APA Hotline on AE Flying Large RJ's
.
"Management's American Eagle proposal includes references to '60-76 Seat Turbojet' and '60-74 Seat Turboprop' flying to be performed by American Eagle's pilots. The American Eagle proposal also contains a reference in a section entitled 'New Equipment' that reads 'In the event that the Company is scheduled to take delivery of Turbojet aircraft in excess of 76 seats or of Turboprop aircraft in excess of 74 seats, the Company and [ALPA] will meet to negotiate the rates of pay for such equipment.'
"According to Section 1 of the APA-American Airlines Collective Bargaining Agreement, all flying by or on behalf of AMR Corporation--with certain stated exceptions--is to be performed by American Airlines pilots. The commuter exception contained in Section 1 provides for a large number of aircraft with up to 50 seats to be operated by American Eagle, and also permits American Eagle to operate a total of 47 CRJ-700 tail-specific aircraft and 43 ATR-72s. Any aircraft larger than 70 seats are to be operated solely by the pilots of American Airlines, except for the previously noted exceptions. The aircraft management refers to in their 1113(c) proposal are larger than any aircraft that American Eagle now operates.

"We are strongly opposed to management's attempt to unilaterally change the terms of our contract and to have larger aircraft operated by American Eagle or any other commuter affiliate carrier. Despite management's assurances that larger aircraft at commuter affiliates would result in growth at American Airlines, we are deeply skeptical about such claims based on past experience. A significant number of city pairs formerly flown by American Airlines are now served by American Eagle. The reality is that the substantial growth in American Eagle flying has come at the expense of American Airlines flying, contributing to a decade of career stagnation at our airline. The new small narrowbody aircraft management has indicated to APA that they want to acquire--the so-called 'large RJs'--possess near-transcontinental range, surpassing that of the Fokker 100s American Airlines used to operate.

"To be clear, we have a high level of respect for our American Eagle pilot colleagues. American Eagle pilots enjoy preferential hiring rights at American Airlines, and we look forward to the day when large numbers of American Eagle pilots are able to take advantage of the opportunity to move up to mainline flying. Our adamant opposition to management's plans for a vast expansion of 70-plus seat flying on new, larger gauge aircraft at American Eagle centers on management's evident desire to outsource yet more American Airlines flying. We will vigorously resist any attempt to do so. We will likewise resist any scheme that would result in such flying being performed by any non-AMR-owned entities."


I say just merge the damn list, and let anything under 100 seats be worked by Eagle employees except the pilots, at that point put up the right fences to keep it fair. Since you will be in many cases trading 1 md80 for 2 Crj700/EMJ175, you might end up with more jobs between both airlines, not less.