Pinnacle Files for Bankruptcy

[BrickTop]

I hope someone Spots PNCL Execs in a parking lot surrounded by ill-tempered Memphis gang members.

 

[fam62c]

How much money can a company like this really save in bankruptcy? It's not like they have a bunch of highly paid employees, highly restrictive work rules or defined benefit pension plans. I guess they can reject leases and restructure debt but how viable will they be after shrinking? I live for the day when these companies can't find enough people willing to accept jobs for the compensation they offer and the whole business model goes down the crapper. High fuel prices and a looming labor shortage may be the thing that finally moves the pendulum back to more mainline aircraft and fewer small airplanes. These regionals depend on a steady supply of cheap labor and an economy strong enough coupled with fuel prices low enough to make the small jets economical, those conditions are going away quickly.

I don't want to see people lose their jobs because I've been there but maybe we are better off if we have more good jobs abd fewer crappy ones. What do the Pinnacle employees have to give back, I mean really?

 

[DoinTime]

Because Phildo the Dildo underbid the contracts. Delta may buy them up they are owned by Pinnacle. It would give us some cash on hand which will, of course, go to the corporate raiding management.

The original PCL -900 contract was pretty profitable. Problem is that it was a 10 year deal without any cost escalators build into it. Each year profits get thinner and thinner as inflation erodes the margin. Something that might happen with the airframes is a tail swap with the owned PCL 900s being traded for DAL subleased 900s at Mesaba. That way DAL can farm them out to the next bidder without having to buy them off of Pinnacle.

The whole mess is due to the incompetent Board of Directors at Pinnacle. The board approved all of Trenary's previous contracts and must have hood winked Menke to want to come over to this pile, that it is in right now...The board also just gave a big raise to the CEO and COO, help us we just want the gravy train to continue-useless Board of Directors at Pinnacle Corp..

There has been no incompetence. Everything has happened by design. Strip phony profits off of cooked books then flush it through bankruptcy and make the shareholders and contractors pay the bill.

 

[MACH-TUCK]

something to cheer everybody up...

Have a Coke and a smoke, try to stay calm...

 

[SLUF4]

Have a Coke and a smoke, try to stay calm...

i'm not even stressed and I liked it

 

[mesaba13]

The 900's probably will not go anywhere. DAL will restructure them and they will continue to do the flying they have been doing all along.

 

[xjhawk]

I guess the most important thing for many is the 5 year fence with regards to furloughs. There will be protections built into the captain structure but the FO's are screwed if you are on the bottom of the list. The way I see it is that all the Colgan Captains cannot bid into fenced jet positions. Only the ultra senior Colgan Captains will be able to hold the extra non fenced positions. Am I correct in this assumption? That in 4 years they will be able to bid into any jet positions if they hold on to their seniority? That most would have to ride it out as an FO until the fence is down. The fence is a product of ALPA, so the bankruptcy should not effect it? right?

 

[Salukipilot4590]

Have a Coke and a smoke, try to stay calm...

Product placement WIN

 

[higney85]

I guess the most important thing for many is the 5 year fence with regards to furloughs. There will be protections built into the captain structure but the FO's are screwed if you are on the bottom of the list. The way I see it is that all the Colgan Captains cannot bid into fenced jet positions. Only the ultra senior Colgan Captains will be able to hold the extra non fenced positions. Am I correct in this assumption? That in 4 years they will be able to bid into any jet positions if they hold on to their seniority? That most would have to ride it out as an FO until the fence is down. The fence is a product of ALPA, so the bankruptcy should not effect it? right?

The math will need to be done. When the Sli was released I do know we had way over the PCL 541CA's on the -200 and I believe more than listed for the PCL -900's (ATL). There is no sense getting everyone even more spooled up until the latest updated sen list comes out (due soon) and the "quota/fence" totals are figured out. The situation won't be good for the pilot group as a whole either way, but no sense in stiff-arming folks until the numbers are ran. Even with a 1 year wind down, and the year that has passed, there is 3 years before things become "unregulated" by fences/quotas. I can't see this training pipeline being cleared in under 12 months, assuming the fence comes down on the jets by Jan 1, 2013.

 

[Flyer1015]

That's terrible for you guys and I'm sure the fine folks at Hojet would fly them for a 1.50 a day

Up until Feb 2011, Pinnacle was flying RJs at the cheapest wages known in the industry, from a 1999 contract that was amendable in 2005. Lets not throw stones at GoJets while living in a glass house.