Piedmont and Allegheny

[psw737]

does anyone know if either of these two companies are still hiring?

 

[AZaviator]

Yes, both are still hiring. There's some fairly recent interview gouges on aviationinterviews.com

 

[skiddriver]

I spoke with a guy I know at Piedmont the other day, and it looks like they've stopped for the time being and that they could be slowing down training.

I'd still send in that resume and keep it updated.

 

[ksus]

There is a rather big pool in both of them.
Send a resume, you never know!
Good Luck!

 

[LearLove]

ALG AND PDT INFO

Pdt is a little delayed in getting the 300's so this backs us up on the getting of thier 100's. Alg was supposed to be at 55 or 56 by now or May and are at 52. Once pdt gets the goods alg will get the additional a/c and classes will resume.
Alg has 475 total pilots as of the may bid (277 capts.).

Another thing is that the lines are witten for 55 a/c so people are out flying where we don't have a/c.

But none of this matters b/c alg, pdt, and psa will be shut down soon so contract carriers can have our routes. Wholly owned carriers are short for this world.

 

[airbrush]

Flyin@500agl,

Since our careers are, for now, tied to ALG, what is your guess on the timing of our demise? I've heard some of the scuttlebutt; just curious on your take. I think you're probably right, I'm just not sure how long it will take, or whether we might be sold as an entity to, say, ACA, and operated intact as a contract carrier, or busted up so our routes can be simply absorbed by the expansion of CHQ, TSA, Mesa, etc.

Aviation...gotta love it!

 

[ryjacks]

I guess I am just curious. I know you say the WO are doomed, but why would ALG still be adding aircraft if the days were numbered? Same thing with PDT. Does that make business sense? It takes money to add aircraft and pilots and such, y do that if you are only going to go out of business????

 

[airbrush]

I guess the sense that our days could be numbered comes from several factors: it seems that any RJs (sorry, SJs!) that come to US Airways will be easier to implement at the contract carriers than at the WOs. Wolf has stated that U's financial position prevents it from paying for the jets, and our equipment is all paid for by them (my understanding). There are also long-standing labor issues between the two pilot groups that could be hard to overcome. Management at the contract carriers at least seems to have the freedom to make their own decisions and negotiate their own financing, rather than having to beg Crystal City for every nickel.
I'm not necessarily thinking ALG, PDT, and PSA will be dissolved; just possibly sold. Our current expansion could become part of another entity that is now contracted back to provide the same service we do now. The only issue there is, do we have to reapply for our current jobs, flush our seniority, move to another location and start at the bottom of someone else's seniority list at half our current pay? I'm no industry expert, just an employee contemplating the possibilities and trying to read the wind direction....

 

[DASHDRIVER]

Rumors

I think everyone should just take a deep breath and relax. At least until the new Siegal business plan is released it is anyones guess. I have a feeling its not going to be as bad as what people here are saying. I know several high end union and mang types in PDT and none have heard anything official for at least three weeks. Everything, including SJ/RJ (whatever) nego. are at a stand still till mid April minimum.

 

[airbrush]

Dashdriver,

Good point. I'm not as paranoid as my post might seem; just speculating a little, and attempting to plan for the future support of my family. The industry trend does seem at the moment to be against ownership of regionals, but Seigal may have some different ideas on the matter. Time will tell.

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

My personal opinion:

I think the WO's will do very well. The SJ is dead in the water right now, and from what I've read from the U MEC, and have heard of other senior pilot's saying, the U MEC would rather have the U cease operations and go under, like Eastern, rather than take pay concessions. The WO's make money, and would either be sold or be purchased by some other carrier out of bankruptcy proceedings as they do a great job. Then, you can get the new aircraft you need to expand and make even more money.

I think the contract carriers are the ones that are hanging by a thread.

Cliff

 

[FR8mastr]

The bottom line is, if Mainline mec doesnt get their collective heads out of their collective $#@%$ the whole US group is history! This airline is so messed up I don't know where to begin. (but I'll try) First. RJ's need to go to wholly owned operators. if not management will outsource all the feed and then start on the mainline flying. If the wholly owned's operate them, it will still be group flying. Try and explain that to the egomaniacs at mainline. the same people that agree to fly 70 seat rj's for Fokker rates plus 17%.(yea thats reasonable) Second, this BS that management cant afford to fly RJ's Group pays mesa on a per departure basis. out of that money mesa recieves they can pay the employees aircraft payments ect. and still make millions in profit. Therefor management is allready paying for the airplanes the only difference is the profit is going to mesa. As for selling the wholly owned companies off, what a joke, sell what? the majority of the A/C are leased and we dont own the routes or gates, we are just an airline on paper. We are at the complete mercy of the mainline MEC, which is why I have little hope for any future at all at US Airways. As long as the mainline MEC insists on flying 757 between PIT and PHL and doesnt understand the conept of increasing your own feed to grow we and the entire US Air group are doomed to a footnote in an aviation history book.

 

[LR25]

Hey, I'm all for it. Lets get sold (PDT) and scrape the paint off and go somewhere else.

