New Southwest Domicile - ATL

[zippy32]

This whole thing is Steve Chase's fault.

 

[FlyinGuy]

Not if they don't give first priority to the AirTran pilots who were based there. If they have a situation were an AirTran pilot got displaced out and gets replaced by a SWA guy there you will be creating a nightmare.

AT pilots will not be getting displaced out of their AT domicile. When they transition to SWA they will get placed in a SWA domicile. There currently is not a SWA domicile in ATL. Therefore, they will bid and be awarded a domicile based on their seniority and vacancies. When ATL is opened up, every SWA pilot will be required to add ATL to their vacancy list. Once Jul '13 rolls around, they will announce who is awarded or displaced to ATL. Any new AT pilot coming over to the SWA side will bid accordingly. Again, they will be awarded what they can hold. So, there will not be any nightmare scenario like you are stating. This might actually be a good thing for AT/SWA alike.

But, thanks for your concern Mr. Roman!!!

 

[Dan Roman]

Grind that axe, Dan

Not in the least, before some SWA guys jumps in here and say I hate SWA, let me point out the reason I am so active on these merger strings. I work for Hawaiian so I think it's obvious why "smaller" airlines merging into larger airlines is of particular interest to me. Although the only realistic option out there is DAL and Lee Moak was in HNL and went on record dispelling that (I know I know, that and $2 will get you a cup of coffee). Nevertheless, it's a subject of great interest to me. Not so much at my seniority as much as concern for the whole seniority list.
So......back to the original thought on here. If an airline tried to buy HAL, displace pilots out of HNL and than replace those pilots there would be a firestorm. Fortunately there are enough protections to prevent that scenario, both geographically and politically that it is not a realistic concern, but it still is something I hate seeing happen to anyone else.

 

[Tripower455]

This is a plus for both sides IMHO......It'll get the transitioned AT ATL guys back home to ATL, and slow the defacto displacement of SW FOs in the east coast domiciles, particularly MCO......

 

[Dan Roman]

AT pilots will not be getting displaced out of their AT domicile. When they transition to SWA they will get placed in a SWA domicile. There currently is not a SWA domicile in ATL. Therefore, they will bid and be awarded a domicile based on their seniority and vacancies. When ATL is opened up, every SWA pilot will be required to add ATL to their vacancy list. Once Jul '13 rolls around, they will announce who is awarded or displaced to ATL. Any new AT pilot coming over to the SWA side will bid accordingly. Again, they will be awarded what they can hold. So, there will not be any nightmare scenario like you are stating. This might actually be a good thing for AT/SWA alike.

But, thanks for your concern Mr. Roman!!!

In other words the AirTran pilots brought ALL the ATL flying to the table but now it's being divided among the whole list?

 

[HA25]

Not in the least, before some SWA guys jumps in here and say I hate SWA, let me point out the reason I am so active on these merger strings. I work for Hawaiian so I think it's obvious why "smaller" airlines merging into larger airlines is of particular interest to me. Although the only realistic option out there is DAL and Lee Moak was in HNL and went on record dispelling that (I know I know, that and $2 will get you a cup of coffee). Nevertheless, it's a subject of great interest to me. Not so much at my seniority as much as concern for the whole seniority list.
So......back to the original thought on here. If an airline tried to buy HAL, displace pilots out of HNL and than replace those pilots there would be a firestorm. Fortunately there are enough protections to prevent that scenario, both geographically and politically that it is not a realistic concern, but it still is something I hate seeing happen to anyone else.

you and me both Dan... this too is why I follow them, even though I'm just the new guy at HAL and not the 2x year CA..

But honestly, the way I see it, is fences cure everything! IF we ever were bought or merged into another much larger carrier with many other bases, I expect that HNL will be only open as vacancies open up to outsiders.. OR any new and additional capacities added. There is a lot of precedent for this in prior mergers and acquisitions..

 

[ASADFW7]

Dan the same statement could be made for MDW, LAS, OAK, BWI, HOU, DAL, PHX, for the SWA crew bases. There is a whole country out there beyond ATL.

 

[HA25]

In other words the AirTran pilots brought ALL the ATL flying to the table but now it's being divided among the whole list?

yeah, but did you see the pay raise they got with that?

 

[FlyinGuy]

Dan, I think it is a little short sighted to say they (AT) brought something to the table, therefore, it is not open to the SWA pilots. So by your analysis, at the completion of all mergers every crewmember should only be able to bid/fly what their side had before the agreement. Should that include pay, vacation, 401K, etc.

 

[Lear70]

Oh boy, here we go... *sigh*

There is a lot of president for this in prior mergers and acquisitions..

As long as you're not bought by Southwest, you should be good with that. And the word is "precedent", by the way. (Sorry, couldn't resist)

The only good news here is that there will be an opportunity for more of our senior 717 CA's who bid 737 F/O to have access to the base when they start classes every month in Feb, mostly transitioning 717 pilots out of ATL.

That said, as of then, assuming there's 100 ATL F/O's in the vacancy, how many of our former AAI pilots will be able to hold it? My guess is about half, mostly former AAI CA's. The rest will be OSW.

I also don't see this helping MCO much. The incoming 737 CA's from MCO who just bid over (Jan class) and the upcoming class later in the Spring (which will probably coincide with the base opening in ATL) are mainly FL residents, as are the other guys who bid into the base this year, and MCO was a pretty senior base for us, especially CA's who will now be F/O's. The only thing that will bring SOME those guys out of MCO is a TPA base, virtual or otherwise.

At least we have a good idea when the last 2/3 of the MCO 737 draw-down will be. Right now ATL doesn't have the overnight traffic to justify the base, but if you pull the 737's for SJU out of MCO, you could easily base them in ATL and carry the SJU traffic out of all 3 bases for the last of the SJU transition to SWA flying. That flying comes from MCO, so I bet the draw-down of MCO coincides with that base opening.

It will be interesting to see what the DR outcome is for displacement rights for 717 pilots.