Originally Posted by Hedley

They are utilizing the lower MPG only because because they are temporarily willing to pay the workers to watch the crops grow for a few months while waiting for the rains to return so that they can determine the appropriate staffing level. If we find out this spring that we are in for a long drought, they will tell a big chunk of the workers to go home while those that stay will work long hours to pick what is there. In all but a COVID decimated climate, MPG levels at this point just wouldn’t matter. They are going to staff just enough to get the job done. We reduce training and vacation during the peak periods and offer premium pay to cover the flying. We don’t staff the airline for full peak coverage and then offer extremely low line values during the rest of the year. We staff somewhere in the middle. Peak season has greatly reduced training and vacation awards since we need everyone on the line flying hard. During the slow winter months we take advantage of the reduced flying and train aggressively to be ready for the next peak and offer the bulk of the vacation blocks, leaving enough people on the line to cover the flying. They don’t want to carry one extra employee. If demand doesn’t show a major improvement by spring/summer, we will quickly right size the company and 4,000 could be on the street by next fall.