Majors buying regionals in future

[Tweaker]

Compass has already been spun off to TSA, but the USAirways feeders have been suspiciously immune to the spin off threat (PSA/Piedmont).

PDT and PSA have little to no value as an asset to sell, and their horsesheeot pay and contracts make them a no brainer to just keep until the time comes to ditch them entirely. They are like your airport car, that if you are non-emotional and non-materialistic you realize it would be foolish to part with it barring some serious financial investment that becomes needed (engine replacement=fleet replacement).

They make money and the Dashes will be flown until the wings fall off. All this time they will go on blowing smoke up the asses of the young up and coming professionals operating them, and churning the bottom 25% (who survive the unethical incompetent tyrants running their training department, one of whom just got arrested for impersonating a police officer) of the pilots who realize that their employer is going nowhere fast and they jump ship.

 

[tab flyer]

Easy way to the majors? In the history of aviation this regional stuff and getting stuck at one is a new thing. Before the 90's, when major airlines started buying small feeder operations that eventually GREW into these 50 seat airlines we have today, pilots used to from a Baron flying checks into a DC9 at a major....or whatever junior plane needed staffing at the time. So you can cool your big mainline jets with this RJ pilot pipedream of an easy way to the majors. RJ pilots are far more experienced than those who got hired into the majors prior to RJ's and Regional airlines.

Yes, but some of them do not have the same sticks skills as the Baron pilots. Too much automation beginning at a very early experience level. Great guys and gals but I sometimes notice an over reliance on the box, TV screens and the autopilot.

 

[Sig]

(who survive the unethical incompetent tyrants running their training department, one of whom just got arrested for impersonating a police officer).

Aw, c'mon Tweaker. You know he's on the 190 at Mainline just like you are/were. Now if you were talking about the AirTran MEC chairman- I fully would get the TD rant.

 

[Tweaker]

Once an integrity sell out, always an integrity sell out. I'd like credit for leaving out the bit of suicidal nastyness.

 

[Ky.BrownBourbn]

Once an integrity sell out, always an integrity sell out. I'd like credit for leaving out the bit of suicidal nastyness.

Who (OR WHAT) are you guys talking about?

KBB

 

[brokedash]

It's only a matter of time before US buys out Mesa for there planes.

 

[JumpersAway]

Flying will NEVER be forced back to mainline through regional wage increases alone. To think so is foolish. Even if you simultaneously upped regional pay rates 10k accross the board, the feed would be too expensive for mainline use. The ONLY thing this does is spawn a "new" carrier to suit demand. Look at Compass and Mid Atlantic for just two examples. To stop this nonsense, you HAVE to tie the regional pilots to their respective carriers. Brand scope is the penicillin to cure the disease that plagues the industry. Instead of fixing this, we are busy fighting ourselves in a self induced class war. If this fails to happen, we will continue to see more of the status quo- whipsaws, shuffles in flying, and mainline against regional infighting.


Will Regionals be gobbled up and absorbed for pilots? Time will tell. I know that I can bet on this- mainline aircraft will not sit idle on the ramp due to lack of crews, while regionals continue to have pilots. We are a resource, and necessary for business- time will tell in regard to being absorbed.

 

[PBRstreetgang]

Mainline will never "buy" the regionals, why? This is business, the mainline will let the regionals linger on as long as they can milk every last cent. Then when mainline needs the pilots, they will cancel the contract, via a simple plan, hire enough pilots to place the contract in jeopardy al la Freedum, and then the rest of the pilots will be out of work and clammering for a new hire spot at first year pay, as will every other employee. This business is just starting to show the truly ugly face behind the mask, enjoy the phreak show!

 

[Mr Hat]

Yes, but some of them do not have the same sticks skills as the Baron pilots. Too much automation beginning at a very early experience level. Great guys and gals but I sometimes notice an over reliance on the box, TV screens and the autopilot.

I'll give you that AT the regional level....but thats going to happen. Look at the guys who were hired into DC3's flying dots and dashes vs people hired into 707's flying VOR airways and ILS approaches vs EMB190 flying RNAV.....who knows what kind of laziness the next generation of technology will bring.


All that said....the majors will get rid of the regionals and start flying 50 seat jets on up to 777's ONLY when it makes financial sense to do it. And it's possible that the regional model as it is today is destined for failure at which point it becomes more expensive to outsource than it would be to fly the thing yourself....possible, who knows.
This barrier between regional vs major is a PILOT hangup. Not a management hangup...

 

[Tweaker]

It's not a hang up! It is a by design management strategery. It has produced epic fruit!

More supply than demand, short sighted selfishly ignorant children churned out by the pilot equivilent of puppy mills (think PFT_128), plus a near senile, toothless, crusty senior fool based national yuinyen (think Res O. Lewshun) = today's paradigm.

Big changes are required to modify this status quo.

Pro tip: Don't expect the FAA rest rules and high TT ATP requirements to change this, although it is based on sound safety and logical principals. The airline management association (think UNION) will not have it!

 

[Tweaker]

From NYC Aviation.com -

" The airline called its LaGuardia operation "unprofitable flying" and its terminal "expensive facilities" in its filing with the DOT for the slot swap with Delta. A spokesperson for US declined a request for an interview for this article. Other contributing factors to the decision to downsize at LaGuardia include declining passenger traffic on short routes, new competition and a reluctance by US management to invest in a new fleet for its wholly-owned Express subsidiaries."

"Finally, US continues to put off a decision on the future of fleet of its wholly-owned Express carrier Piedmont Airlines. The commuter airline operates the majority of those 39% of flights at LaGuardia on aircraft with fewer than 37 seats on aged Dash-8s that, according to numerous industry analysts, need to be either replaced or retired during the next few years. It currently flies 30 -100s and 11 larger -300s with an average age of 21.4 years, according to Airfleets.net. Many suspect that management's inaction on this issue is a signal that it plans to eventually retire the Piedmont fleet without a replacement -- a move that effectively seals the fate for the bulk of US' operations at La Guardia if it were to keep its slots.(The pilot's fate there is equally dismal)

It should be noted that replacing the Piedmont fleet has been somewhat out of the control of US management. Bombardier stopped manufacturing the -100 in 2005 and the -300 in 2009, leaving only the 78-seat Q400 on the market. A Piedmont employee says that the airline has faced difficulty acquiring any replacement Dash aircraft for a "reasonable" price on the secondary market due to high demand. (worth mentioning, the parent corporation has a niggardly credit rating, pitiful liquid assets, and is both notoriously cheap and short sighted) Also The ATR-42-600 is the only comparable aircraft to the existing fleet that is still in production; however, the type is rarely seen in commercial operations in the US due to prior issues involving wing icing."

Why buy the cow nice food or a new corral when you can get the (paid for since 1992) milk for damned near free? Economics, "the dismal science", like the catcher position "the tools of ignorance" are pretty much as unavoidably inevitable as the laws of gravity that we depend upon each time we add TOGA powa. No one says you gotta like it, but you gotta respect it.

Like my hyper-honky friend, White Bob tells his boy when he gets to fussin' - "It's not fair? The fair is where you go to ride a pony and eat elephant ears!"

 

[JT12345]

Cons - mainline inability to screen candidates, possible B scale wage,

More like D scale. That's what I thought when I was there. Now with all the 75-100 seat airplanes more like C scale. Not even close to B.

 

[Mr Hat]

Ok, I googled it....it's ok. Thats a legal word. Whew!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_"niggardly"