Skywest/ASA merger

[Dave Benjamin]

OK...let's be a bit more clear. SKYW buys "equipment", and "interviews" people. So says SGU. Research what happened to the SKYW/West Air dealio.

AF

Not much of a comparison.
Mesa/WestAir got fired by UAL. SKYW purchased some excess equipment that was no longer needed by Mesa. There was no merger or acquisition. SKYW made the logical choice of offering jobs to well qualifed Westair pilots and other personnel. I've yet to hear of a Westair pilot complain about the "dealio."

 

[front9]

Skywest currently has approx. 700 mil in the bank. It will cost Skywest about 700 to 800 mil to purchase ASA. I really dont think OO wants to spend every dime they saved over the last 30 years to purchase another airline and staple the employees.

Skywest management is currently looking at every other option avail OTHER than the purchase of ASA. Jerry and Co. are very smart business people and are currently looking for other options other than DAL flying. Word around the campfire is that the TED operation might be up for sale. Who knows, with the airbus factory trip a few months ago and the stalling of contract talks they just might be up to something?

 

[P38JLightning]

your (collective) silence speaks volumes

OK...let's be a bit more clear. SKYW buys "equipment", and "interviews" people. So says SGU. Research what happened to the SKYW/West Air dealio.

AF

Gotta give you mad props for at least coming out and publicly embracing what you believe to be the possibility of 2000 ASA pilots being placed below your most junior CFI hired last week.

Getting a massive seniority windfall at the direct expense of others is what Freedom A-listers, Blowjet contract busters, *some* PID/RJDC'ers and scabs are all about. Its not shocking that there would be a few skywest pilots who would advocate, rationalize and outwardly hope for such a thing to transpire. What's shocking is the almost total lack of outrage from the represenative sample of skywest pilots who lurk and post here.

That silence, coupled with a small number of proclaimed skywest pilots who are publicly hoping for an ASA staple to happen, leads many to believe your group as a whole wouldn't have a problem with that.

Fortunately ASA has a contract that must be honored, in or out of a DAL ch.11. No judge will drop ASA's merger/frag language and totally disregard Allegheny/Mohawk merger provisions just to make a sweet deal with SGU's hometown airline. An arbitrator will be in charge, present and employed totally and completely for the purpose of getting a fair deal for the ASA pilots, not the Skywest pilots. So it would benefit you greatly to try to work out a fair deal now, rather than saying "aw screw it, hit me!" when you have an 18 already and going for it. Its not a free chance gamble, and if you don't try to do the right thing from the onset, you could, despite the fact that your management loves and cares about each and every one of you, get burned.

Straight up 100% DOH with no fences probably doesn't make sense for either party, but some kind of slotted integration that is close to DOH, with DOH for some things (like longevity, vacation accrual, etc) is certainly warranted. Its time to do the right thing and stop hoping for a windfall at the direct expense of others. I thought you guys had more character than that.

 

[Oakum_Boy]

Do you think Skywest could dissolve ASA and rehire quickly enough to not cause any service disruptions? Even with Delta's help, it would be an impossible feat. It's funny how some think ASA is a dead airline and its pilots would just love to start over at $25/hr. I won't be there, and neither will about 1/2 our pilots. Keep your Koolaid, guys.

 

[ArcticFlier]

Dave,

You made my point. SKYW doesn't buy whole airlines. They buy the parts they want. Interview who they need to fill the parts they bought, and press on. No muss, no fuss.

I didn't say anyone from West Air ever complained. It is what it is. West Air went bye-bye (thanks to MESA) and we picked up the pieces at the yard sale. From what Jerry has said, it's the way he prefers to do things.

~shrug~

FWIW

AF

 

[ArcticFlier]

Gotta give you mad props for at least coming out and publicly embracing what you believe to be the possibility of 2000 ASA pilots being placed below your most junior CFI hired last week.

