Originally Posted by
horrido27
So lets get this straight.
We are NOT retiring any Fleets..
We are NOT losing the most money per day...
We just got rid of one of our Express contractors, the one with the best reputation.
We just had an Early Out/Furlough Mitigation Program that resulted in INCREASED furlough numbers!*
*A historic NEW!
At the end of the day, we are furloughing more pilots than our competitors. Some of which are furloughing no one.
I'm not sure if "Hold my Bier" is the right title, or if Lucy pulling the Football from Charlie would have been appropriate.. but what happened today should stay etched in EVERY Post Merger Hire.
Legacy UAL pilots have already seen this movie.
The story of the Frog & the scorpion.
To ALL the potential furloughees.. especially the added 600, I can only say that I (and ALL Legacy Pilots) know what you are going through. Stay Strong.. Don't Give up the Ship. Almost all of us will do what we can to support you. There will be a light at the end of the tunnel.
Always
Motch
Initially people thought that we’d be at 50% by now and 70% by the end of the year. The industry missed that mark by a bunch.
To adjust some of your points:
We are not retiring any fleets.....yet, but if things don’t miraculously return soon, I’d expect the 756 to be gone.
We got rid of some express carriers....they may not be the last.
Our early out program didn’t increase furloughs. The number could have been higher without the program.
Are we really cutting deeper? Others have announced smaller furloughs, but their retirement numbers are much higher than ours and they don’t have close to the international exposure that we do. Is the percentage shrink about the same considering total pilots leaving in the next couple of years? I’m asking. I really don’t know.
The people in the Willis Tower know what our future bookings are, and for the most part, they are nonexistent. This is far worse than anyone could have imagined and there are many unanswered questions. If the government does step in to maintain the infrastructure, at what level is support necessary? Is it 50%, 60%, 100%? Should the taxpayers cover thousands of unneeded airline employees wages at pre-COVID levels to avoid furloughs, or do they allow the airlines shrink to some smaller level to provide the infrastructure and have the airlines in position to grow out of this with the eventual recovery?
If the government doesn’t step in, will the full 3,900 pilots and countless other employees be enough to stop the bleeding if we don’t get above 50% for a year or so? Not trying to sound overly pessimistic, but we’ve missed every prediction on the recovery by a large margin. It may be time to admit that this won’t be a short lived deal.