Independence Info?

[Tooslow]

I got a bill from ACA/Indy in CAL mail after I got on with Express. I called Indy and they said it was bill that was paid by airline who hired you. Just a reciept, trash it or frame it as it was a nice memory that was short lived! I trashed it!

Got called by both Skywest and Expressjet when I got furloughed, took Express as they pay/housing during training, and its not for United or Delta....14 months ago...

 

[Mookie]

Too bad Tooslow...you'd be a captain now at SkyWest. (and yes, they do pay during upgrade and housing is provided). We're going to miss ya'll and the Taco Jets in IAH...

 

[Tooslow]

ddddddd..

 

[tarp]

Does anyone know what is going on with Independence (formerly ACA)? I heard they were furloughing. Any truth to the rumor?

What don't you know?

Bad news:
-Approx 700 pilots furloughed (almost everyone who held FO)
-Approx 300 CA's displaced back to FO seat with pay cut
-All Jetstreams (J32, J41), Dorniers (J328) and 20 CRJ's are gone
-Potential for 8 more CRJ's to disappear
-Stock price down to .70 and has been under a dollar for some time now - this of course triggers the NASDAC clock on delisting.
-Filling seats by advertising tons of sales ($29 one way anywhere east of Mississippi on an RJ midweek and Saturday) - you pay more for any Airbus travel.
-Company was talking pay freeze on contract (i.e. bypassing this year's escalation) - obviously not popular with pilots.
-Pepsi products (it was cheaper)
-Still losing money - i.e. expenses greater than income.

Good news:
-They did get the A319 Airbus - should be 12 on the property soon
-Load factor is over 70% (see bad news above)
-A319 flying expanding to West Coast from IAD (Vegas, Diego, Frisco, Seattle)
-Aggressive refinance of Aircraft loans gave the company some breathing room into the summer.
-Revenue stream growing and income rising but not enough to cover expenses yet.

Intangibles:
-Price of oil (but this is kicking everyone)
-Competition from Airtran, Delta, United and US Airways. Compared with these folks and their financing, Indy is small potatoes. Two and possibly three of those direct competes have the full backing of the federal government to help them destroy competition.
-Demoralized troops - ACA/Indy folks are some of the best but management continues to beat the employees to death while cutting expenses rather than helping the very folks that are making the airline a success. The most popular phrase uttered - "the beatings will continue until morale improves".

Outlook:
-If they make it to December, they will have outlasted every pundit on these boards and on Wall Street. They are odds on favorites to fail with about a 33% chance of survival.

There's your recap.

 

[Tooslow]

Tarp,


Nothing I knew already......However I would not be surprised to see more than 8 crj's to be gone soon. Crj costs way too much to operate. Indepenance needs to focus on a point-to-point system. Anyway I was glad (still am) to be part of of a great pilot group!....

 

[Tooslow]

Steveair,


Why did they quit Pinnacle? No pay during training? No housing??

 

[Steveair]

Steveair,


Why did they quit Pinnacle? No pay during training? No housing??

No pay (that's changed -200/wk now), Gnd school instructors aren't very good, airline reputation, mismanagement, hiring street captans (not so much... a few wanted that / not to be an FO), and maybe the growth to Mesaba now. Overall, at the time, I'm sure people were pretty unable to live without pay with how expensive everything is these days.

 

[Tooslow]

Did you quit??

 

[Steveair]

Did you quit??

No... I still haven't found out if I got the job or not... seems just as well / off to SkyWest interview.

 

[acaTerry]

NetJets seems to like them. It seems Trash States and Indy have been a good supplier.