I should have trusted my intuition. I should have known better than to post "factual" info from the union newspaper. I don't know why (and will not speculate why) the scheduling committee authored an article without clearly stating it was purely union-driven. The article states, in part:
"On Wednesday, October 15, the scheduling committee met with Jim Wimberly, Greg Crum, and the Flight Operations staff to discuss improving pilot productivity." (FYI, Jim is Chief Operations Officer and Executive Vice President. Greg is Vice President, Flight Operations. Greg is a pilot, Jim is not.)
"SWA will continue to take new deliveries without hiring additional pilots until the manning targets are met and then increase the amount of available open time. The company reaffirmed their commitment to honor our agreement and meet the contractual workday targets."
The chart titled "Hiring and Manning Forecast 2003-2004" followed. It detailed no new hires until June 2004, and only 200 for the year. I was utterly speechless as this contradicted everything I had previously forecast. It made NO sense.
Well, I am VERY happy to report the article was entirely union-driven and does NOT reflect the current plans of the SWA pilot hiring department. I am VERY happy to report SWA is still planning on first quarter classes. I am also VERY happy to report SWA is planning to interview for new hires in 2004. At least they are as of 11 a.m. CST today, 4 November 2003. However, I cannot say when the first class will start, or when interviews will resume.
No one...I repeat...NO ONE is capable of predicting total 2004 new hires at this time. That goes for me, Chase, or even the guy in charge of the SWA pilot hiring program. SWA management is literally projecting pilot requirements with each new aircraft delivery.
I am also pleased to report the online application and update project is nearly finished. Look for it soon. It will be the definitive source of info on SWA pilot hiring, and will put a lot of rumors to rest and prevent others from starting. This thing is going to be the "cat's meow."
So, poolies, rest comfortably (including you CoopDog). The SWAPA Reporting Point article was entirely speculative. There is no current mandate from SWA management to drastically cut hiring beyond reasonable manning levels. BTW, the Reporting Point is distributed to all 4,197 pilots at SWA. There is a great deal of hand-wringing within the ranks of the line pilots, as well.
There is a valuable lesson for all to learn here. I rarely post on FlightInfo unless I have valuable info to pass on. I bit this hook big time, and decided to beat Chase, BigRed, Snoopy and myriad others for a change and post the new info. I will ensure it never happens again from me. I should have trusted my own intuition and hard factual data showing these projections could not be possible. Hang in there guys...the roller coaster ride from Hell will be over soon!
"On Wednesday, October 15, the scheduling committee met with Jim Wimberly, Greg Crum, and the Flight Operations staff to discuss improving pilot productivity." (FYI, Jim is Chief Operations Officer and Executive Vice President. Greg is Vice President, Flight Operations. Greg is a pilot, Jim is not.)
"SWA will continue to take new deliveries without hiring additional pilots until the manning targets are met and then increase the amount of available open time. The company reaffirmed their commitment to honor our agreement and meet the contractual workday targets."
The chart titled "Hiring and Manning Forecast 2003-2004" followed. It detailed no new hires until June 2004, and only 200 for the year. I was utterly speechless as this contradicted everything I had previously forecast. It made NO sense.
Well, I am VERY happy to report the article was entirely union-driven and does NOT reflect the current plans of the SWA pilot hiring department. I am VERY happy to report SWA is still planning on first quarter classes. I am also VERY happy to report SWA is planning to interview for new hires in 2004. At least they are as of 11 a.m. CST today, 4 November 2003. However, I cannot say when the first class will start, or when interviews will resume.
No one...I repeat...NO ONE is capable of predicting total 2004 new hires at this time. That goes for me, Chase, or even the guy in charge of the SWA pilot hiring program. SWA management is literally projecting pilot requirements with each new aircraft delivery.
I am also pleased to report the online application and update project is nearly finished. Look for it soon. It will be the definitive source of info on SWA pilot hiring, and will put a lot of rumors to rest and prevent others from starting. This thing is going to be the "cat's meow."
So, poolies, rest comfortably (including you CoopDog). The SWAPA Reporting Point article was entirely speculative. There is no current mandate from SWA management to drastically cut hiring beyond reasonable manning levels. BTW, the Reporting Point is distributed to all 4,197 pilots at SWA. There is a great deal of hand-wringing within the ranks of the line pilots, as well.
There is a valuable lesson for all to learn here. I rarely post on FlightInfo unless I have valuable info to pass on. I bit this hook big time, and decided to beat Chase, BigRed, Snoopy and myriad others for a change and post the new info. I will ensure it never happens again from me. I should have trusted my own intuition and hard factual data showing these projections could not be possible. Hang in there guys...the roller coaster ride from Hell will be over soon!
