Mesaba getting more CRJ-200's?

[Terry Hunter]

A bit of background: Mesaba is currently acquiring 15 CRJ-200's, and will have a total of 17 by July 2008. (Mesaba is also acquiring 36 CRJ-900's, and will have them all by the end of this year.)

The 17 CRJ-200's are all based in MSP.

Now, please read the following letter from mgmt posted yesterday on the company website, and comment.

--------------------------------
March 10, 2008

Good afternoon,
Today, it is with great pleasure I announce the addition of a new Mesaba Airlines maintenance line station. This summer we will begin performing overnight aircraft maintenance at the Quad City International Airport in Moline, Illinois. This new operation will be beneficial to Mesaba as we will add new jobs in Moline and strengthen our maintenance network.

This new station is important to Mesaba as our growing regional fleet requires additional maintenance options. Currently, Mesaba operates six dedicated maintenance locations at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Detroit Metro Airport, Memphis International Airport, Central Wisconsin Airport, Rhinelander Regional Airport and the Des Moines International Airport. We plan to initiate operations in Moline on June 5 of this year, where we will service primarily CRJ-200 aircraft.

Two major factors in choosing the Quad Cities-area are Northwest Airlines commitment to placing the appropriate overnight aircraft at the Moline airport in future flight schedules, and the close proximity to all three of our hubs.

All Mesaba maintenance personnel who are interested in working at this new location are encouraged to apply. We plan to post these job opportunities on MyMesaba.com in the near future.
Along with our new hangar in Des Moines, today’s announcement builds on our strong commitment to the safety and quality of our flights, putting us in excellent position to address the future needs of our expanding fleet.

Thank you for all you have done in helping Mesaba continue to grow.

 

[Dirty Sanchez]

Congratulations! Maybe if you take another pay cut, you can get some more flying.

 

[Flying Illini]

Who's flying are they getting? NWA? Compass? Mesaba SAAB flying? Why run a CRJ on a route that is better served by a TP? Especially with fuel as expensive as it is?

 

[ImbracableCrunk]

Ahhhh, Ima say XJ is getting the same amount of planes as before. XJ is growing, so they need more MX.

Is MLI a Pinnacle station still?

 

[Hulk Hogan]

no hanger in MSP to do the work, -200's don't currently fly out of DTW, CWA has a few SAABs every night plus heavy SAAB mx, Demoines isn't up and running, RHI, haven't been there in a long while...do they take the RJ there? Mostly glad that the work will be done by XJ mx. I flew a SAAB today that had a work package completed in BMI ... hopefully this doesn't become the norm.

 

[silver02ex]

RHI, haven't been there in a long while...do they take the RJ there? .

Pinnacle did MSP - RHI last month, since I did an out an back there last month. Not sure if it's still going on. It was also strange that I did MSP - IAD last month. I thought that was long gone since Compass took that over

 

[GOULET!]

I've only seen Saabs in RHI lately. I think Pinnacle was doing one flight a day in there during the summer time. The way I read the story, I don't think Mesaba is getting any more -200s than the 17.

 

[Jamis81]

no hanger in MSP to do the work, -200's don't currently fly out of DTW, CWA has a few SAABs every night plus heavy SAAB mx, Demoines isn't up and running, RHI, haven't been there in a long while...do they take the RJ there? Mostly glad that the work will be done by XJ mx. I flew a SAAB today that had a work package completed in BMI ... hopefully this doesn't become the norm.

one of the mechanics I know at XJ said that the overnight maintenance is going to continue for quite awhile in BMI, TOL, and possibly some other cities. He doesn't know why though, so I'm not sure what to tell you as to that part.

 

[norskman2]

Who's flying are they getting? NWA? Compass? Mesaba SAAB flying? Why run a CRJ on a route that is better served by a TP? Especially with fuel as expensive as it is?

All the -200s are being transferred from Pinnacle.

 

[CptMurf]

A bit of background: Mesaba is currently acquiring 15 CRJ-200's, and will have a total of 17 by July 2008. (Mesaba is also acquiring 36 CRJ-900's, and will have them all by the end of this year.)

