SWA hires former ALPA prez for labor relations?

[General Lee]

You actually think he has a medical? When was the last time he was in an airplane other than being a PAX?

KBB

After release on DWI charge, FAA administrator made test flight



December 07, 2011|By the CNN Wire Staff

FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt was arrested Saturday night on drunken driving charges. He resigned Tuesday.


A day and a half after he was arrested on a drunk-driving charge, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt co-piloted a government jet to North Carolina as part of a proficiency flight, Federal Aviation Administration officials confirmed Wednesday.

The flight was planned before Babbitt's Saturday-night arrest, officials said, and took place as scheduled Monday morning.

Babbitt does not appear to have violated any FAA rules by taking the flight. Since he has not been convicted of DWI, he was under no formal obligation to report the arrest, and there is no suggestion that he violated a "bottle to throttle" rule requiring eight hours to pass between alcohol consumption and flying.



Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[jonjuan]

After release on DWI charge, FAA administrator made test flight



December 07, 2011|By the CNN Wire Staff

FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt was arrested Saturday night on drunken driving charges. He resigned Tuesday.


A day and a half after he was arrested on a drunk-driving charge, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt co-piloted a government jet to North Carolina as part of a proficiency flight, Federal Aviation Administration officials confirmed Wednesday.

The flight was planned before Babbitt's Saturday-night arrest, officials said, and took place as scheduled Monday morning.

Babbitt does not appear to have violated any FAA rules by taking the flight. Since he has not been convicted of DWI, he was under no formal obligation to report the arrest, and there is no suggestion that he violated a "bottle to throttle" rule requiring eight hours to pass between alcohol consumption and flying.



Bye Bye---General Lee

Is this story about you or babbit?

 

[scoreboardII]

which, in this case, was proven to be completely false and made up. I believe the cop in question was fired and Randy was completely exonerated, although by that time the damage had been done.

actually it was thrown on a technicality, he blew above the legal limit.

 

[fr8doggie]

Talk about Kharma!

SWAPA guys: Do you think he's going to show you the LUV?


Regards,
Fr8doggie

 

[GIZMONC]

SWA quest for international service is being done from scratch. Even tho FL is on the SOC and already flies international SWA has to be vetted by the FAA and various channels before the OVER WATER flying begins. Bringing on such a person who has ties to Washington will make it easier for SWA to move their international flying thru the various government hurdles. Typically when someone like Babbit comes on he has know associates who have government ties so after him there will probably be a series of individuals who follow him.

 

[fam62c]

SWA quest for international service is being done from scratch. Even tho FL is on the SOC and already flies international SWA has to be vetted by the FAA and various channels before the OVER WATER flying begins. Bringing on such a person who has ties to Washington will make it easier for SWA to move their international flying thru the various government hurdles. Typically when someone like Babbit comes on he has know associates who have government ties so after him there will probably be a series of individuals who follow him.

There's probably some truth to that, his connections within the FAA are probably the main reason he was brought in, labor relations is probably secondary.

 

[Kharma Police]

When an airline brings in an outsider to negotiate labor contracts the reason is not to play nice with the unions.

Speaking of which, I wonder how Section 6 is going for SWAPA..........

 

[airlinepilot]

1-2-3

Guess they didn't tell Randy that 1-2-3 was history.

 

[scoreboardII]

Badump bump ching!

 

[fam62c]

When an airline brings in an outsider to negotiate labor contracts the reason is not to play nice with the unions.

Speaking of which, I wonder how Section 6 is going for SWAPA..........

There's probably some truth to that as well, there is a reason why an outsider (from Eastern and ALPA no less) is being inserted between the top management and the employees. The SW unions may find that this round of negotiations will look more like what typically happens in the industry. The days of fast, easy contract settlements that are very lucrative for the employees may be a thing of the past. SW's costs are rising and their profit margins are not what they once were, this goes with the territory when you are a large, mature airline with a lot of senior employees and don't have large organic growth rates like in the past. When airlines reach this point they will always, sooner or later, look to their one controllable cost....labor....for savings. Don't say it won't happen at SW just because it hasn't happened yet.

I think the company is going to want some things and I think there will be some frank discussions regarding SW labor costs when compared to the competition. I'm sure management is looking at the operational performance numbers at AT and the wage levels there and they are figuring out that they can compensate employees at lower levels and the job still gets done just fine. As the years go by with the two-tier compensation plan it will just reinforce these observations. I think there is going to be some tough LUV on the horizon before too long. The addition of this new management position signals some sort of departure from the previous way of doing things, we should start to see what changes are in the wind shortly. Listen for clues in the next couple of investor conference calls.