Originally Posted by
vyperdriver
Ok fellas...this is the kind of discussions I was looking for. Regardless of what some of my "contacts" have said, I am equally suspicious as it seems to me no one truly knows until everyone knows what happens in the airlines. A lot of conjecture and guessing but some of the points brought out on this thread are what I was looking for.
Honestly, since you DON'T plan on being at the regional level very long, and frankly I don't think you will, you really DON'T have to worry about ANY of this crap.
Originally Posted by
vyperdriver
For example...If I were an Eagle Pilot, why would I not be concerned that Express Jet is beginning to fly Eagle Lines out of DFW. Some other regional, forgive me I don't recall the name, is flying lines for Eagle out of Detroit or somewhere like that. Why would I not, if I were an Eagle flyer, be concerned that some other company with some other companies pilots were flying jets with our passengers out of our domicile?
No offense, and again, you won't be at the regionals very long so don't concern yourself with it. But they're not "our passengers", as in the regional's passengers. They are the mainline's passengers/customers, or another mainline's that were rebooked on AMR Corp. AMR Corp then decides which part of the holdings company flies the particular route. Either American Airlines, American Eagle, or and American Connection carrier. This garbage happens way, way above the pay grade of even the highest paid pilot.
Originally Posted by
vyperdriver
It seems to me, that pre bankruptcy, AMR was attempting to sell off Eagle, although I may be inaccurate on that, but I seem to recall that.
That is true, AMR Corp was looking to divest/spin off the AE side. Nobody was interested. Keep in mind, before the BK was the recession. The reverend had money, but he was going a different direction with "brand" flying. Hence the MidWest Express debacle and buying Frontier. Jerry probably wasn't interested because AA's economic situation at the time may have caused him doubts. Plus he was pretty busy with ExpressJet acquisition.
Originally Posted by
vyperdriver
Why would AMR simply not sell off Eagle to Express Jet or Skywest and have them absorb operations?
Ask Jerry. If he could, he would. If he can, he will. But now he's saddled with inheriting even MORE 50 seat airframes, etc etc etc.....See the above comment I made. Plus he NOW has to deal with possibly a FOUR WAY pilot list integration and a longer, more drawn out JCBA/SLI process. Holy cow would that be a fecal cinema of epic proportions
Originally Posted by
vyperdriver
Express Jet stated at our interview that they were a combined company (operating separately) with Skywest and that together they represented a national carrier as large as Southwest. Does that give them the political clout and funding to absorb Eagle?
Regionals don't really have political clout. They're simply outsourced/contracted vendors. Today's favorite could become tomorrow's COMAIR. Not likely with SkyWest, but just sayin'....
Originally Posted by
vyperdriver
While that may not put 3000 pilots on the street, it would have the effect of closing down Eagle as it exists currently. Like I mentioned, I'm totally a novice at this, I'm simply trying to understand the business.
Again, there is SOOOOOOO much crap going when it comes to the regional shuffle game it will make your head hurt. We saw it during the post 9/11 BK era, as well as the merge/consolidation that's going on right now.
Keep in mind this saying, "Simple solutions are seldom either". Also, in the airlines, what makes sense to the everyday knuckle dragging line pilot ISN'T how the suits run things. It'll probably remind you of your time in the military on occasion. The way the higher ups make decisions ISN'T always the way it would make sense to do things.
Mongo only pawn in game of life - YouTube