Great Lakes, Big Sky Questions.....

[Cardinal]

Nothing's ever ominous at Lakes, just slightly less temporary. What I mean to say is that in the early days both seats will be quite junior in STL. As the base matures, both seats will grow more senior.

Take the PHX base: When it opened Lakes had just a handful of pilots that lived in PHX. Those pilots took it, and the rest of the base was staffed with people who would have had to commute anyway, to either DEN or PHX. At times a new captain could hold a line in PHX compared with reserve in DEN, so they bid PHX. As time goes on everybody learns that GLA has a PHX base, attracting more newhires that live in PHX. Thus over the course of a year or a little less PHX FO starts to go senior, as those pilots are now reluctant to upgrade because they may not hold PHX, and so become a big block of seniorish PHX FOs. NAtural attrition occurs, those FOs can now upgrade and stay in PHX, so they elect to do so, becoming a similar block of entrenched PHX CAs that aren't going anywhere for a while.

The situation will be similar in STL, except that we have all of 0 people who currently live in STL. People like yourself who never would have considered Lakes 6 months ago are suddenly attracted, and you'll never have to see Denver and will upgrade in a very resonable timeframe. You're the first wave, so don't worry. I can think of one captain who is even remotely interested in being STL based. You'll be one of the first newhires who actually wants to be there and isnt being displaced to Misery.

 

[Boris Badenov]

Sweet. Thanks for the info.

Incidentally, what would you expect the lines to be like in STL? I suppose that Lakes has Junior Manning, so I can probably expect to fly a lot. Which on $15/hour is probably a good thing. A lot of daytrips, or can I expect to overnight in exotic locales like Spingfield? Again, I realize that this is all speculative at this point, but any theories are appreciated. And thanks again.

 

[thepotato232]

I suppose that Lakes has Junior Manning, so I can probably expect to fly a lot.

Congratulations, you just passed your job interview!

If you're from STL and you want to fly, then you've probably found the right place. Despite the short-haul nature of the STL route structure, you'll likely see a lot of overnight trips. My guess is that there will be a lot of high-speed lines out there, if you'd like to pick those up in order to spend more time at home. With 15 crews out there (up from the originally-proposed 5), I don't know how much junior manning there will actually be. This is just my guess, but the first few months of GLA's STL service may not be very time-heavy for those crews.

 

[Trogdor]

Latest news: STL is on hold indefinately.

 

[Boris Badenov]

Thanks for the news. Back to the drawing board.

 

[thepotato232]

Yep, just got the STL news myself. Lakes just doesn't have the crews or the aircraft for that kind of expansion right now. The rule around here is still not to believe any news/rumors about domiciles until we're actually flying there. I can't see how Lakes could simply back out of the STL flying, so I would think that the addition of the domicile is more of a "when" question, rather than "if".

 

[Trogdor]

Its always an "if" around here.

 

[pgcfii2002]

Which base is junior? PHX or DEN?

 

[Trogdor]

PHX basically doesn't exist as a base anymore.