retirement and layoff severance will be the same. You'd be paid your daily rate X 202 days divided by 26 weeks X 6 if I remember correctly. This would be in the $17,000-18,000 lumpsum ballpark with two months of COBRA. She said also that they've had a few (whatever her definition of a "few" is) take the early out already.

 

[racingrob]

This whole thing smacks of incompetent management in total panic mode. Inexcusable.

Couldn't agree more!

 

[Ref]

I dont think I am going to make the cut, but even if I do I am out once I find something else. I have had enough of this place.