Sunday, October 16, 2005
This is a story of courage and diligence. The courage to take a stand, and the diligence to see it through.
There was once a company in the regional airline industry that commanded the seventh largest US domestic airline carrier position. That company started in the early eighties and went through several name transitions to end up with Trans States Airlines (TSA) as it is known today. The airline made its mark in the industry as a company that code shared, or provided feeder service, with major airlines to fill a niche that seemed to be a growing trend by the majors in an attempt to defray the costs of an inefficient and outdated hub and spoke business model. An additional benefit to the major airlines by code sharing with smaller carriers was the more cost effective smaller jets that could be scheduled more frequently, thereby allowing more travelers access to more cities at a fraction of the cost that it took to fly larger airplanes fewer times a day.
Even labor was cheaper. In this industry you get "paid for what you push", and the regional carriers were pushing nothing larger than fifty seaters instead of the two hundred and fifty seaters that the majors still had in inventory. Competition for code share agreements became tighter and wages for pilots and crew began to decline as labor is commonly the only mallable factor that allows a regional carrier to compete with other regional carriers in the same class.
TSA, a private company owned by a single individual, had been successful through its resourcefulness in tough times to capture opportunity that larger public companies found difficult to move on because of the very nature of their corporate structure. Uninhibited by investors or shareholders, TSA could make decisions quickly to take advantage of new market opportunities before other companies could make up their mind. The strategy worked, but the market was about to change to follow a new trend that TSA, through all of its resourcefulness, would not legally be able to partake. Researching its code share agreements with other airlines, particularly American, TSA was limited by Union clauses that limited it to flying jet aircraft to fifty seats or less. This limitation allowed TSA to help American grow its American Connection business model to a substantial size, which in turn brought TSA into the jet market almost doubling its aircraft inventory. What the industry didn't know was that this market would saturate very quickly, forcing the majors to start looking at larger aircraft once again. The fifty seat jets were just not large enough nor profitable enough to meet industry demand.
An overhaul of the major airlines existing aircraft fleet was simply too expensive, especially with the profit losses from poor business models and looming bankruptcies that plagued the industry. If that were possible, the majors would not need the regionals. New code share agreements for larger equipment, primarily the seventy to one hundred seat range, would be an immediate answer to the problem. United Airlines was among the first to announce that it would code share all of its domestic route structure to the regionals. Most regional airlines were making money and had the capital to invest in new aircraft, but were locked out by scope clauses in their contracts and could not accept these new opportunities to fly larger aircraft in code share agreements with the majors. TSA was among them.
Imagine the feeling of surviving decades just to be shut out at the very moment it seemed the market was finally opening up to the underdogs. There had to be a way. Something had to change.
It was then that the idea to start a parent company came into play for TSA, and that is when Trans States Holdings (TSH) was born. Creating a parent company allowed for the pursuit of a completely new certificate, separate from TSA, that would allow the purchase of larger aircraft and the acceptance of the new market opportunities uninhibited by scope clauses or contractual obligations. This process would take some time, but it was the intent of TSH to start immediately to increase their chances of success once everything was in place. They needed to create the new Holding company, staff it, then start the ball rolling on creating a new certificate under TSH. Everything would be controlled by TSH, and TSA would still be able to honor its contractual scope clause agreements with its code share carriers, thus keeping the business that already had.
It was brilliant. Not that this hadn't happened before, but that it would happen quickly enough to be one of only a handful of competitors in this new market. Something that was direly necessary in order to secure the future of TSH, which included TSA. The new certificate would eventually be called ************************* Airlines, LLC. As a separate carrier controlled by TSH, this new company would be the vehicle that all would instill new hope to carry TSH into the future of US domestic air travel. Or would it...
The TSA pilots saw this new sister company as a threat to their very existence, and not at all a savior of their future even though the mjority of the TSA pilot group has an average 75% turn- over rate. Pilots came to TSA to get the coveted FAA Part 121 Pilot In Command (PIC) hours and move on to a major airline, thereby effectively using the airline as a stepping stone to "higher" employment.
Even so, local ALPA union leadership for TSA immediately began a campaign against *************************, and publicly persecuted anyone who "crossed the line" to help start this new company. Demeaning comments and derogatory statements were published on internet lounges, ie.
www.tsalounge.com and
www.flightinfo.com, and printed on flyers handed out at various airports around the country in an attempt to build an atmosphere of fear for anyone who would dare work at *************************. ************************* employees were quickly labeled "scabs", which is a term used for individuals who cross a picket line during a strike. They were also labeled non-union employees even as they were courted by one of the largest unions in the country, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. They were accused of helping in the "race to the bottom" by accepting poor working conditions and low pay even though a union contract was in negotiation with industry average or better figures. Blacklists were created by TSA pilots as a scare tactic against new hires at ************************* in an attempt to make them quit or defamate their character. Propaganda websites were created to elevate the level of awareness TSA pilots believed the industry should know, ALPA filed lawsuits and Alter-Ego grievances stating ************************* as a "pariah" alter-ego in the industry and that it was illegally being created to circumvent TSA and ALPA. Skywest Airlines, a true non-union carrier who would also be a major competitor in this new market setting the industry standard on the low side, did not even get this kind of treatment directed against its company or pilots.
The realization that this was an internal issue that stemmed from TSA and TSA alone, was quickly coming to light. Nobody else in the industry seemed to care what was happening at TSA. Surveys of most industry professionals did not even know ************************* existed. ALPA National leadership even stood down when it was finally determined that ************************* was not illegally created, and tried to pursue ways to make ************************* ALPA members instead. It still remains a mystery how that was supposed to help the TSA pilots when the ************************* pilots, under ALPA or Teamsters, would remain a separate company with a separate seniority list under a separate collective bargaining agreement. ALPA, with a history of corruption at the local level, was the last union the ************************* pilots wanted. The Teamsters would give them a fresh new start. The propaganda grew into such elaborate and elastic lies, that it became evident no amount of retort would make a difference. It would only help to muddy the waters that were already hard to interpret. The public would just have to find out for themselves. A little research would bring the truth to light...
continued on next post................
Take some Vagasil by the way why don't ya
