Shuttle America Hires the Fat Lady!!!

[captjim]

Re: Its an Opera

Seems the fat lady has sung a loud tune around here. Everyone that I have conversed with regarding this (besides the few people on flightinfo.com, who are not in jeopardy of losing their jobs) seem to believe that the company is going to close.

Go to Vegas, put your money in, after the dealer makes the turn, and it looks like you are down...when the guy across the table keeps raising the stakes on your every raise and check...put in another $100, call his bluff...but don't forget that the house always wins. It is a proven fact that you can score big, and walk away a winner, but the house will always control the cards. Everyone who is going to be out on the street if Shuttle America closes has a lot more stake in this game than the spectators enjoying the free drinks, chattering "boy it sucks for those guys."

I'm not disputing that, like I said, good luck.

 

[tango uniform]

the presses...F U D returns

From our Chief Pilot:

The Company and the Union have agreed upon a new tentative agreement. As time is critical we will be assisting the Union in distributing the new TA for a vote. The Company needs to have a good address where you can receive a FedEx package on Thursday afternoon. People who will be in hotels on Thursday night will receive their packages at their respective hotels. In the package you will have correspondence from your Union and a ballot; these ballots will need to be returned to FedEx on Friday so that they may be tallied by the deadline of September 22, 2003. Please respond to the phone calls from Crew Scheduling as quickly as possible.

BOHICA? I think so. These fear-invoking midnight phone calls from management are about what I expect from the company, but for our EC to go along with this, ahem, "expedited" process?

Scotty, I thought you shut us down this morning? WTF is this, over?

And--in addition to certain TYPE RATINGS FOR NON-FLYING MGMT, lets add some FDX costs:

90 pilots x $16.00 overnight corporate rate x 2 ways = $2880.00!!!

Shoot, that's 10% of a month's giveback! I thought we was po'!

Fear.

Lies.

Intimidation.

Yet mgmt continues to blow through cash on FDX invoices and non-essential training while cancelling upgrades and new-hires, again for the nth time in the last nine months.

Scott, even your senior captains are revolting on the company bulletin board, posting under their own names they think your leadership is so flawed.

This entire process has been a proxy vote on your leadership Mr. D. Wexford doesn't think you are worth investing more money in. They are investing in a European LCC rather than continuing to prop you up. Your pilots wouldn't follow you out of a burning building. Your other creditors don't think you can pull it off. And you are stuck with a mortgage in FWA.

Come to think of it, I think I'm feeling sorry for you.

Full pay until the last day. (27 Oct through 31 Dec)

 

[skootertrash]

F#&Ken A good for you guys. Types for manegment pilot,....hum wonder how much that cost. Screw them, they are just trying to get a little more. So I guess the carrot of the jets was all complete BS too hu?

If they wanted to save it that bad upper manegement could take the pay cut and get the money back.

What an A$$

 

[tiktak]

 

[I.P. Freley]

Oh, come now, the company won't self destruct until November 1st.

 

[Heavy Set]

My opinion - get your resumes out now. I wouldn't want to continue to work for a $hit company like that where mind games are so prevelant - unbelievable $hit you guys are going through. EVEN MESA (INCLUDING FREEDUMB) WOULD BE BETTER THAN YOUR COMPANY! Look into corporate if you have to - or fly freight-carrying Piper Aztecs if needed. Get out and RUN RUN RUN very fast and never look back - otherwise you guys are screwed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you stay and put up with this $hit, then don't complain when they screw you again in the future - it's a cycle...

Good luck!

 

[tiktak]

looks like the mgmt has a copy of

Airline Management For Dummies,
and turned to the chapter entitled,
"Hostages, Reductions, and Other Pressure Tactics".

 

[Doberman]

Good luck guys! There are greener pastures out there....I think.

 

[tango uniform]

....and the exodus continues.

How many more today?


and in a PM from our Chief Pilot, Earl of the Realm, Keeper of Standards:

LOL. FYI $5 for a FedEx.

WHEW! (wipes brow) At least we can afford those non-essential type ratings for y'all's friends.

Besides, Chapter 7 means no bills for anyone! Let's go shopping! "Hey, good job breaking those pilots guys--let's head to Savannah and throw a G550 on our certificates."

