Originally Posted by
REF 5
If you look at DEN, they are just moving aircraft that would have normally terminated in DEN, to moving airplanes to the out stations on the overnights. Hence why they will have overnights in HDN and MTJ. That creates less RON’s that causes a need for less pilots in domicile. The percentage of reserves will still be the same. Obviously less bodies but that’s crew plannings call. Basically they are creating a bank of flights(just like other airlines do) of connecting itineraries into that morning bank. It will drive hopefully incremental load factor and hopefully better yields. In the big scheme of things, that’s all that matters in the puzzle palace. DEN will still have more flights than any other domicile in the system. They cut 11 flights a day on average but will have 263 flights a day. It could be worse. Look in ATL. They cut the flights by almost half. Not pretty there.
What I got out of the update was we are hiring. That’s a good thing. It means some future vacancies will be filled by new hires and not displacements. Red eyes are definitely causing the need to add additional pilots for sure plus the red eye RAP’s should be coming soon also. They are creating a lot more connectivity then in years past for the spring schedule. It will interesting to see if it helps them get this place back on its financial footing. The table is set for 2026. All these initiatives they put into place that started this last spring will be fully implemented by March. Wallstreet and the BOD will be watching.
You’ve got 30+ airplanes (47 next March) that aren’t overnighting anymore anywhere because they’re doing redeyes. Staffing by RON doesn’t work when planes are moving 24 hrs a day. If the flights out of a base aren’t changing (like it did with ATL) then manning should be stable. The red eye legs originate out west. There’s no reason to kick 500 people out of their base and grow BWI when you can keep manning stable…they only want the redeye leg at the end of a trip because it’s easier to not give you 15 hrs off in the middle of the pairing…plenty of late night flights out of BWI and MCO to get you back into the system. Having a trip block 10 and pay 20 isn’t efficient.
Nobody at HQ cares what I think though. I emailed after the Oct vacancy showed -12 and questioned why the July video which showed no more displacements for the fall. They said, “things change and keep watching our videos for the latest”. I almost emailed back, “you mean the videos that will change in a month depending where your dart lands?” I get this place has to overhaul how they do business to avoid ending up like Spirit…it just tastes like bile in your throat after puking when the next email you get is the C Suite telling you how much they appreciate you and love their employees.