Skyway & Delta's 328Jets

[metroplex]

I think skyway could do a pretty good job flying the 328s for Delta.
yes, they would have to hire plenty of people, but once it would be official that skyway will fly those planes, I believe they do not have to worry about applicants.
Skyway has the training dept. mx, any the experience to handle that plane.
the rumor is , not before march or april. another rumor -
they are thinking about "outsourcing" the training to companys like Flight safety just to make sure they will have enough people to fly these planes. will it happen? I don't think so, they are just a small regional, though with a lot of potential,they do not have the structure to handle 30 more planes.

 

[House_X]

I think skyway could do a pretty good job flying the 328s for Delta.
yes, they would have to hire plenty of people, but once it would be official that skyway will fly those planes, I believe they do not have to worry about applicants.
Skyway has the training dept. mx, any the experience to handle that plane.
the rumor is , not before march or april. another rumor -
they are thinking about "outsourcing" the training to companys like Flight safety just to make sure they will have enough people to fly these planes. will it happen? I don't think so, they are just a small regional, though with a lot of potential,they do not have the structure to handle 30 more planes.

As far as I know, there are only 3 Do328Jet sims in the world, Amsterdam, Dulles and one in Texas. Training a bunch of new pilots will be difficult at best. On the other hand, I heard Skyway does a better job on MX than ACA...and from what I experienced this past couple of weeks, beating us on flights dispacted is not a difficult thing to achieve. Should be interesting to see how this particular rumor pans out.

 

[StaySeated]

fwiw, as mentioned before, aca pilots would not go with the aircraft per their own contract. If they decide to leave, that is their decision and it would put them at the bottom of where ever they went. ALPA merger policy, which is actually the RLA, only applies during a merger, which is not occurring, of two ALPA carriers. If both carriers are not alpa then allegheny-mohawk applies and one of the two sides is getting screwed, again, this is not the case due to the fact that no merger is taking place. As far as skyway getting the aircraft, anything is possible, however, in a letter from comair's d.o. and a similiar letter from aca's d.o. the carriers that were involved in the rfp were only dci carriers. who knows what will happen, I just hope that no one takes concessions to get the p.o.s.'s and no one gets furloughed as a result. As far as I am concerned, whom ever the dojets go to is doing DAL a favor and should be compensated accordingly. They signed the leases, it backfired, now pay the price. I recommend an inverse Skywest payscale...70 seat pay for the 32 seat jet.

 

[DH106]

I'll apologize in-advance for being so un-informed. You guys can flame me all you want... I used to work for Skyway, but I don't know anything about ACA or Skyway these days.

Is this the premise: Because ACA is equipping with Airbuses, they're looking to dump the 328's, and Skyway is the only qualified operator to take them over?

If I'm correct, Skyway has 15 1900D's and 10 328's, so ACA's 33 328's would be a huge addition.

If anyone has input as to how this would affect the mainline Midwest Airlines, please indicate.

It seems that Midwest is not making much progress, from what I've read. And, the State of WI is talking about removing huge tax benefits that the airline gets, due to a recent lawsuit by Northwest. This will greatly hurt the already hurting Midwest Airlines.

It seems strange that Midwest seems so aimless and clueless, while Skyway could possibly be taking such a massive expansion step. Thoughts?

 

[JTrain]

This has to be one of the most ridiculous threads I have ever seen on Flight Info.

It was initiated by a WMU Flight Instructor, given life by other similarly mis- or ill-informed individuals, and now has taken a life of its own. Please do yourself a favor and give many of the posts in this thread the same credibility you would as that of the former Iraqi Information Minister.

ACA D328Js are NOT going to Skyway.

The most likely scenarios for the ACA D328Js as Independence Air evolves is for them to be transitioned either to Comair, or to DAL mainline, who in turn could operate them as a third wholly-owned.
Speaking from an ACA FRJ perspective, CMR has seemed like a destination for our D328Js for a while. Were that to occur, I suspect the crewmembers would be given the option of staying or going back to Indy Air.

There would likely be some sort of 2-3yr window given to ACA pilots to make such a choice. Rational behind this: CMR can't train 350 FRJ pilots to crew the D328Js immediately, nor would they want to, when they have already-qualified people doing the job. It is to their benefit to offer ACA pilots the option of staying. Conversely, ACA would not want to have to immediately retrain the ~350 FRJ crewmembers we have to the CRJ or the A320 - we're already fat on pilots and doing so would only necessitate more furloughts.

