Pinnacle's 200 fleet has not been touched. No cuts of 50 seat jets at Pinnacle so far. IMO, we won't see any until at least 2017 when the CPA is up. OTOH, Mesaba is losing a few dozen Saabs, and that equates to pilot job losses on the order of hundreds. (Probably at least 200 as mentioned before). You have to admit, this merger is a savior for Mesaba in many ways. How much movement has Mesaba had? In almost 3 years, Mesaba has been stale with the exception of the new LGA Saab flying. With just a one year contract on that, I wouldn't hold my breath. In comparison, Colgan brings a junior group, but at least they bring growth to the mix. Continued deliveries of Q400s ensures they are not stale and positively growing. Although Pinnacle isn't growing, it isn't shrinking either. Our 200s and 900s are constant so far (last year compared to this year, compared to next year, etc). Mesaba brings a very senior pilot group, no growth, but the opposite: shrinking fleet. Had it not been for the Saab LGA flying by US Air Express, Mesaba was looking at becoming a RJ-only airline of 60 airplanes once the Saabs were gone. Almost like the next Comair, which will be down to just 44 RJs. It's sad, but it is what it is. The arbitrator will consider these facts, under the category 'career expectations' and his SLI award will respect career expectation for each individual airline. From a career expectation standpoint, Colgan and Pinnacle are ahead of Mesaba. To draw that conclusion, just look at what would happen to the individual carrier if they didn't merge. And the Mesaba's Saabs all gone was writing on the wall, dwindling down to just 60 RJs.
9 more days. You can cut each others throats then. Until then, cheers!