Originally Posted by
E6BAV8R
Disagreements or not, thank you for saying something that contributes to an actual and honest discussion.
We all know this hiring environment isn't going to last for the longer term, but I'm not sure who to believe. Robin, and any CEO, can say whatever they want, but in reality it doesn't really matter. If the merger got approved next month, he can redact all of that and do whatever he wants and there is no harm no foul. In my opinion, it's just hard to believe. If what Robin says is true, than it will be great for Spirit and JB both, but if (or when, or how bad) the economy tanks, they could easily just take Spirit's new planes and all their orders and replace JB's older fleets and get brand new airplanes and weather the storm doing the exact same thing they've been doing, and blame base closers on the economy.
For Spirit pilots, I think it'll really come down to the JCBA. Yes, Spirit pilots want to make more money (as everyone does), but what will the quality of life cost; with regards to base closures? I personally would much rather live in base than make another $20/hr than having to commute the rest of my career. And if JB does actually start doing base closers after the merger, unless the money is obscene, you will certainly see a mass exodus from Spirit pilots.
Spend $4 billion dollars to replace some older airplanes, most of which aren't that old?
JB wants to be a national airline. They've told us all, and their shareholders as much. That's the plan, and closing all those bases is counter to the plan and absolutely prohibitively expensive with our contract, cascading training events, etc... They can't even figure out how to close MCO E190 because it's too expensive for them, so they will wait until they have to and hope enough guys bud off voluntarily to the A320/A220. Airlines don't spend $4 billion to shrink to profitability, it doesn't work like that.