Eagle has the most uncertainty out of all the regional at this time but all regionals have uncertainty. It's called whipsaw and the regional that seems good today might not be tomorrow. With that said, currently AE has a DFW base and it's the largest in the system and you could hold it as a junior pilot in a short amount of time if not right away. With that said, ORD used to be AE's biggest base and will likely be the smallest by years end so things aren't guaranteed.

With this deal management is shooting for the moon but there is one thing that they are trying to establish and that is a 12/4 year pay scale and cut the 401k match for the senior folks. In the proposal the company presented to Eagle it was stated that this isn't a take it or leave it deal but the 401k and the 12/4 pay scale were not negotiable. Many of the things they are asking on the proposal are worse than PSA and Pinnacle but management is very confident that they will get a deal done.

Currently Eagle has a furlough protection and if there is an excess of Pilots at AE then they will hold 60% of classes at AA. And no AAG can't just grow the US Air side and not hire at AA as the MOU that The unions at AA signed describes how the flying will be broken down. For those that say that management can just violate those clauses well they can just violate the new clauses they are offering you.

Another aspect it's the current state of the industry and availability of pilots. Can Eagle be shut down, absolutely but it will take years due to furlough protection and the flow agreements but more importantly the current market has regional airlines short staffed. If you think that RAH will be able to grow its pilot group you are sadly mistaken, SKW has Ejets coming in line but that will be at the expense of 50 seaters and we have to see what happens when Delta comes knocking on the door in 2015. It will be a struggle to grow Mesa and PSA overnight. Remember that besides United US Airways, a few at JetBlue and Spirit most of the other airlines are only conducting interviews for the most part, in the next few weeks we will see Delta, American and Southwest open their hiring doors while Frontier also continues to hire and the cargo boys likely to open their doors. A good portion of military guys have been hired and the 2014 hiring will likely be 2-3 more than this past year. Don't forget that regionals will suffer retirements as well, AE alone will have around 20 guys hit 65 in 2014.

I believe AE will end up with a 12/4 pay scale, less vacation for the senior guy and less 401k for the senior guys as well. The number of guaranteed airplanes will be larger than 60 as well.

Every regional has it's problems we happen to be on the spotlight the longest but we are just the tip of the iceberg, below us are other that are threading water well.