SkyWest discusses possible Comair purchase

[Popeye0537]

If chautauqua can do it, Skywest shouldn't have a problem.

Big difference there....CHQ one company/pilot group/pay scale.

SkyWest....2 companies/2 pilot goups/different pay scales.

 

[Ben Dover]

...Skywest must like to gamble...buying 2 airlines where the emplyee groups are extremely unhappy.

Actually Jerry doesn't take a crap without knowing how many sheets of paper or ounces of water will be swirling the bowl. That's why SkyWest has had the financial strength to do things like aquire ASA. Gambling....not a big part of the equation.

 

[Jon Rivoli]

What do they have that we might want? SGU isn't interested in getting bigger just to be bigger. There were some very nice plumbs in the ASA deal. SGU seems to be looking for additional partners to spread risk and they want more bigger planes because we are vulnerable with so many 50 seaters. I don't see where Comair fitting the bill hear, just the opposite. A relatively high cost operation with a lot more 50 seaters totally dependent on Delta. Even if it could be had for dirt cheap, why spend the money?

 

[surplus1]

Jon,

Your "scope" evidently is as large as that of Mr. Rich.

THINK BIG and broad.

 

[Jon Rivoli]

"We have no idea what Delta is thinking regarding Comair, although if it looks like there's a deal that fits with our corporate objectives we would be open-minded," SkyWest CFO Bradford Rich said.

I restate my question.

What do they have that we might want?

 

[bvt1151]

I just don't see this happening. Skywest got a sweetheart of a deal with ASA because Delta was about to tank. What else can Delta give Skywest? Cincinnati gates? You can't guarantee growth twice (well you could, but it sure isn't going to get Skywest to buy). I think Delta gave the farm to Skywest in the ASA deal, and Skywest will be looking for that kind of deal again with Comair, but Delta won't.

Mesa still makes me nervous on this one...

 

[General Lee]

Jon,

Your "scope" evidently is as large as that of Mr. Rich.

THINK BIG and broad.

Oooooohhh, aaahhhhh. What? Think BIG huh? For who? I would bet a TA allowing larger RJs won't pass with the current DL pilot group. All we need is 50.1% to say NO, and we would either go back to the table or shut it down. (think all of the FOs plus half of the captains= more than 50%)
I won't vote YES for any TA allowing scope erosion. Nope.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[Jon Rivoli]

General,

Have you ever considered that you're domestic narrow body flying is partly dragging you down. Delta's most profitable flying is the international, wide body and larger guage domestic. These segments have to cross subsidise the smaller guage stuff. If you want to preserve mainline wages ditch the cheap work and focus on your strengths. Trying to fly even smaller planes i.e. 90 seaters, would only increase the burden and put even more downward pressure on wages overall. I may be mistaken, take it as food for thought.

 

[Soverytired]

As a follow-up to the comment about Skywest liking to take gambles, - If Skwest to buy Comair, the company would be one large regional with THREE different in-house entities. I know they have kept ASA and Skywest completely different, but could the management at Skywest handle the three different airlines without major problems? Seems like their would have to be some kind of integration in the future, which of course would cause more major problems.

W-H-I-P-S-A-W

(but that's ok, because it's not MESA)

Actually, I'd like to see the Comair group on the Mesa property . . . . those guys might give Mesa-types the cojones to step up to the plate on on contract negotiations next year . . . .

 

[Soverytired]

...or where 2 of the airlines fly exclusively for Delta, who is on the verge of a pilot strike.

It'll never happen.

Delta ALPA knows that a strike = instant liquidation. I'm sorry (it sucks), but it's true, and they know it.

Nice little article from the BOYD group:

http://www.aviationplanning.com/asrc1.htm

[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]The Delta Situation
[/FONT][FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]A "Strike" Isn't Possible, Anymore[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]The media's full of stories on the potential for a pilot strike at Delta Air Lines. [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]Time for some perspective. Delta's pilot group has taken substantial compensation cuts over the past two years. Not once, but twice. Regardless of where they started before this crisis come along, there is a human cost when labor agrees to concessions. Telling your family that the household income is now 20% or 30% or 40% less isn't easy nor pleasant. [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]Unlike a lot of other airline jobs, the complex and sophisticated skills gained in a 20-year career as a pilot have limited direct transferability to other industries, or, due to seniority issues, transferability even within the airline industry, at least from a financial perspective. Jumping to another airline isn't really an option, as there simply are not many flying jobs out there. (Not all airline pilots, by the way, have successful side-businesses, as lore might have it.)[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]But the reality is that the price of fuel has gone through the stratosphere - and that's a cost that nobody on either side of the bargaining table has much control over. At $65+ per barrel of oil, even carriers that took the bet and hedged a few years ago are facing a financial brick wall.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]It's the whole industry that's been nailed. American's pilots (and the rest of their employees) were caught in this squeeze play. Same at United, except they also got defrauded of their pensions to boot. So, the situation at Delta isn't specific to that airline. It's a set of realities that affect the entire industry. (Indignant e-mails railing about how WN is profitable will not be returned. We don't match wits with the unarmed and uninformed.) [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]Nevertheless, the way airlines have reacted to this cost crisis differs from carrier to carrier. There's no question that one can point to American, and ask the question why Delta's prior management didn't do what AA accomplished.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]But right now, that's water - or more correctly, money - under the bridge. It's a non-sequitur.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]The anger and hurt among Delta employees are not to be discounted. But that shouldn't mask the hard realities. To threaten a strike if an arbitration panel - one, by the way, that the union agreed to - rules a different way than the union wants, simply sends a message to the consumer: spend your money elsewhere. But this isn't a normal situation - anything that threatens to undermine consumer confidence can be lethal to an airline.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]So, unfortunately, in clear fact of reality, the strike option no longer exists for Delta's pilots union. True, they can walk off the job. But in this case, regardless of the legal interpretation, it won't be a strike.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]Typically, a strike is a valid and often effective negotiating tool to force the management team sitting on the other side of the bargaining table to move off their positions. A strike - as nasty as it can be - is a tool to change things for the future. But in this case, there is little doubt that in Delta's financial condition any major interruption to the airline's revenue stream would torpedo the carrier's future. And that specifically includes a situation where pilots walk off the job.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]This is reality. It makes no difference what the issues are on the bargaining table. It makes no difference how outrageous either side's demands and counter-demands may be. It makes no difference what's been done in the past. A lock-out or a strike could kill the airline in short order. The folks at the top of the Delta ALPA union know this full well. It's a rotten bargaining hand, but turning the table over and making sure that nobody works at Delta, isn't the way to go.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]The point is that the situation is so dire that using a strike as an option to move negotiations to another level simply is no longer possible. Therefore, no matter what happens, there won't be a "strike" per se. Delta's ALPA leaders know the financial score. They know that a work-stoppage now would be a one-time event where nobody comes back - not only the pilots, but over 40,000 other employees, too. Within the context of knowing what they surely know, if Delta's ALPA unit leaves the property, it will be the equivalent of an intentional and focused act that will put Delta out of business, not a strike. [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]This is not to diminish the situation that pilots at Delta, as well as other employees, face. Getting paychecks hammered, benefits cut, work rules changed, and in some cases one's pension trashed, are events that are nothing short of cataclysmic.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]But killing off Delta isn't a solution, and it's likely that everybody involved knows this. Delta's rank-and-file employees care about their airline, regardless of the posturing. Therefore, the best guess is that there will be a settlement. [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]Probably.[/FONT]