Originally Posted by
Dunkin
You are describing the topic in a micro point of view. I have been on negotiating committees where my only job was to compare average captain and FO total compensation per airplane at each regional. Average RAH total compensation (including medical, 401k, sick time, etc), even with cancellation pay, was greater than Mesa. Just because you personally make more for whatever reason (living in base, getting off reserve faster) does not make the contract more expensive per pilot. Mesa is the lowest out of everybody, Gojet was second and RAH third. This was done just a few years ago and no contracts have changed since then with any of the bottom three. The E175s nor any CR7s are coming to Mesa for AAG (they want as much flying done in house as possible) but keep waiting for that big announcement soon.
Don't forget, Mesa was in bankruptcy recently. Now they are an all 70-76 airline with a lot of the "fat" trimmed off, contract included. Mesa is in a much better negotiating position today than XJT/ASA. It still isn't a great negotiating position, but they have already been through the downsizing that other carriers are now facing. Downsizing equals low employee moral which then equals a poor product. I know that is a consideration for aircraft placement at UAL, and I'm sure the same philosophy applies to AAG.