Originally Posted by
PurringRaccoon
From the town hall yesterday
1. Expecting 50 new hires for the rest of the year
2. 717 replacement will not be regional jet - will be flown by mainline jet (still loooking for suitable candidates) 3-5 years left on 717 usage (again lol).
3. Inter island overnights are staying for now.
4. Airbuses are here to stay.
5. Widebody fleet & routes will likely grow in the future. Alaska wants international expansion.
6. No plans for Seattle base for Hawaiian pilots.
So far - I'm liking what I'm hearing
1. That covers retirements and resignations.
2. That's code for an Alaskan 737 (maybe an old 700 series, maybe a max 7 if it ever gets certified). It certainly won't be another type for cost effectiveness. GTFs only make sense for savings on long routes- not interisland
3. Unitl WN stops flying early in the morning to HNL overnights stay
4. Well obviously. If you order a Boeing or an Airbus its a 7 year plus backlog.
5. Need to use what they have more effectively.
WB from Hawaii to west coast is not effective. The neo I fly now burns 5200 lbs per hour and has about 200 people. The 332 I flew at HAL burns 12-13000 lbs per hour and carries 279 with more cargo that may or may not make up the difference of 26000 lbs vs 60-70000 lbs of fuel.
6. Of course not. They have an entire seniority list of AS pilots that live in SEA and would give up a lot to get WB planes and pay rates at home. That will get ironed out in whatever contract and SLI they force HAL pilots into.
Just insights from a guy that left to legacy keeping tabs on if it was the right decision to leave- guess I will know in about 35 years