Trans States to Receive 14 New RJ's

[TSA Pilot]

They started recalling all our furloughed pilots today! This is great news!!

--------------------------------------
SOURCE: American Eagle Airlines
American Eagle Preparing to Sell 14 ERJ-145s
FORT WORTH, Texas, July 17 /PRNewswire/ -- American Eagle today announced that it has reached an agreement in principle to dispose of 14 ERJ-145, 50-seat regional jets. Ultimately, these airplanes will be acquired by Trans States Airlines, an AmericanConnection carrier. The potential deal still requires the consent of the companies financing these aircraft and is subject to the negotiation of final documentation.

"We're undertaking this move to ensure American remains in compliance with its Allied Pilots Association contract," said Peter Bowler, American Eagle's president. "We've always hoped that American and the APA would reach agreement on increasing the number of RJs that we can fly. But, in the absence of such an agreement, we must dispose of these airplanes. We are at least pleased that these planes will be flown by airlines connecting passengers to American rather than to one of American's competitors."

American's pilot contract limits the total flying done by regional airlines on American's code. One of the provisions of that contract limits the total number of regional jets with more than 44 seats flown under the AA code to 67 aircraft. Eagle's current delivery schedule of firm orders for new Bombardier CRJ aircraft, which feature seating for 70 passengers, will place the airline at this cap in January 2003.

The limitation places American Eagle at a competitive disadvantage to its competitors.

"Eagle is proud to operate more than 130 new regional jets from hubs and other cities across the country," Bowler said. "However, when expressed as a percentage of the total American Airlines fleet, Eagle's regional jet fleet is considerably smaller than the comparable figure for American's competitors and their regional affiliates."

If all parties approve the potential transactions, the planes will be delivered to Trans States beginning in November with the transition completed by early 2004. Operating the planes under its "AX" airline code, Trans States will determine how to deploy the aircraft later this year, with the first phase of deployment scheduled for its St. Louis hub where it feeds American Airlines.


Current AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR - News) releases can be found via the Internet.
The address is http://www.amrcorp.com

SOURCE: American Eagle Airlines

 

[Anaconda]

Your gain their loss...

i'm sure the eagle pilots are just thrilled to hear that news...

 

[SF3CAP]

Thrilled. You guys hiring?

 

[exeagle]

Im honestly happy for you guys at TSA, but for all the Eagle pilots this is yet another straw on the camel's back! When will it end.

 

[Airline Pilot27]

This is very bad news for us AE pilots who day in and day out fly those same airplanes that you are so thrilled to get. I know you as a pilot don't have much control over what our company or your company does. But realize that you are getting these airplanes at the expense of Eagle pilots carreers and livelyhoods. It pisses us of to no end to see you gloat like this. Try not to rub in our faces that we work for the sleaziest airline.

respectfully
an Fo with ever shrinking seniority who has passed gas in every single one of your new airplanes

 

[DLSouthernjets]

Probably part of a larger conspiracy to drive a wedge between more pilot groups.

Then the ATA can whipsaw the entire industry.

Scumbags.

 

[TSA Pilot]

While I may have come off as gloating, please understand that i am not. If you knew the company that we work for at all you would know that trying to get some good news is next to impossible. We furlough then call back then furlough again. Then one minute were getting jets and the next "we changed our mind the climates not right" So finally you hear some good news from a reputable source (because we don't believe everything our company says) and it makes you happy which is hard to do in avaition in times like these so please accept my apology if I in any way sounded like I was gloating. I wasn't.

TSA Pilot

 

[Bluestreak]

Am I wrong,or is this a double-whammy for Eagle pilots ? 14 airplanes gone and the 70 seaters will be flown by furloughed AA pilots and AE crews didn't get to bid them ? Somebody set me straight.

 

[LearLove]

Wholly Owned = Wholly Screwed

Good Luck Eagle Boys

 

[burping_boy]

Hmmm..

I thought I read that Eagle will be getting CRJ700s to replace the ERJs. Is this true, and if so won't the pilots be covered and not screwed?

Is TSA really recalling all of their furloughs?

 

[jobear]

Talked to..

a crew from TWA(AA) in MLI and they were under the impression that TSA was taking over 35 cities from AA.
But then again that's just talk.

