Originally Posted by
Petpai
this is the same stuff the company did during last negotiation. Return planes in exchange for new ones, more efficient, but no growth. We will get a contract when it cost them more to not give us one. When they can't staff the airline, we are released to strike, or a joint cba. So basically it looks bleak for a while as there are still plenty of folks trying to come here, the hope of a merger/buyout looks fleeting, and who knows when the government will ever allow us to strike. The company basically said we are not going to deal with alpa in 2026, so when does alpa sue them for not negotiating in good faith? At some point the company will sue alpa for a work action, it is just part of the process. Until the, you know we have a ways to go. Especially with all the folks not flying the contract, but going far outside it to keep the lipstick glossy on the pig.
I don’t think Frontier is returning 24 airplanes because of our contract negotiations. It’s pretty clear our current block ours and fleet size are out of balance. At my base I see four or five airplanes sitting at 9:00 every morning. For months now most of the airplanes at my base do only one turn and they are done for the day by 6:00 pm.
Having said that, if anyone thinks Dempsey is going to be in a hurry to give us a new contract, think again. He spent 10 years at Ryanair. Ryanair has become a very large airline with over 700 airplanes. There are over 7000 pilots flying Ryanair airplanes. None of them work for Ryanair. They work for subsidiaries, subcontracting companies, and some of them are even considered self employed. No contracts, no nothing. Granted, he can’t replicate that here, but if he could, he totally would. If anyone thinks he appreciates pilots more than Biffle, think again. To him we are only part of the cost line on the income statement, and he wants to lower that number.