Originally Posted by jtf560

It isn't just Fred cutting to make a better bonus for himself and the others in upper management- all the fractionals except Avantair have been hammered since the melt down and have had massive levels of shareholder sell backs.

I grant you that. There has been a large amout of bybacks. But I will bet you dollars to donuts he walks away with a very substantial bonus. You know his metrics are based on net profit to Bombardier, and much like other companies that have trimmed to the bone, the cost structure is rock bottom. But this model cannot just rebound on a day or weeks notice. It takes months to get staff in fractionals back up to speed. So, Flex will be very far behind when the rebound happens. Again, I bet he will not be around to assist the recovery, because it will be a mess.

If you don't have customers to support the airplanes you have to do something with them and since the market won't bear selling them all right away, the next cheapest alternative is to park airframes somewhere that at the least has low ramp fees. With less demand and less airframes needed you will obviously require less pilots and support staff to run the business.

Again, I agree with you, except for one issue. Owners have decreased, but card sales have greatly increased. You need airframes to support that flying. And since we all guarantee 95% of the time a cardholder will fly on Flex equipment, you still need airframes. Nobody can deny that flight hours have been higher than last summer, with some days looking like a winter holiday weekend.

NJA has been lucky to get good participation in the furlough mitigation program and the pilots have been lucky to work for an employer that offered a program to avoid furloughs in the first place,

Yup, and we offered to do the same, but our management denied that request. Just as they denied many other cost saving measures. Not the mark of stellar management.

but unless owners stop leaving the program faster than new owners come aboard they will have to furlough also.

Only time will tell, but with total participation of the staff, they have managed to not forcibly reduce staff. And, we could have done the same. Maybe not all, but at a greatly reduced rate.

It sucks for the pilots and staff that get furloughed or fired, but it would be mismanagement not to do something to help slow the bleeding and unfortunately furloughs are often the easiest, though one of the most painful ways to do that. At least Flex management is doing a little something beyond just furloughing to help the company.

What is that? Planning to RIF more?? What have they done that is good management, than taking the easy way out? Has anybody seen more agressive advertising? Deadheads are up. Charters are up. So, costs are going up wildly. Oh, and planning on playing a "Captain one day, FO the next" silly game is not what anybody would call creative planning. How about some true leadership?

The fracs have to go beyond just cutting employees and/ or man hours in order to survive and while parking airplanes may seem weak, at least it is something. Good luck all.