Independence Air to cease all operations in Jan.

[yasir1212]

[FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva][FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva][FONT=ARIAL,]I got this from another board...

Well it is official. Its looks like IDE will tank at the beginning of the year. I am a 3+ year flight attendant at Independence; and I can tell you I definitely was on the wagon drinking the kool-aid... taking my daily injections. And for everyone reading this... if you were an employee you would have believed as well. Management definitely sucks... but I have to give them credit for being outstanding liars. I received my furlough notice today via certified mail. (I have typed the letter verbatim at the bottom of this post.)

I have completely lost all respect for mgmt... as my furlough notice is dated December 23, 2005... the exact day that our President was on the employee hotline... pumping us up on outstanding Las Vegas and San Juan load factors and how things are looking up... just as our furlough notices were fresh off the print. The notices were mailed Christmas Eve and I received them today. Merry F'in Christmas FLYi!!!

Check out the hotline and listen for yourself: 866-465-9309.

December 23, 2005

RE: Furlough

Dear Flight Attendant ######:

As you know, FLYi, Inc, the holding company for Independence Air, has been actively engaged in securing investors in, or purchasers of, the Company as it attempts to reorganize under Chapter 11 of the United States bankruptcy Code.

The Company expects that is it is unable to secure significant external investment or a sale of all or substantially all of its operations before January 7, 2006, it will permanently cease all operations and separate all employees at all locations sometime during the period January 7-21, 2006.

In accordance with Section 16.A.4 of the collective bargaining agreement between the Company and AFA covering flight attendants, this letter shall constitute notice that you will be furloughed effective January 7, 2006. The Company retains the right to amend or rescind this notice of furlough.

Sincerely,
Jeff Rodgers
Vice President, Employee Services

(Sorry for any typos)

So it is official... to all of you IDE nay sayers... you win... you were right. I just wish the best for all of my colleagues and much happier new year!!

Regards[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]

 

[sweatro]

I am sorry for all the good people at Indy(ACA) that our losing their jobs. I dispatched there in 96/97'. Unfortunately for you folks, Skeen/Moore have proven to be the incompetent excuses for "management" they have always been.

 

[grog_sit_reserv]

They weren't all that bad, it was just a really bad time to go it alone. I'll bet fuel costs will be on the epitaph of IDE.

Sorry to hear the battle looks lost, maybe you'll be saved in the 11th hour.

Good Luck

 

[DH2WN]

reserv​

​

[/left]]They weren't all that bad, it was just a really bad time to go it alone. I'll bet fuel costs will be on the epitaph of IDE.

Sorry to hear the battle looks lost, maybe you'll be saved in the 11th hour.

Good Luck

When every airline CEO and analyst says it's a stupid idea when oil was at $30/barrel then you can bet Skeen and Moore were all that bad. Gary Kelly stated in June FLYI would be done by Dec. he was but a week off.

It was probably the worst decision in the annals of aviation lore.

 

[capt. megadeth]

Of course they lied....they had to keep the kool-aid flowing so they could finish packing up their golden parachutes. I would bet they won't be walking away empty handed from all this.

Good Luck to y'all!

 

[Tim47SIP]

Tough times!

How many aircraft will hit the market? This will affect many of us more than you think. This isnt good news for anyone.

 

[Dash8301]

My regrets to all Indy(ACA) as well. I had a lot of friends over there some of you I have lost contact with, Best wishes.


TIM47SIP
I think the majority of thier planes are already on the market. I think they have 11 A320's and a handful of CRJ's left.

 

[Propsync]

You folks have all of my respect. It takes brave people to risk it all. Ultimately, you did the right thing at the wrong time. Given better fuel prices, I think you would have had a better chance. On top of it all, it's a horrible time of year to hear news like this. Good luck to you all in the New Year.

 

[ClubORD]

Thank you propsync...given the opportunity, I would do it again!

 

[blueridge71]

My condolences to all the Independence Air employees. I had high hopes for IDE. I echo the sentiment that it was a good idea at a bad time. The days that I spent at ACA/IDE were some of the best days of my life. It was a great organization that deserves a better fate.

Vaya con Dios, Go with God, my friends.

 

[aa73]

A-MEN...

I'm even waxing a little nostalgia over the B29 gates...!

Best of luck Blue Ridgers. ACA ROCKED!

 

[Going2Golf]

I will never regret the day that Tom and Kerry announced that we were breaking from UAL and going on our own.
I know alot of the Blueridgers felt that they would rather flounder on our own than spend one more day under the UAL codeshare.

hope that everyone finds a safe landing in what ever area they head for.

ACA/INDY 01-05

 

[Always deferred]

Ditto here. Would do it again in a heartbeat. I just hope all you other WOs and Contract carrier guys have the opportunity to feel the pride of flying under your own name someday.

 

[PHXFLYR]

Thank you propsync...given the opportunity, I would do it again!

