Island Air sold

[islandhopper]

Originally posted by dash8driver for aloha it could be signalling a lot of possible changes for what may come. some of these possibilities are huge and drastic, while others arent so much....

its too early to tell how things will pan out. the sale and the statements that the aloha ceo has made are very odd. i dont think we are done seeing strange things happening here in hawaii. fasten your seatbelts and stand by for some interesting times. [/B]

Your post reminded me of a rumor floating around AQ crew rooms the past couple months. The rumor was "something big" was going to be announced, "something all the AQ pilots would be happy about". I'm still not quite making the connection between the recent rumor and today's news but... maybe this is just the first of a chain of events about to take place in Hawaii Air Transportation.

 

[Freight Dog]

This is gonna be interesting for sure. I know A LOT of guys here aren't real happy with this. I imagine there's gonna be a big fight over the scope issue (placing AQ flight numbers on Island Air flights on disputed routes).

But then again... why would our own CEO create another competitor here?! This whole thing is WAY weird. If he did it just to get around the scope clause, this whole kumbaya with the company comes to an end real fast especially since we gave up 10% of pay to get company to profitability.

Another thing that doesn't make sense - when Zander came to our ALPA meeting this spring, he said that every aspect of the Airgroup including Island Air was expected to be profitable this year. Why dump it? Puzzling....

Another funny thing... there was a rumor of a big announcement in December that was supposed to make us all "happy." This announcement pissed off A LOT of people.

As for Island Air people trying to get on with AQ, I don't know. I hope it doesn't affect the hiring of Island Air guys here, but then again... who knows. If we fly less, naturally, there will be fewer jobs here.

I don't think we're getting the whole picture here...

 

[KFFA]

There has been talk around the crew lounges about UAL came to SkyWest and was asked to look into flying routes in Hawaii as a UnitedExpress carrier? Maybe this rumor now has some weight behind it??? This one started about 10 years ago when I first herd the rumor now it is surfacing again? This is not flame bait, just "talk" in the crew lounge.

 

[Trash8Mofo]

From the advertiser: Island Air has a code-share partnership with Aloha Airlines that allows them to share frequent flier miles, and officials said they also hope to establish a code-share partnership with Hawaiian.

Hawaiian spokesman Keoni Wagner said, "If partnering with Island Air would benefit our consumers, we would be inclined to pursue it."

Also code-sharing with HAL???? Is that another way of saying: We will fly interisland for you since you bigger guys can't seem to make it profitable. If thats the case, thats bad news for all three pilot groups (unless you want to fly a freaking Dash8 for the rest of your natural life). I hope Im wrong.

 

[Freight Dog]

Hey Jim,

One thought we had a strict scope, and look what happened. Besides, if Gotbaum wants it, all he has to do is go see the BK judge and get it approved...

By the way... congrats on $3M bonus. It makes a nice Christmas present.

 

[Freight Dog]

Well, I don't know... last numbers we had was that we had $12.6 mil net profit in 3rd quarter alone, and that we're paying off $10 mil this year off of ATSB loan. Actually, according to Zander, this has been the best year for the company ever - go figure.

Also, we're finishing the year sufficiently enough in the black that the company would have to pay out profit-sharing. The speculation is that this is a simple way to go around our scope which the company apparently has been trying to get around for a while. Secondly, ATSB had to give approval for this purchase, they could have blocked it.

But somehow, I'm STILL having a difficult time understanding why our management would create another competitor by selling 100% of Island Air. There has GOT to be more to this that we're not hearing about.

 

[wanttoflyhawaii]

Is Island Air profitable and how many seats does each flights usually fill?

 

[dash8driver]

no one ever knew if it was profitable or not. it was a well kept sercret and they burried any financial information into aloha air group. the management was always doom and gloom about their finances... "re-use your paperclips and staples, bring your own toilet paper, we need to save money". thats not literal, but not far off from their attitudes.

the loads on the planes varied widely.. sometimes you'd have 5 people, sometimes full. i think the average load is roughly 20, give or take. the average varies depending upon what season it is and what route. molokai usually has a lot of room, but during the canoe races, you can forget walking up to get a ticket.... they even make extra sections to keep up with the demand.

