USAirways West Bidding Procedures

[Bubba Dog]

Could someone please shed some light on the vacancies produced by the most recent bid at USAirways West. I believe there were 8 vacancies produced. I have heard that these vacancies do not have to be filled until June 07? Also is the West side looking for some more vacancies(recalls) to the West side prior to the end of the year.

Thanks!

 

[cesmaf]

On the East side there were 15 recalls. Went through appx. 150 or so to get 15.

 

[Bubba Dog]

15 recalls. Went through appx. 150 or so to get 15.

Do you happen to know the most junior APL # or date of hire for the 15 recalls?

 

[iflyhigh]

Bubba Dog

There was a total of 8 vacancy on the West side of US Airways. These vacancies will be filled by US Airways East side furloughees, if any of them want the slots. The slots were for the Airbus, 4 in Las Vegas and 4 in Phoenix. AWA, Westside US Airways, did not have any pilots on furlough prior to the merger.

As far as not filling them till June 07, that would not surprise me. The company probably does not want to bring back pilots and incur payroll during the slow winter months. For September in Phoenix, we have 94 Airbus reserve fo. This is suppose to continue into October, with some of the hours of flying coming back in November for holidays. The pilots was been told that the reduction in flight hours is due to an aggressive paint schedule on the West side aircraft. We will see.

Iflyhigh

 

[Bubba Dog]

Bubba Dog

There was a total of 8 vacancy on the West side of US Airways. These vacancies will be filled by US Airways East side furloughees, if any of them want the slots. The slots were for the Airbus, 4 in Las Vegas and 4 in Phoenix. AWA, Westside US Airways, did not have any pilots on furlough prior to the merger.

As far as not filling them till June 07, that would not surprise me. The company probably does not want to bring back pilots and incur payroll during the slow winter months. For September in Phoenix, we have 94 Airbus reserve fo. This is suppose to continue into October, with some of the hours of flying coming back in November for holidays. The pilots was been told that the reduction in flight hours is due to an aggressive paint schedule on the West side aircraft. We will see.

Iflyhigh

Looks like no movement for a while.
Thanks for the info!

 

[MK82Man]

West Vacancy info

Bubba – For September and through at least Nov, LAS Bus FO manning is down to just 5, count ‘em 5 Reserve pilots. We had been carrying 10-12. The Captain side of the Bus has stayed ok, but with no hiring since Feb 2005 (last off the street FO came out of training in April of 05) we need staffing on the bottom end of West US Airways. The bid we just had moved FOs from the 737 and filled 20 Captain slots. The 73 is overmanned and we will continue to push guys to the Bus as the company reduces/realigns the 73 fleet. We continue to lose guys out the top/side of AWA as time marches on. As we begin to move West FOs to the Captain seat on the EMB 190, waiting for the decision this upcoming week, more holes well be created. Right now, the company is being forced to DH FOs on Reserve in PHX to LAS to make sure they don’t cancel LAS lines. FOs assigned to LAS are all maxed out and can’t pick up anything due to 30 in 7 restrictions. Management can’t like all that deadheading because it takes revenue seats (not to mention paying guys for the DH) and when combined with the large numbers of commuters from PHX to LAS, it creates sick calls when PHX pilots can’t make it to LAS to cover their lines. At some point, with inadequate reserves in LAS, there just isn’t the opportunity to get a guy from PHX to LAS in time and so you either leave late or cancel, neither of which is what management wants. I did not see any training associated with the new 8 FO Recalls to the Bus, but I think it would occur this fall, Oct/Nov to align with the 73 guys being trained (they are being trained Sep to Nov, if memory serves me correctly), it is expensive not to do it at the same time. … So where does that leave us? I think we will see another bid in October or November after the dust settles from the 190. After that, I expect that we would need to absorb at least 100 dudes in the Spring of 07 to support the summer flying and just to get us closer to minimum manning. As long as the company does not shrink, I’m hopeful that recalls will continue for East Furloughees throughout 2007. They may be small numbers (8, 15, 30 etc), but hopefully we can continue marching down the list to find guys who want to come back. The million dollar question is how will the EMB 190 go, should have that answer in about 60 days. On the west end, we are getting no official feedback on numbers of East dudes called to fill vacancies. I’m pretty sure it will remain slow going until we get a combined seniority list in March or April of 07. Hope this helps some.

 

[ALGFLYR]

This is from the AAA ALPA board from the Furlough coordinator in response to this same question:

"AWA had a recent bid that resulted in some vacancies and the transition agreement calls for those positions to be filled with furloughed pilots. However the AWA bid process is much different than ours. They only have one to two bids per year and this bid is not effective until June 2007. Therefore any vacancies will not be filled until sometime in the first quarter of '07"

 

[ALGFLYR]

As we begin to move West FOs to the Captain seat on the EMB 190, waiting for the decision this upcoming week, more holes well be created.

The million dollar question is how will the EMB 190 go, should have that answer in about 60 days. On the west end, we are getting no official feedback on numbers of East dudes called to fill vacancies. I’m pretty sure it will remain slow going until we get a combined seniority list in March or April of 07. Hope this helps some.

Well at least for now, 100% of the staffing for the 190 will be East pilots. There may be bridge classes in the future, but it's all East at this point. Once the Arbitrators ruling is know (We are told any day now) whatever positions are supposed to be West pilots, will probably be filled at a later date. Much like the 757's. In that deal, the West was given I believe 14 757 slots, but they can't be filled until after integration. I would suspect, something similar will happen with the 190's but they probably won't have to wait until full integration to start training on the 190. Of course the question is raised,: If a West pilot trains in the 190 before integration, what contract will he work under. Since the 190 is on the East certificate, I would assume he would be under the East contract. Humm, A West pilot working under the East contract before integration and a combined contract. Who makes this crazy stuff up?? Thanks ALPA...

 

[TWA Dude]

This is from the AAA ALPA board from the Furlough coordinator in response to this same question:
"... Therefore any vacancies will not be filled until sometime in the first quarter of '07"

Our bids always have a published effective date way in the future but training normally starts way before then. I would expect the recalls to start this Fall.

Once the Arbitrators ruling is know (We are told any day now) whatever positions are supposed to be West pilots, will probably be filled at a later date. Much like the 757's.

That's not what Management has told us. We expect to have our guys in 190 classes right away. The 757 deal slid through because there wasn't time for the negotiation/arbitration process. This time there is.

Humm, A West pilot working under the East contract before integration and a combined contract. Who makes this crazy stuff up?

The arbitrator will rule on this as well.

 

[TWA Dude]

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