Island Air sold

[dash8driver]

island air is getting 5 more dash 8s, they will be doubling the size of their pilot pool to ~100 pilots. they will be competing directly with aloha on some routes. the transaction is completed on march 1st pending approval of the powers that watch over this kind of stuff.

it was sold to the son of the guy who owns the leasing company that leases island air their planes, Willis Leasing.

this sale is good for the WP (island air) pilots, but it opens a can of worms for what will/can happen with the inter-island market, aloha, and hawaiian. with hawaiian airlines in BK, its extra competition they dont need when they are barely breathing, 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.

topdawg is correct that there's no flow through....officially. there has always been an unoffical flow through, aloha has an unofficial preferred hiring policy for WP pilots. in the past they have taken so many WP pilots that WP had to cancel flights because of a sudden shortage of pilots. aloha still unofficially allocates up to about 4 slots per class for island air pilots, which is great for them, especially in a market with so many over qualified pilots looking for jobs.

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.

 

[Trash8Mofo]

Think positive, Island gets 70-90 seaters, does more HI flying while Aloha takes its 737's and branches out more on the west coast and US domestic scene. Aloha become next big US discount carrier.

Good Luck

I too believe this is the beginning of having RJs for interisland. CRJ 5/7/9 is perfect (except for JHM). I suspect selling Island Air has a big part to do with AQ MEC's not allowing island air to fly Aloha's routes. For the short term, this seems like a good deal for everybody. But in the long run, AQ pilot group can expand less, and that means if you want to see the big bucks, you may have to wait longer. Afterall, why do you put up with all this bullshxt being a commuter pilot and CFI-because you want to make it big time. Well, the finish line just being pushed back 5 yards. And having RJ for WP is not a good thing, because that could be used as potential leverage to negotiate a cheaper contract for AQ pilots; such as having a substantially differed two tier pay rate, interisland and transpac, much like hawaiian 717 vs 767. This is all speculation right now, but lets hope the code share contract and the next AQ ALPA negotiation is restrictive enough to not hinder hiring at Aloha. I wonder what AQ MEC is going to do? I think the best case would be Island Air flies the flights that Aloha havent been flying or flights that have low load factor, just to compliments Aloha and increases flexibilities, but not reducing its (Aloha's) schedule. In any case, Hawaiian and Pac Wings are in worst shapes than they were yesterday.

 

[Nalo Boy]

It'll definitely be fun to watch this unfold. It's no wonder the company tried to push our new contract so quickly. I dont see any reason why you poolies wont get hired...although there are still dozens of dash typed HA guys stil on the street. Good luck.

 

[dash8driver]

nalo,

now that you'll be captain soon, are you gonna start wearing your helmet when you fly?

sincerely,

your friend who was the only one on your no-fly list....

 

[KnowledgeSeeker]

your friend who was the only one on your no-fly list

lol...do captains really get to have a no fly list?

 

[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.