A few items touched on during Flight Ops conference call-in this morning:
-No new base announcement at this time. JH claims the reserve coverage cost with additional crew basing does not warrant it right now. He did mention, however, that DTW is not cost effective right now either. He was quick to add, though, that he understands the emotional/residential impact a closure would have there and he sounded willing to do whatever he can to leave it be. Of course, we all know who REALLY drives that decision...and he and his underlings could care less about who lives where and what effect it might have on the pilot/FA groups.
-No additional aircraft showing up in addition to the 2 during Q4. JH says the company has been approached a few times about additional move-up slots, but the company was not prepared to take them on at the time. He didn't go so far as to lay blame on the pilot group for not picking up the slack for additional block hours added, but he did quip that we seem to only want to work our bid lines and go home. I think he's intelligent enough to know why we really don't work much overtime anymore, he just didn't say it.
-KM left because of a better offer at Airbus. Is this the only reason? Is this the real reason? We'll never know. David Tait (crew planning) has left the building as well.
-JH offered words of encouragement about working with Tony L. as the new COO- but probably because he had to. JH claims TL is onboard with the latest "let's work with the pilot group" trend, but the guy's reputation precedes him. After all, he was the VP of customer service and stations. Anybody want to take a stab at arguably our worst areas of operation?
-I can't lay claim to ever hearing them with my own ear, but here are a few things TL has been quoted on:
"Our pilots are not worth JetBlue wages because our pilots are not as qualified as JetBlue pilots" -LGA station, Spring 2010
"We'll easily be able to take a pilot strike if they ever got that far because pilots are a dime-a-dozen right now" -ORD station, Spring 2010
Bottom line: KM talked pilot and walked pilot because he was a pilot. Did he make this a better place to work? We probably won't actually know until a little further along in the future. But, one thing's for sure- TL won't talk or walk pilot because he's not one...
The big question here: Will JH be able to continue his current pilot-friendly style with his new boss? Stay tuned.
-All this West Coast build up is apparently not being complimented by new airframes; instead, it sounds like it's a pulldown of flying in FLL. Personally, I smell a rat: Portland, Oakland, San Diego, AND all that additional ORD flying without a single airframe? That's a load of flying- all added before Q4. Just how much FLL to Carib/Latin America flying must be pulled down to free up the airframes?
-On the topic of FLL: In the short-term at least, FLL is set to lose some flying. I don't have a MBA (of course, neither does Herb Kelleher, Gordon Bethune or Steve Jobs...), but why on earth would you give up ground in FLL? Wasn't the company adamant in 2008 that one of our "Pillars of Success" was to defend our turf in FLL at all costs? Do you really want to give JB, AA, SWA, DL or anyone else an easier access to the international gates/slots, especially with a new concourse being built?
-The 6 upgrades that were supposed to be posted earlier this month never came about because they weren't needed. Apparently, the left hand didn't talk to the right hand and that vacancy should have never been posted. Wouldn't an email stating such have been appropriate? I thought so, but maybe the powers-that-be didn't see it as necessary.
-There are 3 new hires in class now and I think he said 4 more in July. After that, hiring should resume in Sept/Oct timeframe of possibly as many as 12 per month.
-The Jeppesen topic was brought up, and a mention was made about EFBs. Apparently, JH is a big fan of them and he hinted that they would be economically beneficial. So why not go ahead with them now? It would seem that the greatest barrier to EFBs would be convincing the bean counters, so if they can be convinced of saving a nickel...
-SG is not leaving the company, only leaving Miramar. Evidently he's rejoining the line pilot ranks.
That's what I took away from it. I don't post much on here anymore, but I thought it would benefit the group (and anyone considering applying here) to know what the company had to say about all the latest activities and the subsequent rumors.
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