I know many of you have been waiting a long time for this day. I’d also share that many people have worked very hard and very long to get this across the finish line. See below for stats / facts in regard to what this means and a few thoughts on the future.
- This bid will open a SAN 737 base with approx. ~80 CAs & 70 FOs
- Another bid will follow in late spring with approx ~60 CA & 40 FO vacancies
- Bid#2 will have a bid effective date likely in early October ’26
- These two bids will right-size (shrink) both LAX & SFO by approx ~20-25% each
- We will likely right-size LAX & SFO at roughly the same rate in these two bids – meaning – approx half of the reduction in each base will occur on each of the two bids
Additionally:
- We still plan to hire ~90 new FOs in Q1 ’26
- There will likely be an additional 20-30 captain upgrades in Q1 for growth
- These additional ‘growth’ CA vacancies will likely be sprinkled across the system (TBD)
On SFO & LAX, we need to reduce both to fund the SAN flying as its projected. LAX, and to a much larger degree SFO, have been too large and needed to be right-sized for a long time. In SFO in particular, we’ve been forcing flying to the SFO base for 3+ years that would have naturally anchored elsewhere. This is both very expensive and operationally difficult. The reality is, between LAX & SFO there are more pilots that already live closer to SAN than we’d need to fund the entire base.
Given our growth trajectory in SAN, it has become advantageous both operationally and economically to establish a pilot base with a reserve pilot force there. It is imperative that this base cover operational needs as efficiently as possible for it to succeed. In other words, the SAN base must perform extremely well in terms of ‘Flight Ops’ cancels, delays and personal reliability or it will not be advantageous and simply will not stay open. I chose the word “advantageous” versus “necessary” very intentionally as our SAN flying can be managed from other, much larger bases, particularly in the Pacific Northwest if need be.
These changes are directly in service to our strategic priorities of being best in class operators and generating durable financial performance. Increasing revenue and profitability are critical to our future success, and each of you has a major impact on both. I recently wrote you about “back to running the business.” Along the same lines, this decision is another business decision designed to improve our operation and long-term financial stability for the entire company.
As always, my commitment is to provide you with the best information I can so that you have what you need to make decisions and plan accordingly. That’s all for today so I’ll close with ‘happy bidding’ and take care of you & yours!