Pinnacle purchases 15 Q400

[The Venture]

Read this in the memphis commercial appeal this am. Anyone else hear anything? Article says planes are to flown for continental in the northeast.

 

[IrishjbPilot]

http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/business/article/0,1426,MCA_440_5329052,00.html

 

[StormChaser]

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070205/clm113.html?.v=10

 

[SplitBar]

Flown by Colgan. Oh Boy! Time for some scope.

 

[IrishjbPilot]

Ha...nice timing with the post.

 

[The Venture]

Alpa better get the wheels turning. I thought this would be in violation of the scope clause that the 9E pilots have.

 

[redflyer65]

Wheels are already turning. I'm sure the paperwork will filed shortly. Just not sure which US Disctrict Court yet.

A pretty clear violation. We'll see.

 

[Flyer1015]

Is there a clause that states any new airplanes bought by Pinnacle Holdings must be operated by Pinnacle Airlines?

 

[GEORGE DUBYA]

OH boy here we go

 

[Justino2]

Blah Blah Blah....what Ever.

 

[funnyman12]

i doesn't say pinnacle purchased the planes....they made a purchase agreement with continental. hense if continental indeed was the buyer of the planes then pinnacle pilots should not be so upset. since their sweat didnt buy the planes. continental has been negotiating with bombardier in the recent months.

 

[Flyer1015]

i doesn't say pinnacle purchased the planes....they made a purchase agreement with continental. hense if continental indeed was the buyer of the planes then pinnacle pilots should not be so upset. since their sweat didnt buy the planes. continental has been negotiating with bombardier in the recent months.

The very *first* sentence of the article was:

Memphis-based Pinnacle Airlines Corp. is buying a fleet of 15 planes in another move to ensure its future even as its longtime partner, Northwest Airlines, continues to struggle for its survival.

Sounds like they are purchasing the planes, not leasing them from Continental. Oh well, time will tell.

 

[funnyman12]

Continental will purchase all Q400 capacity at predetermined rates and
industry standard pass-through costs. Fuel will be purchased directly by
Continental and provided to Colgan at no cost.
PER YAHOO FINANCE

 

[funnyman12]

Great job Colgan pilots!!! all our sweat has made Continental confident in our product!! hooray for all our hard work!

 

[gromgutten]

I love it.....I bought Pinnacle stock at $4.50!

 

[GEORGE DUBYA]

This is totally going to be a whipsaw 9E B1B scope clause problem.

 

[LanceAir]

Is it normal to announce plans like this 10 months ahead of time? Glad these are going to be flown in EWR, if I get stuck in one I would rather be up North

 

[vectorvictor]

Will this plane have a lav?

 

[LanceAir]

Will this plane have a lav?

Maybe 2 !!!! I won't need to bring those empty Gatorade bottles anymore.:beer:

 

[filejw]

Actually it a nice A/C to ride in and makes economical sense on many routes under say 400 miles.

 

[ImbracableCrunk]

400 Miles.

Not knowing the scope, what's the violation? Is it owned versus operated or leased, or what?

 

[greedypilot]

How long til Colgan absolutely destroys those brand new aircraft ?

Maybe Colgan will stop being a bottom feeder.. doubtful

 

[Smarta$$]

Pinnacle airlines corp. purchased the planes from the manufacture. Continental purchased the capacity on those planes.

 

[dingo222]

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?

 

[foreverfo]

Like with XJT, CAL bought the seats. So matter if it's full or empty, PCL gets paid. Plus the gas is free.

 

[dingo222]

gotcha, thanks

 

[Lear70]

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.

 

[PCL_128]

Well, all I can say is: welcome to Pinnacle, where you WILL get screwed at the earliest possible moment.

Yep, that pretty much sums up life at Pinnacle.

 

[SEVEN]

I love it.....I bought Pinnacle stock at $4.50!

Nice...a 300% return. Hopefully you bought alot.

 

[DeucesWild]

Yep, that pretty much sums up life at Pinnacle.

How is it you got screwed at Pinnacle? You got hired there with just a handful of GIA Beech 1900 hours and minimumally qualified at best. You got to upgrade at the first possible opportunity (when you met the minimum requirement) and got paid the whole time exactly what PCL said they were going to pay you when you hired on. You are building 121 PIC time in a jet.

You should be grateful for the opportunity you have had. But NO, you constantly come on here telling everyone how Pinnacle management has screwed you. Please tell us, exactly how has Pinnacle failed you?

Whiners get very little respect from me!!