We are succsesful, we make money and we know what works, end of story.

I dont mind swinging props.

But the funny thing is, if we were to get sold we might even see some jets.

 

[JetProp]

If we scrape that dark blue paint off, maybe it will be cooler in summer! A nice shade of white on top would be nice!

 

[sim66]

Doom and gloom - doom and gloom on the WO issue. I am sure the senior captains at ALG who have been there for 25 years have heard this once or twice before. Let's not rush to any judgements on the future of anyone in this industry, because let's face it folks- we just don't know.

 

[PDTGIMP]

I agree that U is the most backwards and stupid airline to exist today.

Although, the point that U could drain the equity out of the WO, having no gates or routes and just leave us to look for jobs as school bus drivers begs the question-How were they going to sell us to ACA last year, plus a FEW aircraft actually list US Airways, Inc. on the A.C. Not the -300's or anything but some of these old 100's.

Plus, all those shinny new Airbus A/C we're funding for mainline are leased too. And mainline uses us through DCA 'cause PDT, ALG and PSA, not mesa, owns the majority of slots into the airport.

Frankly, I have no clue how all that crap works, but thought I'd join the fray.

 

[FR8mastr]

PdT Gimp, They would have sold the routes and the leases to United not ACA, United then was to hire ACA to manage us. the reason for this is simple if United owned us all of our job protection and merger stuff would have come into play. Not that it would have ever happened. They would have paid lawyers to make it go away. That is why the big deal of having all this happen simaltaniously, so technically we would have never been owned by United. We were never going to be owned by ACA either, they were paid IE forced by United to do the deal for the reasons listed above and they would continue to need the feed. Point #2 because we would be operated as a seperate company only managed by ACA our job protections would not apply,(NO JETS) As time went by and ACA took delivery of new jets our dashes and our jobs would slowly go away remember they are not our routes they are now United routes. At the end of the 18 months I think it was, ACA was to decide if in fact they actually wanted to buy us. If not United was to pay them a truck load of cash for the trouble. Now what is left of us if anything would go back to United at this point we would have no power at all and we would just go away. Look at what Ornstien is doing to CC Air to know what would be the fate of the US wholly owned. But to think that we would be better off with ACA under anything remotely close to that deal, you would have to be in the twilite Zone. Not you PDTGimp but those out there that believe we would be in RJ's if the United Deal had happened as proposed.

 

[canadflyau]

ALG pilot... past tense

I am very amused at all the prior posts... HOW MUCH CAN CHANGE IN LESS THAN 30 DAYS!!

I am furloughed from ALG as of Friday May 3, when the call to stop training was made... only thing left was the checkride.

If you look back at all the prior posts you can realize how much management is trying to strongarm the wo's. On someone's post they are talking about how ALG is looking to go from 52 to 56 DASH-8 by May... but now what they say is. J4J's isn't the cause of furloughs, these were coming starting in July due to our DECREASING FLEET SIZE. ALG went from scarfing up PDT's 100's that were being replaced by 300's... but Kieth had this long term plan all along. OOPS it must have been some misinfo to say that we were possibly having a class & interviewing in MAY (Published in AIR Inc's JET JOBS)

What a crock.... This LOA is no good way to get jets.. we want jets, but not this way. MESA will probably love it!

As for me, on the street... again

 

[FR8mastr]

canadfly, I'm really sorry to hear how management screwed you, I can only say that myself and many others will be fighting like he-- to get your job back, (a job you would actually want) If we can keep PDT from caving in like a bunch of scared school girls we will have chance. If not, it doesnt look good at all. Hang in there and good luck.

A Captain at ALG

 

[canadflyau]

well it wasn't a furlough after all

Ok, are you thinking is mistyped, and meant to type furlough. No,
this morning the bottom four pilots on the seniority list were
terminated. Here is what was told:

The positions have been eliminated, and you are now terminated. You will receive no notice, this is your last moment as an ALG pilot. You do not have recall rights, b/c you are not furloughed you are terminated. Your pay ends immediately (again, no 30 days.) You do not retain any travel rights (no jumpseat letter, etc.) again b/c you are being terminated not furloughed. The only thing you are getting is your trip home, give us back all the things issued to you. Have a nice day, and sorry.

Ok, so now I am getting into the contract very deeply. The company just violated the contract... multiple times... right! As far as I am concerned the living contract that exists btw management and its pilots is dead.

Section 22 E Loss of Seniority
Our seniority was just stripped, we were not discharged, nor was this for discipline. Therefore our probationary status has nothing to do with what they just did to us. They violated the contract.

Section 23
We received no notice. Immediate loss of everything. Everything in this section was violated.

ALG pilots, this needs to be a wakeup call. When we asked "If the proposal was made in Rosedale slating furloughs to begin July 1, why then wasn't all training stopped then, instead waiting a week and a half and until after LOA 81 was not agreed to by our MEC." For that there was no answer.

I am surprised it has taken even this long for the injustice to get
out to everyone. So now hopefully more pilots can be informed. ALPA I assume will be taking recourse on our, and your behalf.