US Airways +60 Mainline Airplanes?

[FurloughedAgain]

The rumor on the US Aviation boards is that Herr Siegel has hinted at the lease of 60 additional mainline airplanes (above and beyond the 279).

More than likely this is a carrot being used to get the employee groups to offer more concessions.

If true, however, it should bring back almost all of the 7 - 15 year furloughees leaving only the 1998 through 2002 guys on the street or in J4J positions.

I'll keep my fingers crossed -- and I hope you folks will join me -- that the good people who gave US Airways over a DECADE of their lives will be recalled quickly and that the company will prosper enough that they might finally enjoy a period of relative job security. (Maybe even an upgrade before they retire?)

Good luck everyone. I sure hope "Labor Friendly Dave" isn't playing games to get concessions but actually has some vision with regard to growing the airline and restoring some of the 1800+ lost mainline jobs.

 

[jdru25]

It would be so nice to see PIT back to the way it was pre 9-11. We can only hope that this rumor comes true.

 

[LearLove]

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH............ the sound of me holding my breath.

It wouldn't supprise me if the " 60+ mainline planes" are getting mixed up with the order for 85 ERJ-170's that there may be a deal in the works just to slap them with the mainline flying instead of doing MDA.

AGAIN HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH....... should I keep holding my breath? nothing good ever happens here

 

[FurloughedAgain]

I fear you may be right Learlove. But there are 1800 pilots over there out of work or participating in some hairbrained J4J scheme. Many of them, after 10+ years at US Airways have MORE than paid their dues. Sure would be nice to get them back to the good jobs they signed on for a decade ago.

These are people after all. Chances are they didn't make decisions any different than you or I. If Flightinfo.com was around in the mid 80s they would have been here looking for info on interviews and trying to get as much time in multi-engine turboprops over 25,000 lbs as possible. A lot of them were out there plugging away in Metroliners, Beech 99s, and Twin-Otters before they got what THEY thought was their big-break... the brass ring.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Siegel actually has some vision for the company other than shrinking it into oblivion and turning it into a paper-airline which owns no assets back contracts out a vast fleet of regional jets.

I have virtually no faith in him at all.

PS - although I did not mention them in this post since it would be off-topic I feel the same way about the pilots of Allegheny and Piedmont who chose to make their careers there and who are having them ripped away by a management team who can not keep their promises and who chooses to let valuable assets wither on the vine rather than taking steps to save the business.

 

[jtf]

I realize the situation for the major airlines mostly sucks right now, but why don't any of the mainline pilot groups say enough outsourcing and add 70 seaters to their mainline? Are the managements prohibiting this or is the the pilot groups themselves? I know it is usually cheaper to outsource the small jets to contract carriers, but does anyone think that a mainline group will ever be able to bring the 70 seaters in? I would think USAirways would be a good place to start- forget about starting MidAtlantic or whatever the name is, put them on the mainline and see how it works out.

 

[AA717driver]

The smaller the airplane, the lower the employee costs have to be to make money. With most major labor agreements(for all work groups) it costs far more than the (usually) minimum wage workers at the regionals.

The management doesn't want to start a nasty trend either. My god, next the mainline pilots will want to fly ALL the jets on the property... TC

 

[reepicheep]

60 "new" airplanes? Is that why they just announced another 500 F/A furloughs?

 

[LearLove]

I hear the 500 FA furloughs are due to a "new efficent program to sked. FA crews".