CA1900

Of course. Every company has some. Our biggest "fat" to trim isn't our crew expenses, but rather our empty ferry flights, for which the owners aren't charged, and the cost of charter sell-offs if we can't meet demand. Both numbers are down [i]dramatically[i] over even a year ago, as we get more efficient.

No, not correct. We can order up to 4 in a day if needed. (3 can be ordered through an automated Blackberry application; the 4th requires an e-mail or phone call, presumably to discourage it, but it's available if needed. It's very rare, but if I get inedible or very small meal, I may do it.) If I get a hotel breakfast, I typically only order 2 for the day.

No, not correct -- all negotiated between the company and the union. Overtime occurs three main ways: Duty days longer than 12 hours, duty before 8am on the very first day of a tour, and after many hours of duty at an airport with no plane or no complete crew. That's it. If I'm on duty longer than 12 hours, it's because we're flying and making money.

Things are slower right now, and as a result, I haven't seen overtime in months. Overtime is entirely within the company's control, and is a tool they use to save money (by not selling off a flight to a charter operator).


The pay and workrules are a negotiation, as I said, and many items in the contract are benefits for the company, not for the pilot group. For example, among other changes to our optional 18-day schedule, the company can now schedule an 8-day tour once per bid, which is something they couldn't do before. More scheduling flexibility was something the company gained in exchange for some of the things we gained.

Our union and ALPA are so far apart in philosophy, you really can't compare them. We work for our own interests, of course, but we work with the company, not against it.


We already have "budged." Both parties agreed to renegotiate our contract well before the expiration of our 2005 contract, because both sides saw improvements they needed. The pilots had issues like basing, pay, and scope that they wanted addressed. The company wanted more scheduling flexibility and some other things.

It worked. Overtime and extra duty days were down well before this economic downturn, specifically because of the scheduling flexibility we gave the company. They're now able to better utilize the crews and aircraft specifically because we agreed to "budge." We didn't have to renegotiate until 2010, but we agreed because it was in our mutual best interests. That's how we operate.