New AirWis codeshares?

[Twotter76]

In the wake of the Airtran press release I am left to ponder my tenuous status as a lineholder here - however as I was reading the press release one part jumps out at me -

"Air Wisconsin has enjoyed the relationship with AirTran Airways. There are growth opportunities for Air Wisconsin with another airline partner, and we are looking forward to re-deploying these regional jets," said Pat Thompson, executive vice president of Air Wisconsin Airline Corp.

I don't think that we are talking about the big U here but I cannot substantiate it. There has been too much hiring going on here in the last few months for me to believe there is not something else in the works. And I doubt very seriously that the termination of the Airtran flying came as a total shock to our management. I have my own theories as to who we could concievably codeshare for but I would like to hear some thoughts from other people. You can put me down for Las Vegas overnights please.

 

[Ty Webb]

I read the announcement with mixed feelings.

I commute out of a Jet-Connect city, so I have spent a lot of time on your jumps seats. I have really enjoyed it- without exception, all of your guys have been great. Thanks for the rides, and the laughs . . . I know you guys will miss my Hank Hill imitations, too, I'll tell yuh whut.

From a commuting/non-revving viewpoint, when my city goes back to all 717, it will make it more of a "sure thing" to get to work (2 j/s available, plus many more cabin seats) but the frequency will probably be reduced from 5 to 3 or 4, which means doing more "hard time on Cellblock C".

Anyway, guys, I wish you all the best. I hope there is a smooth transition to whatever else your mgmnt has lined up, if it's western skies, well, the West is the best.

 

[IP076]

LAS Overnights?

Hmmm, Frontier and Alaska already have Horizon...

American has Eagle

United and Delta have Skywest...

America West has Mesa...hard to beat their price....

Northwest? But where would they serve LAS from? Probably MSP...guess the packed -300's don't cut it.

Who else is left?

 

[Fly-By-Cable]

SWA

 

[avrodriver]

"Air Wisconsin has enjoyed the relationship with AirTran Airways. There are growth opportunities for Air Wisconsin with another airline partner, and we are looking forward to re-deploying these regional jets," said Pat Thompson, executive vice president of Air Wisconsin Airline Corp.

I'd like to read into this as well, but it's pretty straight forward....he says that we are looking forward to re-deploying the jets with another airline partner. We've already been told the jets are going to United. I think it might have just been PC to not use United's name in an AirTran press release. Yes I'm disappointed.......it still hasn't sank in that in coming months my airplane will be painted U colors and I will soon find myself flying into ORD and IAD......heaven forbid venturing out of the south beside the occational MLI, BMI, MKE flight. I will truely miss operating for AirTran and doing turns out of the ATL. On the bright side no furloughs look to be on the horizion, we maintain fleet size, and the Atlanta base is being retained ( we will just feed into the hubs kinda like Mesaba does out of CVG, and we do out of Appleton with the BAC Jets). Eggs all in one basket again.........hopefully it doesn't stay that way, I agree. AD

 

[JTrain]

Twotter

-I think you were reading a bit too much into the press release, which basically tries to put a positive spin to everything despite the end of the Air Tran JetConnect arrangement. Basically reading between the lines, I'd suspect AWAC mgmt working behind the scenes to try and ensure the CRJs go to their United Express side - in a few days I'm sure we'll here something on this.

Regards,

JTrain

 

[No2Bttmfeeders]

Well put Jtrain!!

I hate to see the Air Tran deal go away and yes I agree that putting eggs into one basket kinda stinks but in the end I think it is important short term that the 10 airplanes find a home rather than furlough 200 pilots. That should be #1!!!


My 2 cents...

 

[No2Bttmfeeders]

TY Webb,


Thanks for the posting!! AirTran treated AWAC very well and the southern hospitality will be missed for sure!!


Tailwinds

 

[Wiskey Driver]

When I was with Air Wisc, I did the first month of ops out of ATL to MKE and the Airtran personel were outstanding. I really hate to see what AWAC is reducing it'self to, in fact it's somewhat painful. I hope the three knuckelheads in ATW aren't planning to sell to mesa but it sure looks like that type of environment.