 

[jetexas]

Selling the Eagle jets to American Connection is a classic "whipsaw" move.
AMR has tried for a year now to get APA to relax the ASM cap regarding American Eagle. They have tried to pressure Eagle ALPA to pressure AA (APA) to relax the cap. This would do nothing but put a grind in the relations between Eagle and AA pilots. It did'nt work because we at Eagle could see the light and that any ASM cap relaxation would be canted toward American Connection and do nothing towards our own well being.
Now that TSA will be getting the jets, I am sure what the company hopes is that Eagle will look at AA and say "gee, that ASM cap sure is nasty, its uh...your fault we have 304 guys on furlough and our careers are in the can" . Then we all start pointing fingers at AA. No more harmony in the work force. The puppet masters look on with glee. Also, TSA flying the jets and possibly picking up some old TWA routes could pit TSA against AA as well.
Truth is, the jets were going away anyway. Just having them go to "American Connection" instead of back to Brazil, makes things a little more chaotic.
Theres all sorts of other stuff going on too. The 'reverse code' share using American Connection sure is sneaky. That will be an interesting one to follow as APA assuredly tries to put a light on the contractural games lurking about here.
I still think if the ASM cap issue was 'really' such a damaging deal, they would do something about it, like merge Eagle's and AA's seniority list.

 

[waterski]

Hey maybe Eagle is going to be the next American Connection carrier....[COLOR=orangered

 

[FlyinBrian]

I like how they say it's necessary to sell the jets to stay under the cap because of the CRJ deliveries... With the jets at TSA flying as connection THEY STILL COUNT AGAINST THE CAP!

By the way TSA pilot... apology accepted, but I have to admit that saying it was great news rubbed me the wrong way a little bit.

I kind of got pissed flying home through St. Louis the other day seeing all the TSA guys who (in my opinion) have my job. I had to remember that I have no beef with them. They are just guys who want to fly like I am. I'd do the same thing. I have a problem with AMR failing to honor our contract. I only wish there were enough jobs for all of us.

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

Actually, Mr. FB, they DON'T count against the cap, luckily for AAEagle, because of the reverse code-share. Now, none of the Chautauqua, Corporate, or TSA flying counts against the seat-mile cap.

Hope things improve for you Eagle guys.

Cliff
GRB

 

[Anaconda]

i thought the whole point of "american connection" was that it DIDN'T count agains the cap...

 

[Draginass]

TSA guys shouldn't gloat too soon about getting the outsourced work from AE. The grievances/lawsuits aren't over yet.

 

[FlyinBrian]

Right now witht the BS reverse code share I guess they don't count against the cap. But I imagine that the APA will be challenging that since it is a blatant violation of their scope. What's new at AMR.

Dragin is right, it's not over. I hope Eagle does well. Maybe I will have a job again someday.

 

[ready2push]

I don't really think that any of the TSA pilots are "gloating." In fact, there have been a couple of TSA guys on tsalounge.com that have gone out of their way to mention that we need to keep the AE guys in mind and temper some of our enthusiasm.

I really don't think that the TSA guys are happy to take the EMJs from AE, they're just happy to be getting them from anywhere. The mentality from the TSA camp has never been us against you. It seems that a few of the AE guys think that we should refuse the jets. Do they want us to refuse to fly them? You guys should be pissed at AMR, APA, and your MEC--NOT US.

It's not as if we're taking routes and cities from AE. AE has NEVER fed STL. So if the tables were turned and they did feed STL and TSA was kicked out, then TSA could argue that AE took OUR flying. For AE to say that we're "stealing" jobs is absurd.

If the jets were returned to EMB and then purchased by coex, would you guys accuse them of stealing your jobs? The jets are leaving your property no matter what. If TSA imploded tomorrow, the jets would STILL be leaving. It really has nothing to do with TSA.

I'm tired of having to applogize for something that is NOT MY FAULT and NOT MY AIRLINES FAULT. I'm sorry that you guys are getting screwed by your company and APA, but I'm not sorry that some of our guys are coming back. Why should I have to appologize to you because our guys get to fly?

 

[eaglefly]

Understood. However, you need to understand that AMR controlled the fate of these A/C to benefit AMR. Had they just returned these A/C to Embraer (as was originally intended and represented), Embraer could have gotten a better deal for them from carriers with more secure financing. The only way TSA management could finance these A/C is if they had a place to put them and the deep pockets of a major carrier to cover their nut. This was an "inside deal" that involved all parties to benefit all parties. It is a transfer of assets disguised as a "sale".

The pilots of Eagle have suffered their 9/11. AMR has declared war on their contract. Their attack is no longer behind the scenes, sneaky and covert. They have publicly opened fire on the pilots of American Eagle.