Good for you! I jumpseated on you guys quite a bit in the beginning and you could just sense the excitement of the employee group as worked to get
Indy up and running. You guys will be missed

PHXFLYR

 

[say again]

LONG LIVE THE 328!!!! Good luck guys and gals!!!!:beer:

 

[skyaddict]

Hear hear on "long live the DoJet", it will always be my first love as turbines go. And as for the now clearly silly gamble - as the British SAS say, "who dares wins." True, even without hindsight some of the marketing mistakes were catastrophically stupid from the get go, but at the time I was a little giddy too, and to this day don't regret our saying no to Orneryscheme.

With hindsight, most of us would have been spared misery by being furloughed much earlier (and moving on that much earlier!) but at least preserving the company as a future player. To burn half a bill in a year is truly amazing. The ACA/Indy story, though small compared to the dead or dying legacies, would make a great chapter for a follow-on volume of "Hard Landings." But what a great employee group it was... I had such great times there, even with the downslide it was for almost 3 of my 4 years. I have non-reved and jumpseated for 9 months now since leaving you guys and my heart goes out to the amazing job the remaining employees have done to make it a popular (albeit money losing) operation with pax even as the cliff approaches and morale plunged.

It was a hell of a ride guys and gals... good luck out there, shame on management for being so dishonest down to the last hour while packing those golden parachutes, and good luck to all those who are still being played as pawns in the Regional airline whipsaw game too. Cheers.. and here's to the memories...

P.S.- are they really going to play those tired and worn comedy safety announcements on the last day?!

 

[j41driver]

They weren't all that bad, it was just a really bad time to go it alone. I'll bet fuel costs will be on the epitaph of IDE.

Yep, you're right. A really bad time to go it alone was all...a start up with 87 RJ's...16 times a day everywhere...with no advertising...and no way to get tickets except flyi.com (flyi who??) sounds like a solid plan to me. Must have just been the expensive gas.

The truth is that mgmt at this company made a ton of mistakes beginning on or before day 1 that when compounded together killed the airline.

 

[satpak77]

My question is what banker is loaning/funding/supporting these yahoos and others to get A319s and RJ's in the fleet, when in hindsight it was mismanaged from the start.

Above managers then walk away with zero repercussions or personal accountability

WTF

 

[Drill Sgt. Dad]

From the first day I walked onto the property at ACA, I saw how incompetent mgt was. I saw how this company wasted money like you would never beleive. Too bad we didn't have UAL and DAL to finance our constant incompetence after both parties seperated from us. It cracks me up how mgt still made the same stupid idiotic mistakes over and over and only tried to correct them after it was too late. When we borke away, we still kept the same clowns in middle mgt that squandred alot of money and we still ran this place like a commuter airline. Now, Tom and Kerry are laughingstocks. Thier egos led us down a path of destruction. Forget high fuel prices, we should have raised the fares. When oil was $37/bbl they still cried high costs of fuel, and they blame the competition for matching thier prices? Hello? Did you think the US Airs and UALs were going to sit back and do nothing? How stupid did Tom and Kerry get? And bringing on two of the biggest losers, Mark Z. and Bill B. into this operation as well. Ask anyone at Midwest and Abex what kind of people they were. I have and heard a few horror stories. Why would they leave such companies to come to FLYI?
The only reason FLYI failed was due to mismanagement and the incomptetence of our upper mgt to get a grasp on what was going on. Each day, idiotic decisions were being made and it was one SNAFU after another. Oh did I mention the lies and deceit? Even fter it was sworn this wouldn't be on the employees backs? Tom Moore blasted the pilots after the comapny approved of people attending the AIR INC job fairs. He cried we're quitting on him. no they quit on us furloughing over 700 and downgrading some 350-400 pilots who were CAs for many years. when I was furlughed, the most junior CRJ CA had an 8/98 hire date. Did I mention during the summer, the scores of flights being cancelled due to a shortge of FOs? I used to get clls on my days off begging me to come in and help. Once again, gross mismanagement.
Too bad thier egos go in the way, this had the potential to be a gold mine. I can only hope Tom, Kerry, Bill, Mark, Jeff R, Justine Y and the rest of the clowns who couldn't even manage a brothel in a Navy shipyard never get back into the airline business again.
And yes, I am angry about it, because I was only able to watch and couldn't do a thing about it!

 

[SkyWench]

after listening to the hotline for Ifly, your right, i think its hysterical that he asks everyone to continue to come to work thru the holiday and be cheerful. I love that, id be calling sick for the rest of the year.

 

[Diesel]

i allways thought to myself tha furloughing 700 pilots was the plan from the begining. They knew they couldn't get the i air plan off the ground with that many pilots and nobody would go for them laying off that many pilots and still show up for work. So they make a whack at it for a few months and then decide to throw in the towel for 700 pilots brining the company down to the size they wanted.

