Originally Posted by
eaglefly
Who gave away that leverage ?
Most think it was given away in 1992 when ALPA turned their backs on the first RJ thinking it wasn't a threat, but actually most mainline pilot groups did this much earlier by creating and maintaining an "us and them" environment with their participating regional carriers that began flying they "didn't want to do".
What mainline PILOTS and their bargaining representatatives SHOULD have done then was bring these pilot groups CLOSER so as to prevent them being used against them in the future.
They flunked.
Then, once the drug was in place all they needed was the correct needle.........AKA the 'RJ". Now you don't have innocent little BE-99's and metroliner's flying around but CRJ-900's and E-175's.
Personally, I think you really need to take a sobering look backward on the systemic failure of self-interested pilots and their sloppy bargaining reps to see why the profession of "major-airline pilot" is now hoplessly in the garbage can.
"Leverage" had to start somewhere in infancy and the above was its metamorphasis to the broken-down old man this career has become.
It's a shame too.
I wasn't in the business much when the RJs first appeared on the screen, but here's my view. It's not just lower wage pilots that kept RJs from mainline. It's a total cost structure that is lower. The RJ is a high cost airplane - no way around that. It's CASM is much above mainline jets. The only way to profitable operate it is to have (a) much higher RASM or (b) much lower cost structure. In the beginning, management thought they could get high ticket prices when they were competing with turboprops and they were flying out of secondary markets like Lexington, Lansing, Albany, NY, etc. After 9/11, the explosion of LCCs (brought on by mainline reductions) made it reasonable for people in Lexington, KY (for example) to drive to Louisville to catch SWA. People saved hundreds of dollars - the result was that Legacy carriers had to drop prices to get people to fly that RJ out of Lexington rather than drive.
Which brought on the need for a lower cost structure: I'm sure someone did the math and said if we pay everyone from the CEO down to the janitor 75% less, we can make these planes profitable. Also, by bringing everyone in a first year pay, it's cheaper still. Why do you think Comair is getting axed? High costs because it's been around so long. So, if the Delta pilots wanted Delta to own and operate the airplanes, the pilots would have to operate them at such lower wages, it wouldn't make sense. It's not just the pilots - mechanics, FAs, dispatchers, ground staff, etc would all want to service the airplanes (and might have a contractual right to) - raising the operating cost of the RJs. Makes for a high cost operation, even if it was only the pilots who wanted to fly them.