From the union:
"The recent announcement of a Capacity Purchase Agreement (CPA) between United Airlines and Air Wisconsin is welcome news to us and a surprise to most of the industry. No pilot group deserves stability more than our hard working brothers and sisters at AWAC, and although we are losing them from the American Eagle family, we know they’ll continue to provide their outstanding product for United Express.
With that said, we don’t believe many in the AA circles saw this coming. Air Wisconsin currently operates enough flying to staff 500+ pilots on ~65 aircraft out of Philadelphia, Norfolk, and Washington National Airports. Beginning in February 2018, these aircraft will be flying for our competitor into and out of many destinations where AA has enjoyed a lion’s share of the market.
The rumor mill has been strong the past few months regarding AWAC and their assumed loss of AA flying in 2018. Many at AAG thought an acquisition of pilots was on the horizon, with our friends from Appleton being forced to move laterally to one of the wholly owned airlines. Our MEC simultaneously worked with management and the PDT/PSA/AWAC MECs to coordinate the best possible transition for the AWAC pilots should that occur, but also made it clear that – in our opinion -- another major brand was likely to snap up ~500 experienced industry veterans.
Air Wisconsin brings to United Express one of the industry’s premier pilot contracts. Air Whisky offers their pilots $35 per hour first year pay, a $33,000 sign on bonus, a minimum of 12 days off per month, trip and duty rigs, and healthcare contributions 10% less than what we are required to pay.
Our MEC wants to see long term success at Envoy and, like you, is enjoying the current robust hiring of pilots. But we worry about the long-term viability of recruitment at Envoy. When you couple this news, the AWAC CPA, the ongoing pay raise negotiations at Endeavor, and our rapidly evaporating presence in ORD, the concern is justified.
When the retention enhancements were announced last year, the Negotiating Committee and MEC Officers were acutely aware and vocal on the timeliness of the next competitive improvements. We said there would be a limited “honeymoon period” before our competitors caught up. It would seem that time is up.
With this in mind, we continue to engage both our local and AAG leadership to quickly develop an enhanced flow-through for Envoy that takes our current 15-year flow down to match the 9-10 years PSA is currently enjoying.
A clear vision for Chicago is needed. We got the “how” in Ric Wilson’s letter last week. Now we need the “why.” Why are we sacrificing one of the most desirable bases in the nation (ORD) to grow LGA? Will ORD come back once LGA is stabilized in 2018, or are we permanently giving Chicago to SkyWest? If ORD is gone (or will continue to be greatly reduced at 47 lines on the EMJ) then let’s hope our newest pilots enjoy Envoy’s reserve experience, or word of mouth could quickly tarnish the “quick movement” promised at job fairs.
With reserve in mind, we continue to pursue improvements that are palatable to Flight Operations, who are understandably concerned about anything that may decrease efficiency or increase headcount requirements. Continue to engage your reps directly on what you feel a reserve system should look like.
In regard to other contractual improvements, there are many areas where Envoy lags substantially behind its peers, including deadhead priority home, withholding rules, training pay, fatigue, and all aspects of schedules.
We continue to push for improvements in these areas: there will always be an ebb and flow of economics as the industry competitors duke it out to be number one, however QOL and schedules are just as important to pilots and we won’t rest until we obtain the best work rules possible. As always, we look forward to working with Envoy to make our carrier THE premier regional airline in the United States. Once that work is done, recruitment will be a no brainer."