Is this the future of Southwest???

[humveedriver]

Hum this is true. By the way I did get your pm. It will be interesting to see all the future bids. I can't wait to see the new base coming up. If den is a base, how many AT peeps want to move to den? Any talk of this?

Based on current commutes and such, it will be a small number. The attraction would be if it went junior for you guys which i doubt it will. I can tell you that the highest seniority AT captain that bid SWA FO lives in Denver by coincidence. It certainly is a nice area and will get some looks for sure. Unless SWA has some change of heart it looks like they want to trickle us guys over to your side later rather than sooner. Cost effective? Unprepared? Doesn't really matter anymore. What's nice is having just finished some drinks with about 3 AT crews the convo is mostly back to normal with just a
cursory convo about the integration. Life on the line continues...

 

[GuppyWN]

Denver will be uber senior.

 

[SWA Bubba]

Denver will be uber senior.

Well, that's a relative term. I think it will be the most senior NEW base opening ever, due to the number of people who live there presently or want to live there. But I think it will take a few years to really get "senior." My opinion, of course; who the hell really knows anything for sure....

Bubba

 

[johnsonrod]

Sounds like the death of WestJet.

People forget that if Westjet is a public company (not sure if it is or not), then there are growth expectations that impact stock price. Obviously revenue and profits are also important - but growth is a major factor scrutinized by Wall Street. If you can only go so far with the fleet type you operate (i.e., you have squeezed as much growth as possible given your markets, airport infrastructure, population density in certain parts of the country, airport gate availability, pricing, etc.), then you need to search for new growth to coincide with growth expectations. Looking for growth in smaller communities would make sense if they can manage costs in line with potential reveneues from those communities (and feed revenues).

As Canada's economy continues to improve, perhaps more international traffic will result. We all know how restrictive Canada is regarding international competition (i.e., limits Qatar, Emirates and Etihad to a small number of slots per week), perhaps selective international flights to popular destinations would make sense since the domestic 737 feed is already in place... Ordering 10 787s (maybe from a leasing company that has already secured the orders) or 10 used 767-300s might make sense if you could immediately place them on popular routes since the feed is already in place. I read that Westjet has to lease-in a NorthAmerican 757 to fly to Hawaii during the winter. You can't tell me Westjet could not fill a 767-300 on flights from Vancouver to Tokyo or Hong Kong - that would be easy money.

If you are a public company, growth expectations must be met to keep the stock level high...

 

[Flyby1206]

I don't think Westjet has enough feed or demand for international widebody flying. Vancouver to Asia they would get slaughtered by JAL/ANA or CX to HKG. Canada in general doesn't have the massive pockets of population to support O&D traffic overseas in the same way NYC or LAX do. If we are talking larger a/c to places like Hawaii and the Caribbean then yes, Westjet has a shot at that.

 

[scoreboardII]

DEN will take months to go uber senior, it takes that long for the uber senior to realize a new domicile has opened.

 

[waveflyer]

By SWAs future JR- do you mean Q400's? Or Widebodies?

I think most of us believe a larger international aircraft is in our future- not really news that SWA will be looking for growth in that area- but smaller aircraft is an X factor- it's no secret that mgmt was a bit disappointed that the 717 didn't quite have the long term economics to fill that smaller aircraft role- but there are a LOt of communities that don't quite justify the 737, but we'd like to serve (or keep serving!)- just not sure that smaller aircraft exists with the economics SWA needs.

I for 1 would fly the hell out of a Q400- but strongly believe in one wage blended rates across all pilots whether its heavy jets coming on or smaller a/c.
("blended-ie: if we have 700 737/717's that pay $200/ trip and get 25 Q400's that pay $80/trip and get 25 787's that pay $300/trip- I want our pilot group to blend those rates and make $199.33 instead of those individual rates-( it gets more complicated than that- but that's the idea and I've noticed it is way more efficient and pilots are happier))
I do not want our union to be fractured by pay scales and size- and do not want inefficient training structures where pilots bounce between fleets chasing money- I want a system where pilots do the flying they want to do w/o financial pressures driving the decisions (which they usually do)
Gary is on the record as saying he sees BWI as a SWA intl hub- and as saying we can handle 2-3 fleet types, least amount is best- but need the right aircraft for the jobs we want to grow-

And ya JR- the primary motivation for a publicly traded company is called SWM- shareholder wealth maximization, vs profit motive for regular businesses- and it typically requires growth- ie: making consistent profits doesn't guarantee a performing stock, bc the price of the stock reflected those profits when bought- to increase the price of a stock that who's price already reflected $1xxx in annual profits, you must increase those profits-

We're very familiar with that here at SWA as we've been consistently profitable, but have had a very flat stock as we have not been more profitable than years past .

 

[$$$4nothin]

Well when SW buys B6 you guys will have 75 190's on property to serve those smaller destinations you are talking about.

 

[Saluki Dawg]

$$$$4nothin gets it!

 

[StopNTSing]

I for 1 would fly the hell out of a Q400- but strongly believe in one wage blended rates across all pilots whether its heavy jets coming on or smaller a/c.
("blended-ie: if we have 700 737/717's that pay $200/ trip and get 25 Q400's that pay $80/trip and get 25 787's that pay $300/trip- I want our pilot group to blend those rates and make $199.33 instead of those individual rates-( it gets more complicated than that- but that's the idea and I've noticed it is way more efficient and pilots are happier))
I do not want our union to be fractured by pay scales and size- and do not want inefficient training structures where pilots bounce between fleets chasing money- I want a system where pilots do the flying they want to do w/o financial pressures driving the decisions (which they usually do)
Gary is on the record as saying he sees BWI as a SWA intl hub- and as saying we can handle 2-3 fleet types, least amount is best- but need the right aircraft for the jobs we want to grow-

Agree completely, Wave. The lack of such language protecting a possible smaller aircraft purchase is the main reason I voted no on SL8. No pay raise for a 30% larger aircraft made no sense to me without some assurance we won't be asked to take a pay cut if the company decides 100-seaters are in our future.