Seems in keeping with the ethical pinnacle of this mob.

 

[metro301]

If you are going to quote me please keep it in context:

"Welcome back, I thought we had lost you, LOL. FYI $5 for a FedEx."

The Union accepted the offer of logistical support. The bill will get sorted out later.

 

[embraerjetpilot]

Hey guys, maybe your company is self destructing...but you guys made a stand for the rest of the industry... so you should at least stand tall for that..

hang in there.

 

["TheBigPicture"]

SA YEAR END CLEARANCE SALE 10% OFF

EVERYTHING IN STOCK!! HURRY SUPPLIES ARE LIMITED

The same day they drop da' big one on us is the same day that a new TA is agreed upon.....coincidence....I THINK NOT!!

Let's take a look way back into the archives of the good ol' Shuttle machine....isn't this the way old Uncle Wexford scammed us into the current contract way back when?? Those of you who have been around long enough know the story and for those who don't, here it is:

Time: 11th hour
Place: somewhere on the east coast

"Oh....you guys are in chapter 11 and getting ready to close the door for good??? Here... sign this crappy contract AS IS and bring your own vaseline or else bye bye "

It worked once before but times were different then.....they're using the same tactics

"The end of the world is near, here catch the life jacket....oops sorry 'bout that it was the kiddie life jacket we'll go get help but not sure when we'll be back....hope that one holds out in the mean time (snickering).....oh yeah watch out for the sharks! we're all counting on you"

What a joke

 

[tango uniform]

F U D

Things are so bad at Shuttle. Mgmt is working overtime to save YOUR jobs which YOU refuse to hlep yourselves save.

Yet the Chief Pilot is apparently free to surf the 'net during business hours and reply to my last post within 15 minutes!!!

Working hard or hardly working guys?

I know how to get paid to sit in front of a computer surfing the net, too. It's call unemployment. Maybe you'll join me there soon.

You guys just don't get it--we are SO far past caring about the money. It is the LIES, THREATS, INTIMIDATION and DECEPTION that have been used throughout the whole process. But the wanton give-away of type ratings (Santa Claus' second coming?--a few of you know to what I refer) at a time we are "fighting for our very survival"?

We refuse to play Charlie Brown to your Lucy in this football game called Shuttle America.

I would be laughing my a$$ off if there weren't so much collateral damage to the lives of the non-pilot people. But I do appreciate how you have gone out of your way to inform them that all the misfortune they may endure is entirely the fault of 90+ pilots.

Not you.
Not your failed business plan.
Not unfavorable market forces.
Not costly government regulations.
Not your well documented operational inefficiencies.
Not your corporate master's lack of faith in you.
Not your corporate master's refusal to invest in you.

Just some little jerk named Stop Wexford and her 90-some like minded sisters and brothers.

Who saw through the Fear.
Who saw through the Uncertainty.
Who saw through the Doubt.
Who saw through the Lies.
Who saw through you.


"Merry Christmas, hostages, from The Folks Who Care"

--------------
Hey BigPicture--remember how the Omegas reacted when Wormer dropped the big one? Let's take a hanger queen, paint it black, cover it in a paper mache cake that says "eat me".....

 

[Skull-One]

I may be off but here is a theory. The reason Shuttle Pilots are not getting overwhelming support from CHQ mgmt for pref. hiring or placement is the fact that it takes away leverage from Shuttle Management. If there was list intergration or pref hiring what motivation is there to stay and fight for Shuttle??

Disclaimer: I dont know the facts, this is just a quess from what ive read on here. I work for neither.

Very well said.

 

[tindriver72]

Front Page

Was talking to my neighbor today. Said he saw something on the news about an airlines winding down operations. He couldn't remember who it was. We talked for a while, and he walked out to get his news paper. He glances at the front page, looks up, and asks "What airline do you work for?" "Shuttle America" I say. He said "Well, you'd better read this then".

Right there on the front page.

Shuttle america to shut down operations.

Front Page news here in The CornHole.

Quoted the memo and everything.

Crazy.


Didn't know reporters read this website??????




(here I stand, gun pointing at my head, and suddenly I realize that i'm not scared of the d*mn thing anymore)

 

[dispatchguy]

Re: F U D

Hey BigPicture--remember how the Omegas reacted when Wormer dropped the big one? Let's take a hanger queen, paint it black, cover it in a paper mache cake that says "eat me".....

