Mesa to file bankruptcy

[sqwkvfr]

Did anyone else notice how the channel 12 story didn't mention anything about issuing more stock? I wonder if our favorite failed stockbroker had the kibosh put on his little plan by the board?

For you guys saying that Mesa would have filed by now if they planned to file at all; you need to remember that denial is JO's greatest weakness.

 

[Fly2Scuba]

I spent 7 years at Air Midwest/Mesa and will come out and say that I am NOT ashamed of the time I spent there. I do though agree with most of you that JO is a scumbag of the worst sort and has led the company to near disaster. That said, the pilot group I flew with had some of the best guys/gals I have ever had the pleasure of working with. These people bust their ass day in and day out with not an ounce of support from management to make things work. They do the same job you do with less support, less sleep, and still you have to sit here and remind them of how much you are looking forward to them being out of jobs. The last thing needed in this situation is a bunch of armchair airline CEO's on FI chanting on how much Mesa sucks. Guys....we get it....Mesa Sucks, no one knows that better than people that have been, or are still, working there. These are people's livings we are talking about...I dont care if its Mesa, Skybus, ATA, ect. The bottom line is these people have families to feed and bills to pay just like all of us. For those of you to sit here and relish the fact that they will soon possible all be out of work is in extremely poor taste. Now before I get flamed, as I know I will, there are those that I do not support at Mesa such as Freedom A-Listers and the scumbag management team that has gotten them into this mess. Just be careful when throwing stones when the flight decks you sit in are made of glass as well. Go ahead, flame away

A very diplomatic and thoughtful post; however if it was such a God awful experience which just about anybody acknowledges, why did so pilots stay or go there in the first place? With that kind of quality of life and piss poor pay, even as a captain, how was that anywhere close to a rationalized way to put "food on the table" or have a legitimate family life. The problem is it seems most (again most) guys staid or went over there after it was clearly established it was a terrible operation or staid for the quickest upgrade time possible lacking the regard for the rest of the profession as the contract is clearly substandard in relation to anyone else. When ACA/Independence and Aloha go under and Air Wisconsin is underbid, then there is an evidenced problematic issue. Sticking with the classic smaller turboprops that fly traditional "regional" routes, then your contract is a lot easier to accept. But that's not the case when you have 90 seaters on property. Blame to spread around for the scope issues and all that, but if zilch pilots had been willing to Mesa over the past few years, then maybe things would have changed for the better in this industry and profession.

Long story short, hope Mesa's demise is something future pilots will keep in mind just like in the case of Skybus that it's not worth it take a shortcut by going to the lowest work conditions for the quickest seniority movement. For those at Mesa that tried their best to improve the contract and were there prior to the contract signing but were committed to obtaining a fair or better deal, sorry, sympathy and respect. For the majority tunnel vision time builders, sympathy and respect is a very difficult concept.

 

[Soverytired]

Please don't defend Mesa. For the last year we had to read your rants about how soverytired you were of them. You were the last person I thought would defend them. WOW!

Hah! Someone did read all that beyotching after all!

I'm not defending Mesa . . . it's a terrible company, and now that I'm out and at a real airline, I can't believe I stayed there so long.

But I'm rooting for the pilots who are there to get a better job through a better contract, not rooting for 1500 of them to be kicked out on the street. Lots of good pilots there who either can't or won't leave, and they deserve better.

If they settle for another cripe contract or worse . . a concessionary one, I'll say that it's time for them to go . . . .

 

[Soverytired]

Friends (note correct spelling) don't let friends get sloppy drunk, strap on the old beer goggles and go hogging.

Hey now, getting sloppy drunk is the only legitimate excuse for hogging!

 

[Soverytired]

If Mesa goes under, Ornstein will be out of a job. I don't think he will EVER be let back into a position where he has control over ANY airline in the US. Now, let there be a shooting star with a rainbow over my head saying, "The More You Know".

Hope you're right. I do recall some scuttlebutt about Mesa buying some stock in Spirit awhile back. I wonder if that could mean a comfortable seat on the Spirit BOD in the future that could morph into something else?

 

[737 Pylt]

Friends (note correct spelling) don't let friends get sloppy drunk, strap on the old beer goggles and go hogging.

Sure they do. How else would explain your birth!:laugh:

737

 

[Lampshade]

Hope you're right. I do recall some scuttlebutt about Mesa buying some stock in Spirit awhile back. I wonder if that could mean a comfortable seat on the Spirit BOD in the future that could morph into something else?

Spirit has stock? I think they are a private co. with no BOD.

 

[Lampshade]

Mesa late paying Durango airport bills
Director of aviation says company owes about $59,000 in rent, fees

http://durangoherald.com/asp-bin/ar...biz&article_path=/business/08/biz080416_1.htm

 

[Soverytired]

Spirit has stock? I think they are a private co. with no BOD.

Oops. Well, the rumor I heard was about a year ago, and I'm not sure which carrier it (purportedly) was.

With luck, it's all BS . . . hate to think that guy could finish off Mesa then move on to another carrier.

