Originally Posted by
CheyDogFlies
...PS--has the pilot furlough rumor slowed down so badly that we had to make up a new rumor?
Well, maybe not... : (
Don't know anything about mgmt furloughs but just a few days ago I heard from a manager that shortly after peak they will probably park at least 20 DC8s and furlough some of our line guys. I think the 8s have around 3 crews per airplane (am I correct?) so I’m guesstimating it'd mean at least 180 pilots (3 x 3 pilots x 20 airplanes).
I know there's so much gloom and doom here already and Biggs and others will probably chew me out for doing something I’ve been accusing them of (being too negative 
) however this is not my own speculation; I am simply repeating what I heard in the last few days.
The thinking is that once the twenty (at least) DC8s are gone, each new 767 would replace another DC8 at a 1 for 1 ratio until they’re all gone. The future retirements although small in numbers would offset switching from a 3- to a 2-pilot airplane once the 767s start arriving so hopefully they wouldn’t have to furlough more. At the same time however those already furloughed would probably find themselves on the street for quite some time, probably several years.
Also, supposedly the company realizes it's expensive to furlough, retrain, etc, etc. so they MIGHT offer early buyouts to those between 63-65 but probably only to those still on the DC8, not the ones who've already been retrained to the front seat.
I was eavesdropping on the conversation between several guys (both line and management) and the consensus was that very few, if any, 63-65 guys would be interested in an early retirement buyout. So it sounds like the company might throw it on the table just to make a point that they actually tried to “save the younger guys.” If so, I’d say it’d be a pretty effective way of splitting up our group even more into ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’.
Ok, back to my purple pill…
Last edited by ⌐ AV8OR WANNABE; 11-24-2008 at 04:16 AM.