Rumor SkyWest Inc. receives new jet financing?

[WalterSobchak]

Ol' Walter ain't so stupid, eh?

 

[JumpersAway]

That is not brand scope. Brand scope is mainline scoping in ALL flying done under their brand. In other words, if the airplane says united, delta, or American on it, it is flying by pilots on the united, delta, american seniority list, respectively.

You are talking about scope, in general. What you refer to would be the second stage to what I mention. In general, regardless of term, it's an unlikely solution anyway.

 

[Nevets]

You are talking about scope, in general. What you refer to would be the second stage to what I mention. In general, regardless of term, it's an unlikely solution anyway.

Very unlikely. Just pointing out what specifically brand scope really is. It's got the word brand in it for a reason. I wasnt talking about scope in general as that can mean whatever mainline decides to operate. I was specifically responding to your comment that specifically said brand scope. What you wrote is not even close to being brand scope.

 

[JustaNumber]

Arguing about brand scope is like arguing about what the tooth fairy looks like, but that being said...

I believe the original idea for brand scope was for all the unions flying for a particular brand, both mainline and all the regionals, to get together (as in forming a "union"...imagine that!), and decide the minimum contract standards for any entity flying for that brand, and this would be codified in every contract. The idea (whether it's right or not) is to attempt to create a monopoly on labor. Of course the only entity with any real leverage is the mainline union, and as was said earlier, they don't want to waste their negotiating capital on this. What they don't realize is that by enabling the race to the bottom at the newest cheapest regional, the market (and/or bankruptcy judges) will find a way to send mainline jobs to that regional. Guaranteed. So much for the concept of a pilot "union."

 

[XPOO]

Ol' Walter ain't so stupid, eh?

And as stated by the original poster, some online aviation news site has BR quoted as saying SkyWest, Inc. is looking to put in a 300 aircraft order of 70+ seat jets to replace its entire fleet of 50-seaters.

Won't know until an order is placed.

 

[pilotyip]

And as stated by the original poster, some online aviation news site has BR quoted as saying SkyWest, Inc. is looking to put in a 300 aircraft order of 70+ seat jets to replace its entire fleet of 50-seaters.

Won't know until an order is placed.

maybe 90+? 100+?

 

[Jon Rivoli]

maybe 90+? 100+?

I don't expect them to do anything dramatic without Delta and Unical completely on board so long as they can remain profitable. Once they can no longer make a profit under current arrangements I expect that is when they will deploy the $750 million in the bank and whatever "new jet financing" they have to evolve into whatever comes next, using the leverage of 700+ aircraft to gain the acquiescence of mainline partners.

SkyWest Inc. operates about 50% of the flight schedule of Unical and carries 20-25% of their passengers. I'm sure the numbers are similar for Delta. No one has the ability to replace the flying they do; not mainline and not other regional competitors (one of which is bankruptcy and the other is teatering. Mesa will probably cease to exist when the current Airways contract expires.

So Genny Lee, Jerry informs Delta he is buying 300 100-125 seat C-series Canadairs to replace all of the 50 seaters, what do you do? Lose 20% of your traffic or code share? You don't have the capacity to back fill. The Comair strike only took down Cincy, cut ties with SKYW and you lose ATL, MSP, and SLC.

Anderson knows what is coming and has been doing what he can to gain leverage, but especially with Pinnacle in bankruptcy and Republic on the ropes he doesn't have too many cards to play.

The earnings call is later this week. If profitable, the song remains the same, for now. If not?

 

[Homer Jay]

I don't expect them to do anything dramatic without Delta and Unical completely on board so long as they can remain profitable. Once they can no longer make a profit under current arrangements I expect that is when they will deploy the $750 million in the bank and whatever "new jet financing" they have to evolve into whatever comes next, using the leverage of 700+ aircraft to gain the acquiescence of mainline partners.

SkyWest Inc. operates about 50% of the flight schedule of Unical and carries 20-25% of their passengers. I'm sure the numbers are similar for Delta. No one has the ability to replace the flying they do; not mainline and not other regional competitors (one of which is bankruptcy and the other is teatering. Mesa will probably cease to exist when the current Airways contract expires.