 

[HA25]

We're all hoping!

I'm mixed about that.. While I loth the company and all it's done to hurt pilots and our profession, the same was said of the starup I worked for (unfairly I would argue, but nevertheless)..

I never wish a fellow brother to lose his job.. and the hurt that can bring onto his family and own self.

Mesa needs to go away, but only in the context of maybe saving those jobs and making it a better place.

My prayers with them if this happens.

 

[Soverytired]

Mesa late paying Durango airport bills
Director of aviation says company owes about $59,000 in rent, fees

http://durangoherald.com/asp-bin/ar...biz&article_path=/business/08/biz080416_1.htm

Again, I've been gone from Mesa for awhile, but my understanding was that is was actually Mesa S.O.P. even when flush with cash. The idea is that as long as the money is in Mesa's account, it's working for them. Why not fall delinquent by a couple of months if your vendors put up with it? Corporate ethics seems to be different than personal ethics, eh?



============================
The article basically confirms this anyway, although that last bit would put a serious hurt on Mesa if all their vendors do the same . . .:

Dent said this is not the first time Mesa has fallen behind on its payments since the carrier lost an $80 million lawsuit to Hawaiian Airlines in October.

"They get behind, we chase them and then they pay us," Dent said of the recent pattern between Mesa and the airport.

Dent said with the unstable financial situation in the industry, the airport commission may consider requiring Mesa to pay a three-month security deposit to cover future delinquencies

 

[Caspian27]

Mesa late paying Durango airport bills
Director of aviation says company owes about $59,000 in rent, fees

http://durangoherald.com/asp-bin/ar...biz&article_path=/business/08/biz080416_1.htm

I was talking with a hotel manager in Denver the other day who said that Mesa owes them a bunch of money too...

 

[gromgutten]

There is no if.
Mesa WILL buckle one way or another. In the current environment, and with Delta pulling the plug on Freedom, there is only one outcome.
And with JO at the helm, I have a feeling it will be spectacular.
Be it Ch11, Ch7, acquisition, or something else, Mesa in it's current form is done.
I feel bad for the individual employees if it comes to a liquidation, but when a company that has no respect for it's employees goes under, it is good for the long run.

 

[Capt10Matt]

Originally Posted by Motorradfahrer
I spent 7 years at Air Midwest/Mesa and will come out and say that I am NOT ashamed of the time I spent there. I do though agree with most of you that JO is a scumbag of the worst sort and has led the company to near disaster. That said, the pilot group I flew with had some of the best guys/gals I have ever had the pleasure of working with. These people bust their ass day in and day out with not an ounce of support from management to make things work. They do the same job you do with less support, less sleep, and still you have to sit here and remind them of how much you are looking forward to them being out of jobs. The last thing needed in this situation is a bunch of armchair airline CEO's on FI chanting on how much Mesa sucks. Guys....we get it....Mesa Sucks, no one knows that better than people that have been, or are still, working there. These are people's livings we are talking about...I dont care if its Mesa, Skybus, ATA, ect. The bottom line is these people have families to feed and bills to pay just like all of us. For those of you to sit here and relish the fact that they will soon possible all be out of work is in extremely poor taste. Now before I get flamed, as I know I will, there are those that I do not support at Mesa such as Freedom A-Listers and the scumbag management team that has gotten them into this mess. Just be careful when throwing stones when the flight decks you sit in are made of glass as well. Go ahead, flame away

First of all, no one cares you've been there for 7 years. People busting there ass day in and day out for WHAT? A $hitty contract, wicked low pay, and embarassment that they even work there in the first place. You're busting your ass for a company that's done nothing but hurt everyone else in the industry. That's your first problem. Secondly, no one relishes in the fact that Mesa is about to take a huge deuce and everyone's about to get flushed down with it. The point is that since everyone there thought it was OK to work there in the first place, they set themselves up for it. And don't dare compare mesa airlines and ATA, not even f'n close.

When Mesa, not if, WHEN Mesa takes it's final nosedive, the gap in flying will be replaced. Maybe former mesa's will start at the bottom of some other list, but at least they'll have a job, and at least they'll see a halfway decent contract. Mesa has lowered the bar far enough and if you work there, you're part of the problem.

 

[asurjc]

To add to the excellent post above, here is an excerpt from the don't fly go! website.


To our fellow pilots, flight attendants, and airline employees who crewed for Mesa’s pace car in the race to the bottom, now is the time for you to step away and take a look back at history. America’s airlines — Pan Am, TWA, Braniff, United, American, U.S. Air, Eastern, Aloha, ATA — were once the finest and the proudest in the world. Now they are either gone or they are a shadow of their former selves. Mesa Airlines was the flagship of the ruin of this industry.This would be a good time for you, employee of Mesa Airlines, to reflect upon and consider what you have helped to reap . . . and while you’re standing there admiring the sand castles you’ve helped to kick over, you might consider typing up a resume. Better make some copies in Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Hindi, because there will soon be no place left for skilled airline labor to work in the U.S., and you’re about to become very, very unemployed.