Only problem is it doesn't look like they stopped downsizing.

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

It makes me chuckle reading the post of how proud the pilots/FAs/employees were to kick UAL to the curb. Get a reality check! A paycheck is a paycheck. The bank doesn't care were your mortgage payment comes from...just get it in and on time!

The employees had no choice. They were along for the ride....any ride that the clown management put them on. So any suggestion otherwise is misguided...

What was so bad about flying for UAX? Sure it was a jacked up operation, but that didn't seem to stop any of us from applying to ACA. Heck some of us were ready to pay 10K just to fly UAL paint around. Was it the expectation of leaving ACA in a few years for a career carrier? Anything Tom and Kerry did/does will be a failure. Except maybe fee for departure. So if Tom/Kerry [stupidly] tells UAL to pound sand how smart is it to say "Hel! yeah, we employees are-are own man!" This is like an amature boxer stepping into the ring with Ali. Sure he was is own man...for a minute, but then he got the beating of his life.

In a few days 15+ year employees making over 100K will be out of a job. And for what?? Corporate ignorance, ego and greed.

Tom and Kerry are now simply available for employment. And they will show up somewhere, maybe at YOUR next carrier....

FLYI was nothing but a facade. Trying to make it anything more is rediculous..

Look, man, I have all the repsect for FLYI crews and employees but it is what it is.... Give it a few months and the reality will kick in like a migraine headache

 

[GuppyPuppy]

Didn't ACA start this venture with around $300,000,000 cash in the bank?

Seems to me that they should have relieved themselves of the expensive-to-operate CRJ's ASAP and started taking more Airbi ASAP, even if if meant entering bankruptcy soon after starting operations. With a CASM of over 15 cents for the CRJ, how can a business plan call for a low fare operation?

Yes, it would have been painful, but totally shutting down has got to be more painful.

I am truly sorry for all those affected. I have been furloughed twice in this industry and don't wish it on anyone.

Good luck and God Bless.

GP

 

[8AF]

Surprised the media hasn't picked this up.

 

[GuppyPuppy]

Surprised the media hasn't picked this up.

It was mentioned on Squawk Box this morning on CNBC.

GP

 

[h25b]

While I have nothing but sympathy for those about to be on unemployment, but like Rez, this noble cause striking it out alone BS is remarkable... People act like the management from United was coming in to their homes and kicking their cats.

FlyI is yet another failed attempt at an airline, nothing more/nothing less. No one is going to chisel the FlyI logo in to the side of a mountain in rememberance.

 

[aa73]

Surprised the media hasn't picked this up.

8AF...Is that an avatar of the J41 cockpit I see?

Ahh, the memories.... Good luck Indy pilots.

 

[Always deferred]

People act like the management from United was coming in to their homes and kicking their cats.
quote]


Do you remember Bain? Do you remember Mesa, CHQ, TSA, Shuttle American, etc all swooping in to take our flying? DO you remember what UAL did to Air Whisky? I think you should check your facts, son.

 

[skyaddict]

"Now, Tom and Kerry are laughingstocks. Thier egos led us down a path of destruction."

That and the part about the employees being entirely along for the ride says it all. The fact is the pilot group voted overwhelmingly for concessions- yeah, very modest concessions but we voted for them nonetheless around 90% in favor- to *stay* with UAL because, bravado aside, we were very scared of the idea of going it alone, rightly so. Yet it was egos- both at ACA and UAL- which prevented compromise on a deal. And those egos chose the worst possible time to try and give the finger to the mothership. Incredibly, later as the bad timing for the industry became even more obvious, T&K even said no to a codeshare proposal with Virgin, the last straw that *might* have saved the day but also forced them to give up consideable control. Then they maintained total control of a ship that is the equivalent of the final scene in Titanic where it is pointing vertical, while Tom kept spouting off weekly briefings about pride in operational excellence and redskins picks of the week. Thereafter, the employee group's alleged bravado/arrogance had nothing to do with it... we were truly along for the ride, and our giddiness was simply nervous laughter and the hope that "surely" those brilliant (ha) minds at the top had some sort of plan to emerge from this, some secret upcoming deal with Virgin or somebody, lol, they couldn't be *that* stupid to run it into the ground, surely... but they were.

And these big (arrogant) egos are as foolishly addicted to running airlines as we are getting our paychecks from flying, so I wonder how long after liquidation it will be before we see the same senior management creating a startup with one or two airbuses (the business model that might have worked)... i.e. will these guys really be banished from the industry or not? Tons of senior airline execs have been with several failed startups before hitting paydirt. You have to wonder what these guys were sniffing this round, though.

 

[dalegribble]

Regardless of the mgmt sucking, the crews, pilots and fa's are top notch dedicated folks. Flew with IDE last night and received outstanding customer service from smiling fa's. Good Luck!!!