So Genny Lee, Jerry informs Delta he is buying 300 100-125 seat C-series Canadairs to replace all of the 50 seaters, what do you do? Lose 20% of your traffic or code share? You don't have the capacity to back fill. The Comair strike only took down Cincy, cut ties with SKYW and you lose ATL, MSP, and SLC.

Anderson knows what is coming and has been doing what he can to gain leverage, but especially with Pinnacle in bankruptcy and Republic on the ropes he doesn't have too many cards to play.

The earnings call is later this week. If profitable, the song remains the same, for now. If not?

UniCal will not be relaxing scope in any form. Keep dreamin'.

 

[General Lee]

I don't expect them to do anything dramatic without Delta and Unical completely on board so long as they can remain profitable. Once they can no longer make a profit under current arrangements I expect that is when they will deploy the $750 million in the bank and whatever "new jet financing" they have to evolve into whatever comes next, using the leverage of 700+ aircraft to gain the acquiescence of mainline partners.

SkyWest Inc. operates about 50% of the flight schedule of Unical and carries 20-25% of their passengers. I'm sure the numbers are similar for Delta. No one has the ability to replace the flying they do; not mainline and not other regional competitors (one of which is bankruptcy and the other is teatering. Mesa will probably cease to exist when the current Airways contract expires.

So Genny Lee, Jerry informs Delta he is buying 300 100-125 seat C-series Canadairs to replace all of the 50 seaters, what do you do? Lose 20% of your traffic or code share? You don't have the capacity to back fill. The Comair strike only took down Cincy, cut ties with SKYW and you lose ATL, MSP, and SLC.

Anderson knows what is coming and has been doing what he can to gain leverage, but especially with Pinnacle in bankruptcy and Republic on the ropes he doesn't have too many cards to play.

The earnings call is later this week. If profitable, the song remains the same, for now. If not?

Scope is being negotiated right now as we speak, the company came to talks early (for some reason?) even though the ammendable date is Dec 31st of this year. So, they must have bigger things on their mind (management), and on our contract survey SCOPE and PAY were the two highest priorities. So, I would guess it only gets tightened. I would have to think the majority wouldn't want one extra 76 seater, and other scope provisions (like things you are suggesting with holding companies, etc), would get tighter too. Republic owns Frontier, and they have planes over 100 seats (320s, 319s, etc), but they don't codeshare with us (F9), or fly any routes for us. If SkyWest were to start something like that, I would imagine that Delta wouldn't like that (like INDY AIR) and proceed to smack it down hard. I just don't see it happening, and if there is language that possibly could allow something like that, it is probably getting fixed too. The rumor about the 717s coming from Southwest (Airtran), would negate any reason why the airline would need C-Series planes from you. There are supposedly 120 717s out there, and if the rumor come to fruition, that may fill out the needs for the 100 seater domestically. The planes are a lot cheaper than those C-series, and the engines could have a "power by the hour" lease. We'll see, but those 717s COULD satisfy the 100 seat needs.


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[CFIT]

Rumors I've heard from management;

Smisek want s bigger planes at SkyWest, since he just got a 9 Million dollar raise today I'm sure he"ll work hard torwards that.

Code Share Agreements with both Delta and UniCal, supposedly the new angle for larger aircraft. Not sure how possible it would be with their current pilot contracts?

Big agreement for lift at American, with larger aircraft also, if the USAir aquisition is thwarted.

None of the current Mesa contracts with UniCal or USAir will be renewed, and expecting much more flying as a result.

Per the article from Bloomberg, I asked about CRJ1000's for Alaska and was told by the top guy, a smiling, "no comment". A Bloomberg interview with a VP at Bombardier mentioned 6 CRJ1000 deliveries to Alaska.



Don't know how plausible any of it is but it does seem possible?

I personally think whatever happens at American will set the tone for the rest of the industry.

 

[General Lee]

Rumors I've heard from management;

Smisek want s bigger planes at SkyWest, since he just got a 9 Million dollar raise today I'm sure he"ll work hard torwards that.

Code Share Agreements with both Delta and UniCal, supposedly the new angle for larger aircraft. Not sure how possible it would be with their current pilot contracts?

Big agreement for lift at American, with larger aircraft also, if the USAir aquisition is thwarted.

None of the current Mesa contracts with UniCal or USAir will be renewed, and expecting much more flying as a result.