 

[General Lee]

I know what the big announcement is for the Aloha guys----"Mesa and Jon Ornstein are going to buy you and then ship you and the airplanes to Philadelphia to feed USAir."

Bring a jacket.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[Slim Dusty]

Hey guys, don't usually speak up, but...

Why would a company sell off a portion of itself to have that portion become a direct competetor? To allow that portion to grow as Zander stated? Makes no sense, its money in someone elses pocket. To get around a scope? Once again why, its money in someone else's pocket. The "we're broke" argument doesn't wash in light of our 3rd Qtr, debt paydown, and solid loads both inter-island and -700 club. Perhaps its a prelude to Aloha being sold to another airline which doesn't want to be in the prop business. Rumors have been more rife than usual concerning this same topic the last few months. Even flew with a guy who told me while jumpseating a SWA Capt said "Looks like we're buying you" so rumors have reached there as well. This theory also jibes fairly closely to Zander's "everyone will be happy" statement.

Just another log to throw on the rumor fire. Don't we go through this every Chrisymas?

 

[topdawg]

asdf

Here's somthing to think about. If SWA were to buy out Aloha, all Aloha pilots would go to the bottom of the list seening that SWA is not part of ALPA. That can't be the "good news" Zander is talking about.

 

[Sleepyhead]

Well , lots of rumors and speculation out there... but on Tues the IA pilots have a meeting with the CEO and the new owner. After that we should have a lot more facts.

FWIW, on Fri the CEO came over to the IA ops area and had a little meeting /annoucement. (I wasn't there, but here is what he said )
- we have a new owner, no one is going to loose their job, we are getting 5 new airplanes, in March we will start flying to the Big Island (Hilo and Kona), sometime after that flying to Lihue, plan to hire about 100 new employees.

and for the rumor mill:
I heard from a good source this deal has been in the works for awhile, like since the beginning of the year.(man can they keep a secret!)

for you IA poolies, I wouldn't worry, in fact I would start making plans. Just consider this:
currently it takes about 2 months to get a pilot on-line at IA. Even if they only put 3 new planes on-line in March, that would double the fleet. They need to start training soon. It would take time to set up interviews, so my guess is they will first contact all the poolies and see who is interested.

It will be interesting to watch how they handle some of the logistics of this:
-there are only 4 parking spots on the IA ramp, and only two
have fueling. Will be fun with a fleet of 9.
- need to hire a bunch of mechanics and get them trained
- need a bunch of FA/s and get them trained
- get some stations set up and train the people to run them
- get things set up in dispatch (right now there are a bunch new
dispatchers just learning the current system)
the list goes on...
all this in 2.5 months to start up in March.

 

[Sleepyhead]

from the local paper:


The airline will add six new routes -- Kona to Maui, Hilo to Maui, Maui to Lihue, and Honolulu to Hilo, Kona and Lihue. The fares on these routes have not been determined.

"We will be flying more directs and nonstop flights," Takekawa said. "But we don't expect to see an exponential change in operation. We are trying to improve service that is out there."

The DASH-8 seats 37 passengers and makes more economical sense to operate in the interisland market than the 120-seat jets Aloha and Hawaiian fly, Takekawa says. The first priority will be to open the Hilo and Kona offices and hire about 20 people, he said.

Island Air's new owners will add five more aircraft -- either buy or lease -- to meet expansions. On average, a DASH-8 aircraft costs abut $4 million, Takekawa said.

(sorry, no RJs in HI)

 

[Slim Dusty]

Concerning AQ pilots to bottom of the list. As part of our ATSB concessions, we were given contractual language that prevents any sale to another carrier were such a thing to occur.

 

[HawaiianAV8TR]

I.A.

I think the thought of selling a profitable part of your company is very suspicious. But those of us who know the Air Group, probably know that even though Island Air is about to be sold, there is definitely more to the story. Island Air along with the E.R. routes and cargo operations have been profitable the last 2 quarters. Another thing that was mentioned on Friday was that if Island Air becomes profitable Aloha will benefit. Chew on that one for awhile, you'll get even more confused.