Read for yourself. This was posted by Ed Criner on the company website. Bring ON THE RECALLS then maybe I can get off from sitting S1, S2 or S3!!
Criner's Corner
Message to Pilots
July 23, 2002
TO: ALL EAGLE PILOTS
I'm sure everyone has heard by now that we are eliminating 14 EMB-145s from our fleet. Some of your messages to me have indicated that many of you are concerned by this action and have a lot of questions. I hope this letter will help clear up some of those issues.
First of all, I want to remind you that the elimination of these airplanes has been included in our fleet plans for some time. The reason has always been to help us comply with a provision of the APA scope clause that restricts the number of aircraft we are allowed to operate with a seating capacity of more than 45 seats. Please keep in mind that this portion of the scope clause is different from the one that sets our ASM cap limitations.
In terms of staffing, upgrade or transition opportunities, this return does not change the original pilot-staffing forecast. However, because the return process is somewhat earlier than originally planned, this could alter the timing of vacancies. Also, moving the date up should offer some relief in the ASM cap limits. And as Mr. Bowler indicated in early correspondence, pilot furloughs will not occur as a result of these 14 airplanes leaving our certificate.
Like you, I realize that it would be much better if we were able to operate this aircraft ourselves; however, given the current scope restrictions, that is not a possibility.
In the past, we have held numerous discussions and briefings with ALPA concerning our initial firm orders for 50 EMB-145 and 25 CRJ-700 aircraft. From the outset, ALPA has been aware of the aircraft cap specified in the AA/APA agreement.
We discussed the fact that our order of 75 aircraft exceeded the cap, and we advised ALPA of our plan to remove some of those aircraft from our fleet at some point in the future, in order to comply with the cap limitation.
Following our initial jet aircraft order, we have added numerous jet aircraft with seating capacity of LESS THAN 45 passengers. Because we have been able to purchase smaller seat aircraft, this has allowed us to operate considerably more jet aircraft than was ever envisioned in the past. In fact, today we have more than 130 jet aircraft, which is almost twice the number anticipated by the 67 aircraft limit we initially expected.
Please keep in mind that complying with the aircraft cap (not to be confused with the ASM cap) by returning EMB 145s is nothing new in our plans. In fact, Eagle has removed many aircraft from our fleet by retiring them to the manufacturer or selling them to other airlines through out the past few years. Currently there are former Eagle aircraft flying at several other carriers.
We do appreciate your concerns and I can assure you that the removal of aircraft from our fleet is not something we take lightly. All of us want to grow Eagle to the largest operator of regional jets; however, we are unable to do so under the existing circumstances of both the aircraft cap and the ASM cap (triggered by the AA furloughs).
In closing let me say that while we would all like to have Eagle flying these aircraft, under the current scope restrictions, that is not a possibility. In light of this, we feel that having them operated by a carrier that offers some potential revenue to AMR is much better than having them flown by a competitor such as Delta or Continental; which could have been the case if these aircraft had been returned to the manufacturer.
I hope this helps you see how we are trying to make the best of a difficult situation.
I'd like to end this letter with some good news for our furloughees. Based on our projected flight hours for the coming months, it looks as though we will be announcing a recall shortly of 20-30 pilots to fly the ATR in SJU. We'll have more details on that in a few days.
That's all for now. Thanks for your dedication and professionalism and remember to fly safe.
Regards,
