Originally Posted by
flyboyzz1
Maybe I'm reading this wrong, which could defiantly be the case, but you mention RAH breaking even. Doesn't UAL pay for the fuel for both these companies? Unless RAH passes these savings on operating costs directly to UAL which I don't think they do there is no real benifit. So even if RAH has a lower break even point UAL still has to pay the gas bill on the E-jet which as we all seem to agree upon, is higher than the CRJs
No sir you are reading correct. I don't know if RAH passes the savings on to UAL or not but my point is the option does exist. If SKYW gives them a proposal of .xx cents per ASM then RAH could give me a price of .yy cents per ASM(21% less) where they are still making the same profit margin as SKYW. Am I making sense? SKYW could say we can do it for $.12 per ASM and RAH could say $.09 per ASM and while having the same margin of profit RAH would still pass the $.03 amount of savings to UAL. Our management skimps on everything from who does our paperwork to our contracted training to keeping us constantly a little understaffed to no ACARS and this is where it shows. A lot of people have made statements how their company gives them XX amount 401k an other possibly better benefits and this is where the nose meets the grindstone. It's not that RAH is sticking it to it's pilot group and doing all it can to underbid. This is survival mode time. Oil hit $130 per barrel today. The once affordable regionals that had the higher operating cost are now an issue. With a decent contract we're still able to keep our ASM cost very low compared to many others. Frontier, for example, is trying to get their cost down to roughly $.051 per asm in bankruptcy. Judging by that I'd say are capable of offering one hell of a deal if that's what it takes.