Per the article from Bloomberg, I asked about CRJ1000's for Alaska and was told by the top guy, a smiling, "no comment". A Bloomberg interview with a VP at Bombardier mentioned 6 CRJ1000 deliveries to Alaska.



Don't know how plausible any of it is but it does seem possible?

I personally think whatever happens at American will set the tone for the rest of the industry.

You do have some interesting rumors. Reading them, here's my opinion.

Smisek WANTS bigger planes for SkyWest? Sure he does. His pilots disagree, which means it probably won't happen. The FCAL pilots never let any jets larger than 50 seats hit the property, and the FUAL pilots are livid over the amount of larger RJs that have trampled over their prior 737 routes. I would guess they would throw a big NO at Smisek.

The USAir merger probably WILL happen. You can bet Parker has promised the world to the APA for their support. Without it, he probably couldn't get the creditors to sign on for his plan. He also stated (in the APA notes from the Parker meeting) that he hates 50 seaters because they are uneconomical. Could he change his mind? I bet he wrote up prelim contracts with ALL of the AMR employee groups, and none of them would want to get replaced by Regional employees. The APA lead council attorney was there too. They aren't dumb. Eventually there will be 3 large legacies, and that will help with profits by getting rid of another legacy (US) and merging it in with AMR. Less competition means more profits for these guys, and that's all they care about.

We'll see.... You just never know...



Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[dojetdriver]

SkyWest Inc. operates about 50% of the flight schedule of Unical and carries 20-25% of their passengers.

Depends on how you're measuring "schedule". Are you using total departure, or block hours flown, or what?

L-UAL's scope dictates that 50% of the flying can be performed by UAX carriers If SKW had 50%, they'd be WAY over that mark when you toss in RAH, and anybody else.

JA may have the biggest chunk of UAX, but that 50% is shared amongst EVERY other UAX carrier out there.

 

[Nevets]

Per the article from Bloomberg, I asked about CRJ1000's for Alaska and was told by the top guy, a smiling, "no comment". A Bloomberg interview with a VP at Bombardier mentioned 6 CRJ1000 deliveries to Alaska.

Hopefully they are flown by pilots on the Alaska Airlines seniority list.

 

[General Lee]

Hopefully they are flown by pilots on the Alaska Airlines seniority list.

They may not be. But, if Alaska joins the merger parade, the other airline they might merge with may not allow CRJ-1000s in their scope clause, and that would mean they would be GONE. I have always wondered why Horizon got rid of their CR7s. They seemed to be a great fit on the SEA to YYC and YEG flights. Maybe it was because if they were to merge with someone who already has a limit for OWNED 70/76 seaters, that might negate any possible merger with that particular airline. Who knows? Just a guess.


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[General Lee]

I don't think the UAL guys are giving up on Scope

United Pilots Want Talks Declared at Impasse

By Susan Carey WSJ.com

Unionized pilots at United Airlines, impatient over the slow pace of contract negotiations aimed at reaching a new joint labor accord covering them and their counterparts at the Continental Airlines union, asked the Air Line Pilots Association to submit a request that United pilots be released from mediated contract negotiations.

If the National Mediation Board, the federal agency that oversees labor relations in the airline industry and is currently mediating the bargaining, decided the talks weren't fruitful, it could release the pilots into a so-called 30-day "cooling off" period, after which the pilots could strike. The NMB routinely receives such requests but doesn't honor them when talks seem to be making progress. The NMB didn't return a phone call on Monday. United, in a statement, said it is "committed to reaching agreements quickly, but those agreements must be fair to the company and fair to employees."

Capt. Jay Heppner, chairman of the ALPA leadership council representing the 6,500 United aviators, said his members "have been driven by an intransigent, out-of-touch management team that refuses to do its part in negotiating a collective bargaining agreement" that recognizes the sacrifices the pilots have made to United since its bankruptcy filing a decade ago.

Capt. Heppner, a 27-year United veteran who flies a Boeing 777, was elected last year to a two-year term as chief of the ALPA branch at United, and took office in January. In the middle of April, he warned his pilots that if United management didn't agree to complete the contract talks by June 1, he would seek an NMB release from the talks as a prelude to a possible word stoppage. The pilots and company have been in negotiations for nearly two years, with the task made more complex by the addition of the 4,500 Continental pilots as a result of the 2010 merger of the two carriers.

