Because they need them sooner than the displaced pilots will be awarded them. They said the displacement won't be until after the summer. They probably need these guys before then.

The company has figured out the costs of not having pilots/too many pilots/retraining pilots and they just work to optimize that. We can rationalize it all we want because its disruptive to our lives.

We've been doing it that way here for the 19+ years I've been here. I've been displaced 7 times (All in my 1st 8 years) here. Three of them were being displaced as a Captain (727, Airbus, Guppy) so it happens.

I'm hoping the surplus is small and mostly volunteers. At least one friend of mine was saved on the last bump in IAH because someone senior volunteered. No one wants the disruption. None of the guys getting bumped deserves it either.

It a business decision by the company.