purchased the capacity? What does that mean? That the planes can only be operated for CAl, of the pcl gets money back to offset the purchase price?
It means, in very clear language, that:
First, Pinnacle Airlines has purchased and will operate these new aircraft for Continental.
Second, that Continental has purchased ALL the capacity, meaning every seat on every flight, for its own use. That can be regular 121 ops, that can be charter, it's basically anything done that's not a 91 reposition flight. No one else will be able to put meat in the seats.
Third, that Pinnacle Airlines is going to operate these aircraft WITHOUT Pinnacle Airlines pilots. A direct violation of the Scope section of the contract.
There WILL be a lawsuit filed immediately (I'm sure ALPA was prepared for it). Part of my guess of why the early announcement is multi-part, some for stock prices, some of it likely to see how the lawsuit from ALPA washes out.
What you won't see is probably some of the union guys from PCL posting on here. Now that it's a full-blown law suit they'll likely be told not to discuss it, even anonymously.
A couple weeks ago when PCL purchased Colgan, I told you it would be a VERY short time until we saw how Corporate was going to run it, and I warned you that it would probably be negative.
Most of your Colgan guys said that myself and others were WAY too pessimistic and operating WAY too fast for your comfort.
Well, all I can say is: welcome to Pinnacle, where you WILL get screwed at the earliest possible moment.
You are benefiting now; when it no longer benefits management to benefit you, it will be YOUR turn to get screwed. Count on it.
The BEST thing your pilot group could do is approach PCL ALPA and start a union drive for Colgan pilots NOW.
If you don't, then the rest of the industry will know where you stand. I'm not going to make airline comparisons, I'm sure you know of many precedents for this, but it would be AMAZINGLY refreshing to see a group of pilots put their foot down against the whipsawing that has taken over this industry.