Midwest getting desparate

[fletch717]

I always thought that a combined merger would form a better stronger company with a lot of job stability and career advancement, but our union said no, staying alone is better, they must know something I don't

I think you have to consider that your union, like your management may just be trying to protect their own little kingdom. As a line pilot I don't trust alot of the career union guys. You know the profile, Its the guys who will take any position to not fly the line. Don't get me wrong I support my union, but not every individual in the office. Some put their own agenda first.

 

[Citrusflyer]

Here's an article from the Street. com

http://www.thestreet.com/_iwon/newsanalysis/businessnews/10336937.html?cf=WSIWON1111051500

 

[Lear70]

AirTran's Healy said Midwest's problem is that a demand glut means it will have trouble securing competitively priced aircraft. AirTran, by contrast, has firm orders for 60 Boeing 737-700s, acquired at low cost because the order was placed in 2003 when few carriers were buying.



Carol Skornicka, Midwest corporate counsel, counters that AirTran's problem is it has too many aircraft orders. "We don't need to be fixed," she says. "AirTran needs to be fixed. They went crazy and bought 100 airplanes, and now they don't know where to put them."

That's pretty d*mn funny... considering AirTran made about 10 times the profit for the year.

Still a very witty comeback, I like it for its humor value.

Healy said the contrast in the two deals explains the difference in the pilots' positions. The US Airways deal failed to win support, he said, because if "you get rid of airplanes, it's usually not a good thing for the guys flying them." Midwest pilots, he said, would have far better career opportunities at a rapidly expanding carrier.

BINGO!

 

[FlyWolf]

Lear70, its good to see you again, where have you been, you keep these posts very interesting

 

[Lear70]

Stirring the pot is always a little fun...

Was enjoying time at home. Posting here is what happens when I have these long overnights in...

Yeah, it's MKE tonight. How do these people STAND it this cold??!!

DEFINITELY won't be bidding up here if it ever goes through.

 

[Eagle757shark]

Stirring the pot is always a little fun...

Was enjoying time at home. Posting here is what happens when I have these long overnights in...

Yeah, it's MKE tonight. How do these people STAND it this cold??!!

DEFINITELY won't be bidding up here if it ever goes through.

Come on Lear70, you got to stir it up a little. By the way any contract rumors out there?

 

[Lear70]

Nope. Not really. Pretty quiet actually for contract stuff.

Someone pretty high up on the MEC got fired, appears to be COMPLETELY wrongful termination, and it's had everyone distracted for the last week.

Merger and Acquisition committee members announced as well. One F/O, one JR CA, one senior CA.

Everything contract wise is being done so that they can get down to brass tacks (compensation and compensation-related) then start throwing furniture at each other.

Or so it seems... Who really knows.

 

[FlyWolf]

Stirring the pot is always a little fun...

Was enjoying time at home. Posting here is what happens when I have these long overnights in...

Yeah, it's MKE tonight. How do these people STAND it this cold??!!

DEFINITELY won't be bidding up here if it ever goes through.

Oh my God, in MKE tonight, I am sooo sorry about the weather, will try to bring the temp above zero for your next overnight here in MKE

 

[Murphy]

Where will we park the airplanes...St Louis, San Diego, Phoenix, Newburgh, Daytona Beach......

San Antonio???

There's a plan

 

[Lear70]

Oh my God, in MKE tonight, I am sooo sorry about the weather, will try to bring the temp above zero for your next overnight here in MKE

Sounds good to me.

Hotel room heater quit halfway through the night, looking forward to an early afternoon finish today... need more sleep.

 

[MarineGrunt]

Oh my God, in MKE tonight, I am sooo sorry about the weather, will try to bring the temp above zero for your next overnight here in MKE

No spooning allowed guys!!! I don't care how cold you are!

 

[FlyWolf]

here is the plan:


