The New Look of Colgan

[TheBigH]

Those who know correct me if I'm wrong but weren't we supposed to have a spare Slaab there as part of the contract with CAL ?

 

[91100 100 set]

But what retard came up with Colgan's paint scheme? The nacelles look like Martha Stewart got to them. That cheat line and massive amounts of blue ought to go.

Is it the same blue as USAirways?

 

[HockleyPilot]

Here is the problem with Colgan in IAH. Or (______ in ________) insert airline or city of your choice. I have nothing again you guys and girls. We are all just going to work and trying to fly to feed our families, build time, etc. Whatever you want out of this endeavor. I will never treat another pilot like the red headed step child just because his/her company made a business deal that trumped ours.

What happened in IAH is business. It happens ALL the time. Are there a lot of families affected by these decisions? Yes. Is that the industry? Once again, Yes.
But I do feel people have the right to be pissed off for the other airlines, that underbid others, when they don't give the employees the resources for them to offer a quality product. When it, (your new operation), puts out other people (other airlines) to have to go out of their way to cover your managements F-ups. That's why people get upset. (Once again, not just IAH). Treating the employees bad for their airlines decisions is not right and I do believe karma will reverse if you chose to participate.

Now, before I get a RACE TO THE BOTTOM quote, I don't believe the underbidding process is any different that anything else that goes on in the country. Once again, it's business. Do I like it? Of course not. If you think that (underbidding) doesn't happen all the time, then call your school district and tell them to raise your taxes so we can give our school building contracts to the HIGHEST bidder. Call the DOT and tell them we want the HIGHEST bidder to build our roads. Also, go call WalMart, and tell them they are going out of business because you are telling your wife to go shop at Albertsons and pay more for your kids groceries. If we say this is any different, then we are hypocrites. Just because this type of thing affect us directly (in the wallet), we think we have the right to be wildy upset. I don't think so.

Hopefully, the employees will voice their opinion about the quality of the product that their airline gives. If that doesn't happen, then maybe the passengers. And if they don't, hey, Continental, (insert any major here).........YOU GOT WHAT YOU PAID FOR.

That being said, Good luck Colgan. I am sure you guys/gals are a good group. (and I think I have 2 buddies that work there) Continental ops is absolutely the worst. Hopefully you will have better luck with them then we did.

And yes, TEAM SKYWEST IAH was absolutely the best kept secret in the SKW system, but only because of the people.

HOCKLEY, now DENVER PILOT.......cheers

 

[Godfather]

Those who know correct me if I'm wrong but weren't we supposed to have a spare Slaab there as part of the contract with CAL ?

Yep....They sent 251 down to cover IAH...ya know the Captain America Plane. 356 will be down for at least another week. The other CO plane was sent back to Abilene or Nashville for more work as it failed delivery inspection but should be ready and on line after March 23. 4 Chicago Express planes are getting painted now (3 for CO and 1 US) and will be up and ready for April. The other Captain America Plane from Saab will be up and on line in April. 6 more Windy City birds will be available in April and May with 4 going to CO and 2 to US. Not to mention 321 is in Manasty and is in US colors. plus don't forget there are 2 more Eagle birds on the way. It never ends......

 

[CLE145CA]

What happened in IAH is business. It happens ALL the time. Are there a lot of families affected by these decisions? Yes. Is that the industry? Once again, Yes.
But I do feel people have the right to be pissed off for the other airlines, that underbid others...

Now, before I get a RACE TO THE BOTTOM quote, I don't believe the underbidding process is any different that anything else that goes on in the country. Once again, it's business. Do I like it? Of course not.

As a reminder, the main reason that CO replaced Skywest with Colgan was not due to underbidding but due to capacity.

The EMB120 carries 30 people on a good day. With new weights and weight restrictions, 30 passengers is not the norm. Throw in the summer heat coming up and that restricts the flight even more. (As someone who flew the EMB120 in IAH I know.) CO was just not happy with the potential of losing revenue during the normally busy summer months. Hence the decision to go with Colgan and the SAAB340.

I have no doubts that Colgan is much cheaper for CO to use. However, Skywest does not have a larger turboprop aircraft to use on these short haul flights as CAL wanted. CO is also restrictred from using another jet carrier in their hubs for another 20+ months.

That being said, it is encumbent on CO to keep close reigns on the product they are offering to the public...be it mainline, express or connection carriers. Houston rampers are some of the slowest people I have seen in our system, but also given the fact that CO reduced staffing and just continues to add more and more flights (esp. out of IAH) the fault probably lies a lot higher up the food chain than the average worker.

Just my thoughts.

 

[MELIT]

The EMB120 carries 30 people on a good day. With new weights and weight restrictions, 30 passengers is not the norm. Throw in the summer heat coming up and that restricts the flight even more. (As someone who flew the EMB120 in IAH I know.) CO was just not happy with the potential of losing revenue during the normally busy summer months. Hence the decision to go with Colgan and the SAAB340.

The slaabs have been weight restricted on a few flights they have flown and it's not even hot yet. They won't be able to carry 30 pax either. There for the problem is not solved.

 

[LaTechPilot2003]

Wow...My first trip off of IOE here at Eagle was to deadhead to Abilene from DFW, fly a functional test flight on an aircraft being sold to Colgan, bring that plane to Roswell to be painted in US Airways Express colors, and then deadhead back to DFW via ABQ. That was the Saab I flew! Except it was N356SB when it was an Eagle bird. Then 2 weeks later I did that trip in reverse: deadhead out to Roswell via ABQ and fly that freshly painted plane back to Abilene. They had an "SB" decal covering the "CJ" portion of the registration after it was painted into US Airways colors so we could fly it back as it was still technically an Eagle aircraft until Colgan took delivery of it from Abilene. Guess now they are flying it around painted in CO Connection colors. Anyways, what happened with the engine on that bird?

 

[chperplt]

MELIT

Who do you work for that you have all this insight?? I remember you saying it wasn't Colgan.

 

[ERfly]

Wow...My first trip off of IOE here at Eagle was to deadhead to Abilene from DFW, fly a functional test flight on an aircraft being sold to Colgan, bring that plane to Roswell to be painted in US Airways Express colors, and then deadhead back to DFW via ABQ. That was the Saab I flew! Except it was N356SB when it was an Eagle bird. Then 2 weeks later I did that trip in reverse: deadhead out to Roswell via ABQ and fly that freshly painted plane back to Abilene. They had an "SB" decal covering the "CJ" portion of the registration after it was painted into US Airways colors so we could fly it back as it was still technically an Eagle aircraft until Colgan took delivery of it from Abilene. Guess now they are flying it around painted in CO Connection colors. Anyways, what happened with the engine on that bird?

That aircraft was 365SB for the first few months it was on Colgan property. It was then re-registered to a CJ registration. The same was true for almost all of the SAABs coming from Eagle. You could see the stickers covering the CJ on the tail.

 

[Tina Fey's Scar]

good luck guys Continental will treat you like crap.

Thats a load of horsesh*t