NWA Furloughee
Member
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2007
- Posts
- 11
Hi NuGuy,
Another dirty little secret seldom discussed is that NWA has options for 200+ CRJ900s and EMB 175s. Now obviously some of these on the Bombardier side of the house could be converted to the still to be built CSeries or Q400s (think Saab replacement for Mesaba). But they can't place more than 90 76 seat RJs in service at Compass or Mesaba without putting a DC-9 replacement aircraft into mainline service on a one for one basis.
How do you get around this? Well, one way would be to draw down the narrow body floor as much as possible before May 31, 2008. This process is in fact already underway. Then you start placing CRJ900s into mainline service using the 77-100 seat payscale as outlined in LOA 2006-13 of the contract. I don't have the exact numbers in front of me for FOs, but second and third year pay is in the low to mid $40 an hour range. The Captain slots on this aircraft would go very junior because all pilots flying "new" aircraft at NWA in the 76 seat to 110 seat range, will be operating under the work rules for 77-110 seat aircraft as spelled out in the same LOA. In effect, you are working for a different airline, buried inside of NWA.
Making the assumption that most of the Captain seats for Measab'a CRJ900 will go very senior, A junior NWA crew could fly these aircraft for very similar hourly costs. Once the CSeries aircraft become available in 2012 or so, they could be placed into mainline service and a 76 seat RJ could be sent over to Mesaba. It would only take about 40-50 76 seat RJs at NWA to replace all of the current DC-9 seats, when the other 90 RJs already agreeed by NWA ALPA to are factored in.
For those who would dismiss my theory, all I can say is that the contractual language is already in place for such a scenario to play out. For those of you with a background in NWA management's operational style, you know that NWA seldom asks for something that they do not intend to use.
It will be interesting (and not in a good way) to see what will happen as the NWA narrow body fleet continues to shrink. I am glad that I am on the sidelines for this one.
Another dirty little secret seldom discussed is that NWA has options for 200+ CRJ900s and EMB 175s. Now obviously some of these on the Bombardier side of the house could be converted to the still to be built CSeries or Q400s (think Saab replacement for Mesaba). But they can't place more than 90 76 seat RJs in service at Compass or Mesaba without putting a DC-9 replacement aircraft into mainline service on a one for one basis.
How do you get around this? Well, one way would be to draw down the narrow body floor as much as possible before May 31, 2008. This process is in fact already underway. Then you start placing CRJ900s into mainline service using the 77-100 seat payscale as outlined in LOA 2006-13 of the contract. I don't have the exact numbers in front of me for FOs, but second and third year pay is in the low to mid $40 an hour range. The Captain slots on this aircraft would go very junior because all pilots flying "new" aircraft at NWA in the 76 seat to 110 seat range, will be operating under the work rules for 77-110 seat aircraft as spelled out in the same LOA. In effect, you are working for a different airline, buried inside of NWA.
Making the assumption that most of the Captain seats for Measab'a CRJ900 will go very senior, A junior NWA crew could fly these aircraft for very similar hourly costs. Once the CSeries aircraft become available in 2012 or so, they could be placed into mainline service and a 76 seat RJ could be sent over to Mesaba. It would only take about 40-50 76 seat RJs at NWA to replace all of the current DC-9 seats, when the other 90 RJs already agreeed by NWA ALPA to are factored in.
For those who would dismiss my theory, all I can say is that the contractual language is already in place for such a scenario to play out. For those of you with a background in NWA management's operational style, you know that NWA seldom asks for something that they do not intend to use.
It will be interesting (and not in a good way) to see what will happen as the NWA narrow body fleet continues to shrink. I am glad that I am on the sidelines for this one.
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