Midwest Airlines Launches 50-Seat Regional Jet Service, Next Step in Its 2007 Growth Plan
Wednesday February 7, 8:30 am ET Midwest Connect Introduces Kansas City-Columbus Service; Puts Larger Aircraft and Increases Frequency in Popular Business Markets
MILWAUKEE, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Midwest Airlines (Amex: MEH - News) today announced the launch of 50-seat regional jet service, the next step in its 2007 growth plan. Travelers will soon benefit from new Midwest Connect service between Kansas City and Columbus, Ohio, along with larger aircraft and frequency increases in six popular business markets.
Effective April 1: -- Milwaukee-Columbus -- All service upgraded from 32-seat regional jets to 50-seat regional jets. -- Milwaukee-Flint -- Two of four weekday flights upgraded from 19-seat turboprop aircraft to 32-seat regional jets and the addition of -- Saturday service on the 32-seat regional jet. Effective May 1: -- Kansas City-Columbus -- Launch of new service on 50-seat regional jets. The new service -- twice daily on weekdays and once daily on Saturday and Sunday -- will be the only nonstop service in the market. Columbus passengers will be able to connect in Kansas City to Midwest Airlines' flights to major destinations in the western United States. -- Milwaukee-Dayton -- Addition of a third daily roundtrip on a 32-seat regional jet. -- Milwaukee-Duluth/Superior -- Addition of a third daily roundtrip on a 32-seat regional jet. -- Milwaukee-Louisville -- All service upgraded from 19-seat turboprop aircraft to 32-seat regional jets. -- Milwaukee-Pittsburgh -- Three of four daily flights upgraded from 32- seat regional jets to 50-seat regional jets.
In addition, service in some markets will be retimed to accommodate the service changes.
Schedules and fares for the new flights are now available at http://www.midwestairlines.com.
"Our 2007 business plan is all about adding value for our customers and shareholders, and the new 50-seat regional jet program is an essential component of those efforts. We're excited to announce the first new service using these comfortable and efficient aircraft," said Scott R. Dickson, Midwest Airlines senior vice president and chief marketing officer. "Many more new and enhanced service announcements and frequency improvements are planned as additional 50-seat regional jets join the fleet in the coming year."
As previously announced, SkyWest Airlines, Inc. will operate at least 15 and up to 25 50-seat Canadair regional jets for Midwest. Flying as Midwest Connect, the SkyWest jets will be painted in the Midwest Connect livery and feature Midwest's brown leather seats, buy-onboard Best Care Cuisine meals, and popular baked-onboard chocolate chip cookies. The first five 50-seat regional jets will enter service in April and May.
Midwest Airlines' wholly owned subsidiary, Skyway Airlines, also operates under the Midwest Connect brand. Skyway will continue to operate its fleet of Fairchild 32-seat 328JET regional jets and 19-seat Beech 1900 aircraft as a vital element of Midwest's route network.
Midwest Airlines features jet service throughout the United States, including Milwaukee's most daily nonstop flights and best schedule to major destinations. Catering primarily to business travelers and discerning leisure travelers, the airline earned its reputation as "The best care in the air" by providing passengers with impeccable service and onboard amenities at competitive fares. Skyway Airlines, Inc. - Midwest's wholly owned subsidiary - operates as Midwest Connect and offers connections to Midwest Airlines as well as point-to-point service between select markets on regional jet and turboprop aircraft. Together the airlines offer service to 49 cities. Visit http://www.midwestairlines.com for more information.
New Midwest Connect Kansas City-Columbus Service Beginning May 1, 2007 Kansas City to Columbus Columbus to Kansas City Depart Arrive Frequency Depart Arrive Frequency 08:40 am 11:20 am Except Sunday 07:10 am 08:00 am Except Sunday 07:55 pm 10:35 pm Except Saturday 06:05 pm 06:55 pm Except Saturday

 

[scarlet]

Yeah Midwest has great job opportunity and they are growing ---WITH RJs that don't make alot of money !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE STOCK will go way down if Airtran fails....the company is not worth alot of money...tell me what Airtran is getting? General public doesn't even know who Midwest is??

 

[Wesb737fo]

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[FONT=Tahoma, Ariel, Lucida]Here is an article from Boyd....
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[FONT=Tahoma, Ariel, Lucida]Ramifications.[/FONT][FONT=Tahoma, Ariel, Lucida]RJs are not going away, at least not entirely. But their economics point to fewer and fewer in operation going forward. This portends a number of outcomes that airport and aviation planners would best consider:

[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma, Ariel, Lucida]Shifting Facility Needs: RJ-specific gate capacity should be revisited. The need will decline, not increase. Unfortunately, at least one major airframe manufacturer is still forecasting another couple of thousand RJs coming on line in the next 20 years. A return of Elvis is more likely.

[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma, Ariel, Lucida]Small & Rural Air Service: Communities should be ready to deal with the fact that there are new economics in rural air service, and they are not going in the right direction, as witnessed by the fact that RJs are moving out of reach. They need to also recognize that consumers are rebelling against getting on 19-seat airplanes and flying to places where connections are about as pleasant as an Army Induction Center. In some cases, alternative regional access plans should be pursued in lieu of simply trying to get service into the local airport that's either impossible or in the long term won't work anyway. [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Ariel, Lucida]Hard reality: the driving factor in finding solutions to rural air service starts with a review of the airline industry available to serve such points, not with $10,000 to $40,000 studies or surveys that purport to "determine where community's air service needs really are." [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Ariel, Lucida]That's like passing out a questionnaire on a sinking ship to ascertain the type of lifeboat the passengers might prefer.

[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma, Ariel, Lucida]The options within the airline industry in regard to truly rural and isolated air service are usually clear, and no amount of jive "research," outdated MIDT data, or cyber surveys will change that. When the report comes in and the invoice arrives, you're back to the initial realities - there are only a set number (if that) of airline options, and they are not much affected by the needs of the low traffic levels generated by a given small community. [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Ariel, Lucida]Bottom line: just tossing money at studies and surveys won't do anything to get a second airline or an RJ into a community whose traffic generation can barely support a Metro-III in cargo-combi configuration. The nation needs a whole new approach to assuring rural air service access, and it will have to come from outside of the Beltway, and outside the outdated thinking that we're still in the 1950s.

[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma, Ariel, Lucida]Financial Institutions: As was found with the turboprops that came on line in the 1980s, the economic half-life of regional jets will be a whole lot shorter than originally planned. Whether the ExpressJet experiment works or not, the fact is that it's a desperation move, not one necessarily driven by market forces, and it's not one that has unlimited expansion opportunities, either for them or for other operators. Therefore, as more CRJs and ERJs come off lease, plan on seeing an airport real estate boom at Mesa, and Marana and Coolidge. Take a look around the world - the secondary market applications for RJs are about on the level with hula-hoops and black-and-white TV sets.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Ariel, Lucida]It's hoped that ExpressJet will be a success. But in the long term, the nation is going to see a lot fewer "regional jets" - for better or for worse.[/FONT]

 

[Flydaplane]

I don't like a lot of what Boyd spews, but I think he is right on with the RJ's. I've hated as a passenger/commuter for years. Anything over 1.5 hours should be flown by something other than a "regional jet", they're too uncomfortable!!!

 

[Lear70]

General public doesn't even know who Midwest is??

General public (outside of ATL) doesn't know who AirTran is, either.

I get this a lot: "Ooohhhh, you're ATA".

 

[ultrarunner]

Where are the extra king air's going that are getting displaced?