Originally Posted by
eaglefly
The claims of "20%" increase in flying at AA will just be done as a result of PBS that will allow AA to do more flying with the same number of pilots and planes, just everyone working more. All in all, not a good scenario going forward and again, expect little or no advance warning, unless of course someone "leaks" something like in this apparent instance.
I don't quite agree with the statement above, PBS will allow less pilots to do the same flying! I don't see how PBS would allow AMR to increase block hrs by 20%, it might increase pilot productivity by that much but not flying! If we were to say that, we would be stating that currently AMR allows its equipment to sit idle due to lack of crews at a rate of 20%. Further more we would be saying that its cheaper to underutilize airplanes due to pilot expenses. I am not trying to pick a fight with you, just trying to hold a civil conversation! But there rest of your post I agree, one thing that concerns me is the 20% increase in departures at the corner stone hubs. The way I see this is as they replace MD 80s with Larger RJ, frequency will increase and so will departures, also they are looking to increase departures at the 5 cornerstone hubs by 20%, they are also looking at closing some of the other bases so more flights will have to touch the big hubs. This is how I see the 20% increase of departures out of NY, MIA, DFW, ORD and LAX.