IMO, Fresh Air is absolutely correct here. Also, Kenn doesn't want a union at Flex, so that's why there won't be any pay/benefit cuts -- he knows that if he would do any cuts, the pilots would vote in a union really, really fast.
Also, let's not rewrite history when it comes to how the union came about at Flight Options. The union drive started under Raytheon's rule because they were greatly mismanaging the company. Kenn announced he was buying Flight Options just weeks before the union vote and asked the pilots to vote no and give him a chance. The problem was that the pilots were already so abused by that point and didn't want to have to wait another year (per NMB rules) to be able to do another union drive/election if he didn't deliver. Scared and abused, they voted in the union, but it wasn't Kenn's fault. Also remember that when the Flight Options transaction closed, he pledged to work with the pilot union on the initial contract. How many other execs have you seen do that lately? Yeah, he negotiated hard with the union reps. He also negotiated hard with Raytheon, Sentient, Bombardier, Everest, etc., when he bought properties from them. Kenn's a good negotiator -- that's why he's successful in the bizav segment when other companies aren't (Beechcraft and Avantair come to immediate mind here). You don't honestly believe that he was just going to roll over and play dead during the Fl Ops pilot negotiations, do you?
It's over
