NWA Backward movement?

[holmie]

Was just looking at the advanced awards at NWA and it looks like guys are getting displaced out of DC9 block holders to DC9 reserve from MSP to DTW etc. That is what happened during the rounds of furloughs. Any current Red Tailers on this board give some insight, are there rumours of more layoffs. Currently sitting it out in the desert.

 

[nwaredtail]

Parking 30 DC-9's between now and December. At 5 crews per plane, we are overstaffed by 300 or so, but crew resources said with retirements they would rather be overstaffed than re-furlough, but...........

mechanics may strike............
F/A's may strike.................
Fuel may hit 70 per barrel.................
Pinnacle may buy ASA/Comair......................

NWA will be in bankruptcy by April 2006 and then the contract will look similar to UAL's and AAA's. When that happens, expect another 1000 or so furloughs with the loss of duty rigs, capt. augmentation, capt. instuctors, bid schedule guarantee. NWA's trip to bankruptcy will be alot shorter than everyone else's/ Our big problem is the pension, we dump that we are good to go........NWA's money men have great connections and can get DIP financing and exit financing at the drop of a hat. Sucks for us.......

Living the dream and hating it.

 

[pilotyip]

Is NWA still flying DC-9-10's?, if so are they getting rid of them?

 

[ExAF]

One Day At A Time

The -10s have all been retired. The 9 displacements are due to "adjusting basing levels" as they park more 9s. Company says they aren't going to furlough (we've all heard that before). Still taking delivery on a A-330, a couple of A-319s, and a couple of 747 freighters along with attrition should "suck up" some of the bleeding as they park 9s. I doubt seriously they are overstaffed since they are always running out of reserves, rescheduling block holders to cover trips, and upping the monthly max each month. Labor strife and BK are still looming and could change everything. Cheers.

Edit Add: Correction, they actually dropped the DC9FO monthly max for Aug. Maybe they aren't so undermanned after all.

 

[NuGuy]

Heyas all,

Redtail is on the mark. Any one of those things can torpedeo the whole shebang.

While some of those items will cause a lot of displacement, others won't. Loss of captain instructors is worth about 150 pilots, depending on who you ask, because you will still need seniority list pilots for checkrides/type rides (at least I hope).

Loss of captain augmentation (all of our long haul flights are captain augmented, as opposed to type rated FO that everyone else has) will cause displacement from the higher pay categories, but they still need pilots in those planes, so you lose the captain positions, but gain the FO positions. You probably will not see a huge amount of flow back in the bottom half of the list at all, since widebody FO positions pay the same as DC-9 Captain, and the QoL is much, much higher.

The DC-9s are being parked at the end of the summer season. NWA is still a seasonal airline in many respects, and a lot of flying gets pulled back after the mid-westerners go back to their igloos.

The pilots have a "variable monthly maximum" from 75 to 81 hours (although many do fly more). The company has been running most seats/aircraft at or around 81 hours (the max) for the last 12 months or so. By dialing back the max from 81 to 75, you can absorb a lot of staffing. Now will the company do that? Well, you're guess is as good as mine.

Not fun...but hey, things can change. 4 years ago everyone was having wet dreams on this board by having their name on the UAL pool list.

Nu

 

[Diesel-9]

There has been alot of upward movement in all Capt. positions for months. 747, A-330, 757, A-320, etc...I have been moving up 10 bid positions a month for many months. Next years addition of 8 more narrow body Airbus aitcraft, and another 16 A-330's the next two years and retirements increaseing next year for eternity, there is potential for things to keep moving.....This will filter down thru the F/O ranks soon as there is a short term correction with the parking of some -9's. The existing -9 fleet utilization is increasing and should be a short term burp with a few displacements. I am an optimist ya know.

 

[Lear70]

Parking 30 DC-9's between now and December. At 5 crews per plane, we are overstaffed by 300 or so, but crew resources said with retirements they would rather be overstaffed than re-furlough, but...........

mechanics may strike............
F/A's may strike.................
Fuel may hit 70 per barrel.................

Pinnacle may buy ASA/Comair......................

Something I should know about or are you just crack smoking?

In all seriousness, that last one is a new one on me, and since PCL is in Section 6, I thought we'd heard ALL the crazy rumors about 2nd certificate flying and such.

And why, as Diesel 9 stated, would that be something that would torpedo mainline? We all know BR is coming and I'm sure no one wants more RJ's (I sure as h*ll don't), but adding existing feed into the Northwest system would theoretically boost the transcon and international feed for mainline, so why is more feed a bad thing? (assuming they don't add 70- and 90- seaters and replace mainline flying of course).

Living the dream and hating it? Tell me about it; I'm a 3rd generation pilot, this is NOT what I signed up for. *sigh* Still beats digging ditches though and the kids are getting fed, so what can ya' do?