Originally Posted by
DALMD88FO
Actually we bought part of Pan Am in 91 which brought pilots along with it in 91 and in 2001 we stopped hiring in July right after signing C2K which believe it or not gave some work rules to the company which allowed them to do more with less.
I do agree with what you are saying about hiring trends, however the management team in place at the time has a lot to do with the welfare of the company. The first RA followed by Leo and his cronies did not help our situation with some very poor business decision that the current RA is still having to fix (RJ's for one)
Yes C2K required 300 less pilots with the work rule changes. I remember Dotty explaining that to me quite well. Prior to 9-11 the gap in hiring was to be short lived, after it wasn't. The business was quite leveraged going in to 2001 after the actions taken prior to C2K's signing.
In 1991, yes PanAm was bought and yes that was also the initial pause in hiring, but another "world" event deepened the effects of the stop in hiring.
The take away is that both large hiring cycles lasted about six years and stopped for about six years each. Just food for thought at we go in to an expected cycle that is to double both of these. Call it a combination of corporate action and world events, but both large hiring cycles and the time frame in between them was about six years. For all intents and purposes, the 2007-2008 waive about 770 pilots had a burp in 2010 that broke the trend line, but its been about six years since the last major hiring cycle as well. Again corporate action and world events collided. the 2010 deviation was explained in the base visits. The difference last time is no one was furloughed.
Its merely historical events and cycles that should be looked at as we move in to a second up contract (breaking historical trends btw) and the time frame we have until things may break. Its no more than using historical waves as one data point. It helps build perspective for all of us.