The 17 CRJ-200's are all based in MSP.

Now, please read the following letter from mgmt posted yesterday on the company website, and comment.

Terry, I don't know how to say this in a PC manner, but our leader couldn't lead his way in a bank line with ropes on either side. Don't read too much into his innuendos.

 

[Monster Buck]

With the current fuel crises its will be hard for any planes to make money but the 50 seat crj's are a dead end. In the next decade they will be gone. We will give them back to 9e after they get their new contract. They will be replaced with the remaining 18 crj 900's that NWA has as options. All that will be needed for the 200 pilots is differences trn.

 

[Hulk Hogan]

one of the mechanics I know at XJ said that the overnight maintenance is going to continue for quite awhile in BMI, TOL, and possibly some other cities. He doesn't know why though, so I'm not sure what to tell you as to that part.

Thanks ...

 

[DTWFO]

Congratulations! Maybe if you take another pay cut, you can get some more flying.

Oh I thought they agreed to the CRJ rate because they didn't fly the CRJ and it was industry leading SAAB pay?!............Oh, is that a CRJ you're flying now?

 

[CptMurf]

Oh I thought they agreed to the CRJ rate because they didn't fly the CRJ and it was industry leading SAAB pay?!

That's funny, I remember the 9E pilots on the crew bus saying the same thing back in 1999 when the contract was signed.

Actually it was agreed to because it was a lot better than the 19.4% paycut that they were going to impose on us with the backing of the bankruptcy court. Looking at the payscales on APC it seems our 200 pay matches 9E's pretty much across the board with way better workrules (which equivilates to money). Not saying we are a leading pay CRJ employer by any means (we are not). But given the situation we were put in, I think we came out alright. Also, if the snapbacks hold, we will be moving back towards our pre-concessionary contract by years end.

 

[Monster Buck]

That's funny, I remember the 9E pilots on the crew bus saying the same thing back in 1999 when the contract was signed.

Actually it was agreed to because it was a lot better than the 19.4% paycut that they were going to impose on us with the backing of the bankruptcy court. Looking at the payscales on APC it seems our 200 pay matches 9E's pretty much across the board with way better workrules (which equivilates to money). Not saying we are a leading pay CRJ employer by any means (we are not). But given the situation we were put in, I think we came out alright. Also, if the snapbacks hold, we will be moving back towards our pre-concessionary contract by years end.

Don't worry murf.. those smart pilots over at 9e will do way better than us in their contract, since they are tougher and better. I'm betting they will crush our contract by at least 1-3 percent even though they are not being told what they can and can't do by a bankruptcy judge. I can't wait to here when they can't because of us.... because of our bad pay rates were used against them.

This rinse and repeat never ends....does it?

To the young guys 9e only, save yourself the pain of blame and look back a decade or two and you will be able to find a spot on prediction of your contracts outcome.

 

[marycon]

Incomming!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[WildBlue]

Please.....can we just avoid this junk! The juvenile sparring between the two groups is destructive for everyone. We are both being screwed by the same folks and some of you guys just can't help yourselves.

And I cannot believe that after all the crap that both these groups have gone through since 1997 that there is anyone who is gloating at the other like a bunch of kids on the playground.

Some of these messages ought to be cut and pasted and sent to d-bags like Trenary. He loves to see this stuff.

Better find a way to work together and tolerate one another or we will simply get another decade of disasters.

 

[JoeMerchant]

What happened to the Woerth/McClain/Wychor brand scope?

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

What happened to the Woerth/McClain/Wychor brand scope?

Sidetracked due to the RJDC lawsiut... but hey... they got that overwith....

What was more important?

 

[JoeMerchant]

Sidetracked due to the RJDC lawsiut... but hey... they got that overwith....

What was more important?

In 2002, while attending the small carrier bargaining conference, I asked Tom Wychor about the 1995 Scope Committee report......He responded "I haven't read it".....As the then BSIC Committee Chairman don't ya think he should have read all of the scope committee reports that had already been filed.....

The RJDC lawsuit is finished.....what's the new excuse for not having brand scope? The fact is the mainline groups will never spend the capital it would take to get brand scope.....You and I both know that.....

