Originally Posted by
LeTourneauAlumn
I hope the best for TSA on negotiations but let's be clear. There's a reason TSA was awarded other carriers AC and it's not based on looks.
It really doesn't have as much to do with your contract as it does with your longevity. Trans States already has equal or higher pay rates than XJT but a lot lower longevity. Yes, TSA doesn't have as good of soft pay and health insurance but again not what really hurts XJT.
On average at TSA, you have a first/second year CA flying with a first year FO which is a combined hourly rate of $86.91/$89.34 versus XJT flying the same aircraft with a 12 year CA and a 7 year FO of $128/hr. Not to mention more XJT CAs are likely to be older with a family which means higher insurance costs even if you had the exact same plan. If you raised TSA first year pay for CA to $70 and FO to $40, you would still be cheaper than XJT by $18 in a combined hourly rate.
Compass' hourly pay is much higher than RAHs but I bet you will find they are much cheaper flying the same aircraft. Compass has first/second year FOs flying with 3-4 year CAs while RAH has 7 year FOs flying with 12 year CAs. Even if you give RAH more new flying, you will still have a higher longevity than Compass as the FOs that will upgrade will immediately jump to the 7 year CA payscale. Its the reason BB is dragging his feet on a new contract as he can't figure out how to give the pilots a raise without still being more expensive than Compass.
Too high of an average longevity at a regional will always make it too expensive compared to a regional with a large number of first year pilots. Its the reason you shouldn't make a career out of a regional because once too many pilots do, the whipsaw starts again.