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?!@?!?

Germans?

No!!!

Nothing is over until WE say it is!!!

Oh, uh, sorry, having another flashback; I'll go sit down quietly now. Oh, by the way, by a non-pilot employee type at SA, I support you guys (and gals) 110%.

 

[I.P. Freley]

Reporters probably don't read this website... But apparently they do read their e-mail.

One of the local newspapers received it via e-mail within hours of it being sent out to the employees!

So don't worry, tindriver, you aren't being monitored.

 

[tiktak]

Most likley someone from the front office leaked it.
To create simpaty and apply pressure.

Airline Management For Dummies,
and turned to the chapter entitled
"How to account for failures and remove yourself from any responsibility"

Blame someone else immedatly, and remove any doubt of of failure from yourself.


Lets see whats in the 5$ Fed Ex package.
Is this one way or round trip?

 

[crewguru]

fwa newspaper article

Posted on Wed, Sep. 17, 2003

City airline fails to win concession
Shuttle America could be grounded
By Urvaksh Karkaria
The Journal Gazette

A Fort Wayne-based airline with more than 150 local employees could soon be grounded after its pilots overwhelmingly rejected a concession package, the airline's chief executive said in a memo to employees Tuesday.
Shuttle America, a US Airways regional carrier, relocated its headquarters from Windsor Locks, Conn. to Fort Wayne International Airport last fall.

The airline operates five daily round-trip flights between Fort Wayne and Pittsburgh, with reduced service on weekends. Shuttle America is the only airline offering air service from Fort Wayne to Pittsburgh.

Shuttle America was lured to Fort Wayne with about $750,000 in incentives from the Fort Wayne-Allen County Airport Authority and state and local governments.

In the absence of new developments that would permit the company to operate, Shuttle America plans to halt operations between Oct. 27 and Dec. 31, President and Chief Executive Officer Scott Durgin said in the memo, a copy of which was e-mailed to The Journal Gazette.

Durgin could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Shuttle America, which began operations in 1998, filed for Chapter 11 protection in April 2001 and emerged about eight months later.

Under the reorganization plan, the airline was sold for $1.4 million to Shuttle Acquisition Corp., a unit of Greenwich, Conn.-based Wexford Capital LLC.

"While we had reached agreements with Saab, US Airways, Wexford and several other creditors on a reduction of our obligations and a restructuring of our debts," the letter said, "those agreements were ... conditioned upon a positive vote on the pilot wage concessions.

"I am sorry to report that this means the restructuring plan we have been focused on for the last four months has failed," the memo continued.

The airline operates a fleet of 17 Saab 340 aircraft out of US Airways' Pittsburgh hub and employs more than 350 aviation professionals.

"I certainly hate to admit defeat," Durgin said, "but our creditors ... certainly needed to know that the other stakeholders involved in the restructuring were doing their 'fair share' to participate in the carrier's recovery."

For the short term, the airline is expected to operate at least through October, the memo said.

Larry Thompson with the Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce Air Service Development said it is too early to say what effect a potential shutdown might have for local passengers.

"US Airways has other regional airlines which would likely be called upon to fly Shuttle America routes if that becomes necessary," Thompson said.

While acknowledging the situation is critical, Rob Young, president of the Fort Wayne-Allen County Economic Development Alliance, said he is not ready to close the book on the company.

"I don't believe this is the last chapter of the story for Shuttle America in Fort Wayne," he said. "We have until the end of the month to see how things unfold here."

Young also said the airline's restructuring is an internal issue between the company, its lenders and others, which means the city could not get involved.

Nearly $500,000 of the estimated $750,000 in investments was in upgrades to Shuttle America's building and infrastructure on the west side of the airport, the Alliance's Young said.

Those are reusable resources, and the investment has made the area more marketable, he said.

The dire situation notwithstanding, Shuttle America's Durgin said in the memo he is "actively involved in two different marketing campaigns to preserve this airline's future."

"This is a long-shot," he continued, "but I am not someone who gives up easily."

 

[SF340]

REALLY FRIGGING NICE THAT SOMEONE HAS TO LEAK THAT TO THE PRESS...AND YOUR POINT WAS....??????????