Capt. Heppner, who has directed the creation of a website called, is opposed to what he refers to as the escalating "outsourcing" of United pilot jobs to regional airlines, and out "off-shoring" of United pilot jobs to foreign airlines with which United Continental has code-sharing relationships, both of which he says compromise safety.
The ALPA branch at Continental was taken by surprise by Capt. Heppner's Monday deadline for seeking an NMB release in the absence of United's commitment to reach a new deal by June 1, according to internal union documents. Recently negotiators from both pilot branches and the company agreed on a process and a timeline designed to reach a deal by mid-June.

Subsequently, Capt. Jay Pierce, chief of the Continental ALPA group, said all of the pilots at both units "are extremely frustrated with not having a joint contract," and are "deeply disappointed with the overall progress to date. He said he met with Capt. Heppner to learn more details of his plan "and are in the process of fathering additional information … to determine how best to move forward from this point."
Write to Susan Carey



Bye Bye---General Lee
​

 

[CLARKGRSWOLD]

Rumors I've heard from management;

Smisek want s bigger planes at SkyWest, since he just got a 9 Million dollar raise today I'm sure he"ll work hard torwards that.

Code Share Agreements with both Delta and UniCal, supposedly the new angle for larger aircraft. Not sure how possible it would be with their current pilot contracts?

Big agreement for lift at American, with larger aircraft also, if the USAir aquisition is thwarted.

None of the current Mesa contracts with UniCal or USAir will be renewed, and expecting much more flying as a result.

Per the article from Bloomberg, I asked about CRJ1000's for Alaska and was told by the top guy, a smiling, "no comment". A Bloomberg interview with a VP at Bombardier mentioned 6 CRJ1000 deliveries to Alaska.



Don't know how plausible any of it is but it does seem possible?

I personally think whatever happens at American will set the tone for the rest of the industry.

You must be a junior FO right ? BTW UAL just renewed Mesa's 700 contract.

So you picked up Mesa's old 200 flying, now your getting all of the rest ?

Mainline Pilot will never agree to a substaintal increase in RJ's-

SKYW is on the hook for 100's of old 50 seaters, good luck my friend.

 

[pilotyip]

Mainline Pilot will never agree to a substantial increase in RJ's-

And as posted many times before, it is the mainline pilots who got us into this mess by not bringing all jets into the mainline with dirt wages but a seniority list number that allowed movement into the bigger equipment after paying your dues.

 

[IBNAV8R]

You guys are all forgetting who owns the checkbook.

Whether you like it or not, fair or not, your fault or not, the power is not with labor anymore. That was traded to the devil about 20 years ago. Of course, Mr. Carter (Now the THIRD worst president ever) didn't do us any favors in 1978. Neither did slick willie (most favored nation, NAFTA, AA strike - and #2 worst president) But, the biggest blow happened before any of us were even born. in 1936, the RLA was extended to cover airline employees - effectively cutting off our collective cajones for generations to come. Incidentally, guess which party controlled BOTH houses of the 74th congress as well as the oval office. But it's good to see unions still giving their whole-hearted support.

So you can chest-beat all you want but it all comes down to economics.

 

[Sig]

filler blah blah

AA strike

etc and so forth

The what? Oh- you mean when the PEB was 'activated' because the APA and AMR asked for it? Why didn't the PEB actually complete the process and have congress--- never mind.

So you can chest-beat all you want but it all comes down to economics.

And a gold star for you! Salient point.

 

[Jon Rivoli]

Scope is being negotiated right now as we speak, Blah blah blah. So, they must have bigger things on their mind (management), blah blah SCOPE and PAY were the two highest priorities. blah blah blah.



Bye Bye---General Lee

Scope or pay. Choose.

As for 717's, you have a lot of really old airplanes that need replacing. Spending a ton of money on flying that you can't do profitably just doesn't make any sense. Buying up a bunch of twenty year old orphan airplanes from third world countries is another questionable decision. I does seem that Anderson is trying to undue history though, something that never ends well.

How about we get a new administration, rein in the FED, develop domestic energy to bring down the price of oil/ jet fuel to where we can all make money again and stop pitting pilots against pilots.