There is no way Skyway could handle the demands of training/staffing/maintaining the 33 FRJs ACA flies, at least not with a considerable spool up time. However it has been explained to me by reliable sources that the way DAL does their accounting, were CMR or another wholly-owned entity fly them, they'd be making $$$, while in their present situation, the D328Js are barely breaking even. The FRJ is an airplane with some maintenance issues - however ACA has done well to head off many of the problems. It has its nice, esp out of CVG, doing short, "thin" routes, where our substantially lower fuel burn and other lower operating costs kick in. Note one of these operating costs is definitely not pilot salaries - many ACA FRJ FOs are receiving CRJ FO pay upwards of $35-36-37/hr, which can equal ~$45k/yr including per diem. I even know of one hardworking ACA FRJ FO who will make in the mid-50s this year - this is better than 50 seat RJ Captain at most regionals!

Any more questions, I'll be glad to answer.

JT

 

[vc10]

To the extent the ACA 328Jets are moved, why wouldn't they be moved to a regional that pays its FOs 20-30K (or less) rather than 40K+?

Not arguing that FOs should be paid that much, just questioning the assumption that if moved, the 328Jets go to another high paying regional. Seems to be completely at odds with recent history (growth of Mesa, Chautauqua, etc).

 

[8HourPilot]

Hey JT take it easy dude. The rumor is flying around out there pretty good, no reason to go and trash someone for asking about. Admitedly it is a bit far fetched, but what's the harm in asking?

 

[jobear]

[
ACA D328Js are NOT going to Skyway.


JT [/B]

Why would they NOT go to Skyway? Please try and be civil in response Learned ONE.

Jobear

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

I've heard that Skyway (now called Midwest Connection) is an excellent airline to fly for, except that the pay is low, which makes sense when U look at the mins. I tried to get hired there a couple of years ago.

Cliff
LRD

 

[Pendulous Vein]

Time to chill

In response to those individuals that are hostile toward the rest of us for being FOOLISH in inquiring about rumors......l thought that's what this site was all about...or at least it's fair game. Oh well, I'm allowed one per year. Anyway....I hate to sound like a broken record, but even if it is a rumor, I heard it from my buddy who is #13 seniority in Skyway. HE mentioned it to ME out of the blue. I did not put this "RUMOR" in his head. The first time I ever heard about this rumor was from him, about three weeks ago. He said that this is "in the intial stages" and it is "not a sure thing, but possible." I do not think it is irrational to believe him (since he works there and knows a lot more about it than I do- living in a different state and sitting in my livingroom spending too much time online) even though it is technically a rumor. If it is wrong to think that MAYBE there is some bit of possible truth to this, then we should discuss it. Right? Great. I really don't have anything else to contribute than that. He said if they do take their a/c, they would have to "open" (not the best word, don't jump all over me) bases "all over the country." I look fwd to more foolish info on this topic from anyone out there.

 

[House_X]

This has to be one of the most ridiculous threads I have ever seen on Flight Info.

It was initiated by a WMU Flight Instructor, given life by other similarly mis- or ill-informed individuals, and now has taken a life of its own. Please do yourself a favor and give many of the posts in this thread the same credibility you would as that of the former Iraqi Information Minister.

ACA D328Js are NOT going to Skyway.

The most likely scenarios for the ACA D328Js as Independence Air evolves is for them to be transitioned either to Comair, or to DAL mainline, who in turn could operate them as a third wholly-owned.
Speaking from an ACA FRJ perspective, CMR has seemed like a destination for our D328Js for a while. Were that to occur, I suspect the crewmembers would be given the option of staying or going back to Indy Air.

There would likely be some sort of 2-3yr window given to ACA pilots to make such a choice. Rational behind this: CMR can't train 350 FRJ pilots to crew the D328Js immediately, nor would they want to, when they have already-qualified people doing the job. It is to their benefit to offer ACA pilots the option of staying. Conversely, ACA would not want to have to immediately retrain the ~350 FRJ crewmembers we have to the CRJ or the A320 - we're already fat on pilots and doing so would only necessitate more furloughts.

There is no way Skyway could handle the demands of training/staffing/maintaining the 33 FRJs ACA flies, at least not with a considerable spool up time. However it has been explained to me by reliable sources that the way DAL does their accounting, were CMR or another wholly-owned entity fly them, they'd be making $$$, while in their present situation, the D328Js are barely breaking even. The FRJ is an airplane with some maintenance issues - however ACA has done well to head off many of the problems. It has its nice, esp out of CVG, doing short, "thin" routes, where our substantially lower fuel burn and other lower operating costs kick in. Note one of these operating costs is definitely not pilot salaries - many ACA FRJ FOs are receiving CRJ FO pay upwards of $35-36-37/hr, which can equal ~$45k/yr including per diem. I even know of one hardworking ACA FRJ FO who will make in the mid-50s this year - this is better than 50 seat RJ Captain at most regionals!