Getting a massive seniority windfall at the direct expense of others is what Freedom A-listers, Blowjet contract busters, *some* PID/RJDC'ers and scabs are all about. Its not shocking that there would be a few skywest pilots who would advocate, rationalize and outwardly hope for such a thing to transpire. What's shocking is the almost total lack of outrage from the represenative sample of skywest pilots who lurk and post here.

That silence, coupled with a small number of proclaimed skywest pilots who are publicly hoping for an ASA staple to happen, leads many to believe your group as a whole wouldn't have a problem with that.

Fortunately ASA has a contract that must be honored, in or out of a DAL ch.11. No judge will drop ASA's merger/frag language and totally disregard Allegheny/Mohawk merger provisions just to make a sweet deal with SGU's hometown airline. An arbitrator will be in charge, present and employed totally and completely for the purpose of getting a fair deal for the ASA pilots, not the Skywest pilots. So it would benefit you greatly to try to work out a fair deal now, rather than saying "aw screw it, hit me!" when you have an 18 already and going for it. Its not a free chance gamble, and if you don't try to do the right thing from the onset, you could, despite the fact that your management loves and cares about each and every one of you, get burned.

Straight up 100% DOH with no fences probably doesn't make sense for either party, but some kind of slotted integration that is close to DOH, with DOH for some things (like longevity, vacation accrual, etc) is certainly warranted. Its time to do the right thing and stop hoping for a windfall at the direct expense of others. I thought you guys had more character than that.

Show me where I seriously advocate stapling? Of course it's not fair, but I'm not in charge, nor do I have anything to say about it anyway.

"publicly embracing what you believe...."

You don't know me, therefore don't know what I would publicly embrace nor what I believe.


"An arbitrator will be in charge, present and employed totally and completely for the purpose of getting a fair deal for the ASA pilots, not the Skywest pilots. So it would benefit you greatly to try to work out a fair deal now,...."

You assume that we as a pilot group actually have any say in the matter.

Your last paragraph is about the only thing I agree with, with the exception of the last line. From what I've read on here about ASA guys "burning down the airline", etc. etc. I'd say we have, by far, more character.

AF

BTW the avatar is there to piss off guys like you. Carry on.

 

[ArcticFlier]

Do you think Skywest could dissolve ASA and rehire quickly enough to not cause any service disruptions? Even with Delta's help, it would be an impossible feat. It's funny how some think ASA is a dead airline and its pilots would just love to start over at $25/hr. I won't be there, and neither will about 1/2 our pilots. Keep your Koolaid, guys.

No. That's why I think this whole thing is mental masturbation.

ASA isn't dead. But I don't think SKYW is going to buy them either.


AF

 

[viper01]

Arctic,
Since when did the same 3 neg. ASA pilots on flightinfo account for the rest of our 1750ish pilot group. I think YOU need to grow up. My airline has more character than yours. Whatever and who cares.

 

[Crash Pad]

Ok I have a dilema... If a pilot is working for ASA should he/she apply to skywest and take the interview... Put off groundschool until merger... Then whamo jump 1800 spots... It's so daring it just might work. Sure call em a pile of crap... But said pilot is a pile of crap that just got a 100% pay raise!

 

[RocketDog]

Do you think Skywest could dissolve ASA and rehire quickly enough to not cause any service disruptions? Even with Delta's help, it would be an impossible feat. It's funny how some think ASA is a dead airline and its pilots would just love to start over at $25/hr. I won't be there, and neither will about 1/2 our pilots. Keep your Koolaid, guys.

This sentiment was expressed practically VERBATIM when the WestAir demise occurred, yet SkyWest management pulled it off. At that time, United started the process by giving SkyWest some of WestAir's routes in ever increasing chunks, until the entire transfer of flying was completed.

It is also true that a lot of the WestAir pilots, mostly the senior guys, either delayed sending their application to SkyWest, never sent their application and decided to look elsewhere for a job, or quit the profession altogether.

Never say never, I guess. . .especially in this crazy industry.