Originally Posted by
Al Czervik
PHL/DC are doing great. They’re some of our most profitable hubs. I also think it’s great you’ll be (glad it’s us now rather than Norwegian) supporting our WB flying in NY like AS will be doing in SEA. We haven’t had a presence in the NW so the WB flying out of SEA is a good add.
Whether you care or not has nothing to do with concessions that may have been worth a whole lot more than the two days and pay cuts that vanish next year. Also, does your language state “doesn’t apply to NAT flights JB starts?” I would think you may not start as many after adding this codeshare. Who knows.
This will be a good deal for both companies and for both pilot groups. AA has done a great job of making PHL a solid TATL connect hub (DCA is a freakin money maker and will likely stay that way long term). The sad thing is it has neglected the significant OW FF base in BOS/NYC since the merger. This agreement takes the strengths of JB (domestic BOS/NYC flying) to couple it with AA strengths of WB Intl which allow B6/AA/oneworld to retain and grow their FF bases while increasing offering for corporate contract clients.
Without this AA would be closing non-LHR BOS/NYC longhaul flying and furloughing even deeper than the WARN letters have indicated. Vasu said it himself that NY WB flying has only been profitable in 2019. Without this B6 probably would have furloughed pilots and/or sought much more aggressive concessions.
I really dont think this will have much bearing on JB's Europe plans, nor AA's Europe flying. JB is likely to get 2-4 LHR slots at absolute best (if any at all). So there won't be much overlap and it is the biggest TATL market, so plenty to go around.
Those hardest hit by this agreement will be AA regionals that are basically squatting on slots in JFK/LGA. That will be painful and I hope AA can find more flying for them in hubs like CLT/DFW to minimize cuts.