Originally Posted by
freezingflyboy
Economies of scale my man, economies of scale. The sunk cost (meaning overhead, facilities, training, etc) of operating 70 airplanes is not significantly less than operating 200 airplanes. But the oppurtunity for revenue is a lot greater.
With that reasoning you should have been able to keep your costs down enough so that Republic didn't win the RFP for CAL's flying. Republic has a total of 157 airplanes on property, you have 274. That's 74% more airplanes. Economies of scale didn't help you on the Midwest flying (it had nothing to do with cost in your case). The delta flying is up for grabs though. If you keep the airplanes in the states, that's where my money is going right now. But I ain't buying any XJT stock
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I am one of the bottom 650-700 and I am not worried. Guess how much sleep I've lost over the 69 airplanes. If we get furloughed, we get furloughed. So what?
That's great for you. Now imagine all the people coming on board that move to base, have a family, etc. Do you think they'll just be able to "move on"? What if you have a mortage? Defaulting sucks.
And you have no idea what it does for moral when you company gives the big ******* YOU their big airline partner when they ask for cost reductions.
I seem to remember two who did that. AWAC was one. The other was ACA aka Indepence Air. We all know how that turned out.
And niche carrier means that you have a closely defined, specific purpose, but you do it well. Similar to a Horizon or Skyway-type airline. Look it up.
If it helps you sleep at night to call horizon and awac a niche carrier go for it. Make sure you refer to yourself as a "major" pilot because you company brings in over $1bil in revenue while you're at it
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We all do the same thing, we operate on a fee-for-departure setup where our income is guaranteed. Big or small, that's the way our companies make their money. Same concept.
Horizon, to my understanding, shares in the expenses of its routes. Great Lakes (while small) also does this while operating a code share with United. Same with regions air (under its EAS routes), but I believe they are an American connection carrier and soon to be continental.
Sorry to hear you are so pessimistic. Hope its not too hard to enjoy life when the sky is always falling. Ive always found that flexibility beats pessimism any day of the week.
Dude it's great. Never being disappointed allows you to always be happy with what you have
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That being said, do I honestly think XJT will have to sublease those aircraft? I really don't know. I know the management team at XJT is top notch, they are a good company with great statistics (one time zero zero, completion, mx, etc.). BUT, if I was a CFI looking to go somewhere, I WOULD NOT chose XJT based on the fact that the company *most likely* isn't poised to grow any time soon. No growth and low attrition (because XJT is a good carrier) = LONG upgrade time and a long time at the bottom of 2500+ pilot group list. Ask a 3 year eagle FO how he likes being on reserve still.
Who knows, they could be the next skywest, and take over the world. But you'll have to get 70 and 90 seaters first. The 50 (and less) seat market is saturated.