 

[CptMurf]

Please.....can we just avoid this junk! The juvenile sparring between the two groups is destructive for everyone. We are both being screwed by the same folks and some of you guys just can't help yourselves.

We must learn from our past, lest we are doomed to repeat it....

There is a lot of knowledge that some of the more senior guys can impart, just cause we have been around a while. I was a cocky junior FO in 1999 while I sat on that bus. I made some stupid statement at the time like, "There is no way Express is getting those CRJ200's up for bid. We (XJ) are getting the Avros, our training department is up to speed, we just got a new GO that looks like NASA and we are three times the size of Express." I was wrong, what I said on that bus was wrong, and soon after XJ went into a 5 year slump that took us into some depths no other regional has had to face.

We talk of brand scope and working together as if it is going to magically happen, it's not. It's going to take the other groups that are not deep in negotiations and pitted to lose everything, stepping up to the plate and working harder than ever. Problem is, if your group is the more stable and possibly growing, your pilot group tends to be more cocky. The thank goodness it's not me complex (...not my fight, I made it to the major...they've been growing for awhile, now it's their turn to feel the pain...)

XJ's been though a lot the last couple of years, to say we lowered the bar in anyway is untrue. We held it as high as we could under the circumstances, if we gambled right (time will tell) we lost nothing. We (XJ, along with NWA, Compass, and every other ALPA carrier) now need to be working harder than ever to help 9E in their negotiations (with no undermining agenda), and 9E needs to accept that help and understand that we've been there.

 

[CptMurf]

What happened to the Woerth/McClain/Wychor brand scope?

Let's see Woerth...voted out.
McClain...recalled.
Wychor...at National.

 

[saabtrash]

For the record, if I could take another 5% paycut and take all of Pinnacle's aircraft, I would. And then when I saw you guys in the hallway, I would grab my crotch and give you the bird.

 

[MACH-TUCK]

For the record, if I could take another 5% paycut and take all of Pinnacle's aircraft, I would. And then when I saw you guys in the hallway, I would grab my crotch and give you the bird.

And I would Laugh at you cause your a TOOLBAG.

 

[Freeze]

For the record, if I could take another 5% paycut and take all of Pinnacle's aircraft, I would. And then when I saw you guys in the hallway, I would grab my crotch and give you the bird.

I guess the MGMT strategy is working. They got you each fighting over the food scraps. As long as you hold your position, MGMT wins--Brand Cannibalism!

Enjoy--you may be next!

 

[CrownandCoke]

For the record, if I could take another 5% paycut and take all of Pinnacle's aircraft, I would. And then when I saw you guys in the hallway, I would grab my crotch and give you the bird.

if I find out where your mother is buried, I'll piss on her grave.

 

[Terry Hunter]

For the record, if I could take another 5% paycut and take all of Pinnacle's aircraft, I would. And then when I saw you guys in the hallway, I would grab my crotch and give you the bird.

I'm going to suggest that you are being facetious. But I'm also under the impression that you witnessed this particular incident directed at you or the Mesaba pilot group?

Eye for an eye doesn't usually work out too well, I think we learned that a couple of thousand years ago.

 

[Flyer1015]

Don't fall for flame that is so obvious...............

 

[Tank Commander]

For the record, if I could take another 5% paycut and take all of Pinnacle's aircraft, I would. And then when I saw you guys in the hallway, I would grab my crotch and give you the bird.

if I could take

you guys in the hallway,

I would grab my crotch.

I would.

And then

I would

take another

if I could

For the record

I think their is a hidden message.....
Walking those hallways has allways scared the hell out of me.

 

[profit]

In 2002, while attending the small carrier bargaining conference, I asked Tom Wychor about the 1995 Scope Committee report......He responded "I haven't read it".....As the then BSIC Committee Chairman don't ya think he should have read all of the scope committee reports that had already been filed.....

The RJDC lawsuit is finished.....what's the new excuse for not having brand scope? The fact is the mainline groups will never spend the capital it would take to get brand scope.....You and I both know that.....

Why were you asking him about a 7 year old report?