Piedmont to close all Florida bases.

[dirkdigler]

I've just heard that Piedmont Airlines is being forced out of Florida flying all together. As a result,tThey will be closing TPA and JAX bases. There will be over 170 crewmembers plus a whole bunch of ground workers who will be displaced. Guess who is going to take advantage of this situation. You guessed it. MESA, as always.

 

[JetProp]

Ugghh...
I think I'm gonna' PUKE

 

[JTrain]

Does anybody have access to the press release regarding Piedmont pulling out of Florida/Mesa being the replacement.

Also, which division of Mesa will be filling in? Air Midwest - which does some intra-FL flying, or CRJs/ERJs.

It is really quite a shame what is happening to the PDTers. I have a friend in JAX with PDT and he tells me that a lot of senior PDT ppl have hung out in FL bases just because of various quality of life issues down there, now unfortunately they'll have to leave or commute.

JTrain

 

[B1900DFO]

There is no public press release as of yet. The news was distributed through a letter from pdt's president to the crewmembers. He states that Florida's market is too volatile and Mesa with their "low" cost structure is happy to take over. Apparently making 24k in the right seat at Pdt is not cost competitive for the company. Those whores at Mesa are eventually going to ruin this job for EVERYBODY!

Now that US airways is code sharing with Ual I would be worried if I was a UAL express pilot right now making more than 17k a year. I'm sure Ornstein already has his eyes on your flying. Who can compete with welfare wages or 8 days off a month? It's disgusting.

 

[JTrain]

I hear ya. At ACA, on 2nd year RJ FO pay I can make a decent living. Not breaking the bank, UAL-style, but a decent life.

I understand Mesa's pilot contract is due this fall. Let us hope that they can raise the bar.

JT

 

[h25b]

I've got several good friends at PDT, and believe me when I say I agree that you guys are gett'n screwed. But, the guys flying at Mesa aren't the ones you should be blaming. Calling them whores isn't quite the answer. There are only two classifications of pilots out there. SL*TS and the whores you refer to. The whores get paid to fly and the sluts don't. It's as simple as that. If your gettin a paycheck, your a whore. Period. I've yet to meet a pilot who thinks he or she is getting paid what they're worth.

The industry's in the toilet now, lets all try to stick together. Everybody's just trying to make a living. Mesa's pilots just go fly where they're told and hope their paychecks come on time. If you want some sort of control over the routes you fly, rent an airplane...

 

[Beantown]

PDT pilots need to stop crying. Your company just "TOOK" all of few remaining routes that CCAir had. A move that will most likely force CCAir to cease operations. You guys always play "victim" but lose no sleep when your MGMT puts 400 people on the street. You always put down the Mesa pilots, looks to me that you just jumped onto the same boat. Sad! -Bean

 

[Beantown]

1900fo wrote, "I'm sure Ornstein already has his eyes on your flying. Who can compete with welfare wages or 8 days off a month? It's disgusting.
---------------------------------------------------

1900, Who do you work for? What is your pay? -Bean

 

[Beantown]

1900fo wrote, " The airline I work for despises Mesa guys because they are helping to shut us down despite being considerably worse on operational performance. Just my .02."
-----------------------------------------

Again, who is US? You are not at a WO. The only airline that I can think of that flys 1900's in the U system is Colgan. I have seen the pay rates at Colgen and they are worse then Mesa's. If not Colgen who? How is Mesa trying to take your flying? -Bean

 

[dondk]

Time out.. Being former Mesa going to PDT I FELT the "love" from the PDT guys. Basically I stopped saying I was former Mesa because the temperature got real chilly real fast. There has been bad blood between the two for many years. I have heard stories on both sides to the reason for the bad blood and this is surely not going to help.

From PDT's point though.. It will take (2) 1900's to make the load a DHC-8 can carry and some of those FL route's I thought had -300's.

It will be interesting if Mesa's going to put jet's into a already saturated market. Does'nt Comair and Eagle already have a decent FL presence and I hear CHQ is bringing more into the pot?

A while back Mesa was cutting FL flying as it had lower load factors (everyone preferred the DHC to the 1900).
Don't pick on Mesa pilots, they have no choice who they fly for or where they fly, they want a paycheck just like everyone else does. They are in contract negioations, and maybe they will get what they are due, whatever it is though.. It will be more than they get now, so that "cost" factor maybe rising more than JO may like...