Any more questions, I'll be glad to answer.

JT

The chances of Hailley's Comet hitting 18L is higher than DAL getting the Dorniers direct. DAL has absolutley no interest in taking over our airplanes direct after the drama we're going through. Skyway has had more success with resolving MX issues than we have. Don't under estimate Skyway. Also, Comair has their own battles to fight....the Dornier is the last thing they are concerned about. I don't know what's going to happen, but the staffing for the CRJ is going to be high for independence air...

 

[Thunderchief]

More Dorniers?

I doubt highly that skyway could handle one more dornier to train for and maintain than what they have now. As a former pilot of that 'organization', SYX is stretched to the max and is cancelling flights for no crews NOW, add some aircraft in the near future and it would be an amusing scenario...

Their pay is low now but in the second year of the new contract (mid 2004) the rates jump to much closer to industry norms.

I don't think ACA has anything to worry about from SYX.

-TC

 

[DH106]

Thunderchief, I'm laughing at the rather subtle use of quotes around the word "organization." That's very diplomatic (and generous) --- I know what you mean. If only we could speak freely...

How's that 73 treating you?

 

[avpro91]

Yeah, they're hiring as far as I know. Got a couple of buds there and they're saying they can't hire fast enough and they're are looking for flight instructors to fill their new hire classes

 

[FlightTraker]

Just interviewed today. Said they are hiring into pool right now. Just to throw another log on the rumor mill, CP told me Skyway is actively pursuing to fly for another carrier as well as YX.




FlightTraker

 

[Thunderchief]

SYX rumors at there best....

First SYX was actively pursuing a United contract, then JetBlue, then Frontier, now ACA/Delta....

That is in the last 2 years or so. I don't mean to crush any rumors but I heard this BS for 5 years at SYX. Maybe they really were and are pursuing it, maybe its just fanciful talk.
I DO hope SYX the best. Now that they have a decent contract I hope they do grow and prosper, I have a lot of friends over there in the pilot group and management. But the logistics alone for a 200 pilot organization to grow to the required size to operate that many MORE DoJets is on the verge of impossible unless given years to make it happen. How many years do we have?

ACA and SYX are both ALPA, so there is no way that SYX would operate ACA aircraft and/or have any sort of seniority joining. Read stayseateds post, he knows his stuff....

FlightTraker, hope you get hired. Good luck.

-TC

 

[ThomasMore]

SYX Mins

Skyway's stated mins are 700/50, but apps with those hours are not seriously being considered. Competitive numbers are @1,250-1,500 TT with 150-200 ME. Milwaukee locals or willing to relocate to MKE is a plus. FYI.

 

[blueridge71]

Skyway is the prevailing rumor. This is especially true since Comair's MEC refused to approve a pay rate for smaller aircraft, which would mean that ACA Dojet pilots would get a big raise. A furloughed ACA pilot who is training with Skyway said that Delta brass was touring the classroom building recently.

Frankly, I think that the Comair ship has sailed. With their combative MEC and Delta's financial problems, I really don't see a bright future there.

The most recent rumor, from a connected source, is that, if the move happens, ACA pilots would get a bid to go or stay. If the pilots elect to stay, then they are considered displaced so there is no seat lock. If they go, there are recall rights to Independence Air.

I've also heard that if we go to another ALPA carrier, chances are good that we will keep our seniority dates.

If there are any Skyway DoJet FOs lurking, I'd really appreciate some details on the company and contract, especially pay, days off, etc.

 

[ilinipilot]

In this day and age it makes perfect sense for a smaller carrier to get as much flying as they can. Its good business practice to diversify your operations, same with a stock portfolio.

D

 

[captainv]

>Frankly, I think that the Comair ship has sailed. With their combative MEC and Delta's financial problems, I really don't see a bright future there

actually, the MEC was more opposed to giving up $8 million/year in exchange for - maybe - getting new jets. personally, i don't think anyone had a problem initally with paying less for the DoJet at Comair. The Brasilia paid less, so does the Jetstream. But then we noticed ACA pilots are getting CRJ rates to fly them, which Delta has happily paid. We're not going to take less pay to bring them over here, or screw the guys that currently fly them...

As for the rumors here, pretty good stuff so far, but it's all just talk until the airplane's in the hangar, y'know? When i came to Comair, it was established fact that we were getting a base in DFW and upgrade time was 2.5 years. no rumors there, the company was actively gearing up for the new base. things change.

one knock i do see against Comair is that taking the DoJet would give us all the flying out of CVG. Don't think DAL wants that...