All the best to the pilot group over there. Hope this thing turns out good for you!!

WD.

 

[FranktheTank]

All the eggs in one basket sucks, where's the Easter Bunny? On the flipside, UAL told, not asked from what I hear, to tell us to put 1 more hour on each aircraft each day. Thats about 2000 more hours each month, which equates to one more day off for me on the seniority list. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I like sleeping around, hopefully management will get into some more beds.

 

[Dr.Hwang]

The only people managment is sleepy around with is themselves. There is nothing they would like more than a little bit of lube and a box of kleenex. If those jets go anywhere they will go to United; they have to get repainted anyway. The cheese-curd eatin' brainiacs up on Mt.Olympus are in it for one thing---money, money, money. The only growth they care about is the kind that is "risk-free" and profitable. AWAC is not interested in growth for growths sake. Airtran was beggin' them to 70 seaters, an oppurtunity most companies would love to whore themselves out for, but alas, the money wasn't there, honey! These ten Airtran jets will get repainted to look like BIG YOYO, and then we'll get 10 new for our earth shattering 20 jets for UAL(a net increase of only ten---sorry upgrades). Any other pimping will go to the whores who can do it for less.

 

[Mongolikecandy]

The ten air tran jets are already slated for U. That is already official and announced on Fri.

 

[DASHDRIVER]

Mongo is corect,

8 aircraft will begin service in July for UAL and the last 2 will be moved over in Aug. Details on deployment have not yet been determined. The ATL base will remain open until this is determined.

 

[IFlyLow]

I think it says a lot about AWAC and its management for pulling out of AirTran without layoffs or furloughs by simultaneously bringing its RJs over to the UAL side of things. Dr. Hwang was current about AWAC’s intentions. We’re not here to grow for growth’s sake. It is an important concept to realize that just because you have the opportunity to fly more aircraft or larger aircraft doesn’t mean you should. The AirTran numbers didn’t make sense to continue, and management had the foresight to work out a deal with UAL to keep these planes flying, before we ever announced we’d be pulling out of AirTran.

Furthermore, I know for a fact (straight from Kevin LeWare) that United has asked us to put in a bid for Dulles flying. We put in a bid for 30 aircraft. Whether we get any or all of those has yet to be seen, but we have a few incentives for United.

First and foremost, no one company can expand to cover the void left by ACA, especially within this relatively short time period. AWAC has some of the most experience management out there and United knows it. We’ve had a very close relationship with UAL for a very long time. It doesn’t matter how low cost a regional is if it doesn’t have the right leadership to manage its resources properly.

Secondly, I am willing to bet that this deal to move 10 aircraft from AirTran to UAL included more than these 10 aircraft. If I were in Appleton, I would have bargained with United, telling them “we have 10 aircraft that you can have right away, and we have financing for another 20 aircraft ready to go within the next several years.” Understand that AWAC is financing these aircraft, NOT United. Obviously AWAC would rather not get into the financing business, but in this case the positives outweigh the negatives. In essence, UAL has very little liability in accepting this deal.

The only reason why we haven’t opened a Dulles base yet is because the “final numbers” from United haven’t been released yet. I’d look for an announcement very soon simultaneously announcing the Dulles base as well as another 20 a/c on top of these 10 that are coming from AirTran.

 

[ILStoMinimums]

Ever think Jetblue could use a regional express? Or will the coming EMB's cover those type of flights?

 

[Rottweiller]

Ever think Jetblue could use a regional express? Or will the coming EMB's cover those type of flights?

NO. They are keeping their RJ program in house once they start taking delivery of their 100 or so jets they ordered.

 

[BLUE BAYOU]

According to our President of Operations, the 50-seat jets can't make us any money at the rates we charge-- ideally, we can with 100 seats by flying the ERJ-190 farther (projected 2100nm range). Management seems quite excited about their potential use in markets like ROC-MCO (a route AAI now flies in their 117 seat B-717 and one that JBLU pax connect through JFK on currently). As for a new or "old" partner, I could see Air Wisconsin either feeding Ted or maybe supplementing the IAD ops... You guys are great, good luck!