Originally Posted by
What
Higher priced!!! SKW, ASA, EXJ, Pinnacle, Airwisky and RAH all have senior pilot groups... Stop buying into this whole senior crap! The airlines I just mentioned compose close to 75% of the regional feed! The Transtates Holdings regionals have lower longevity because they haven't been around that long but as a whole we are compared to those two regionals and told how expensive we are, stop that mentality.
Easy buddy, no need to pop a blood vessel. A 12th year CA makes more than a 6th year CA, that’s simple math, and a first year FO makes less than a 6th year FO. Now how Eagle stacks up against its competitors like SKW is another discussion and is a comparison I never mentioned, regardless I’m certain that when it comes to labor cost both airlines are pretty close to each other. Where SkyWest saves money is in "other" areas and those savings decrease our overall cost. Yes we have a higher CASM than some, that’s why we lost 12 CR7’s to GoJet about 2 years ago, but our "others" is what enabled us to gain our Alaska, US & AA flying within that same period. However removing 800+ CA’s form the top of your list will reduce your cost thus making you a bit more competitive (meaning you were never not competitive but after 800+ on top leave you will be more so than before).
It sounds like you're one of those pilots who think our cost to the bottom line doesn't change overtime, please don’t be that fool. The number one cost to an airline is fuel, number 2 is labor of which we are their highest paid labor group so since mainline picks up the tab for fuel it stands to reason that labor is number 1 to our airline. Keep in mind we are no longer “regional airlines,” we are “contract carriers” and in an industry where mainline wants cheap reliable feed every penny matters.
Last edited by MatchPoint; 11-29-2012 at 07:37 PM.