Originally Posted by
Boomer
Comair tried this in 2001.
In response, Delta brought in ACA, Chautauqua, Eagle, ExpressJet, Big Sky, Shuttle America, Freedom, and Pinnacle to make sure it won't happen again.
Since their pay was lower, many of them were awarded Comair aircraft out of the deal, too.
Then in Ch11 Delta had Comair pay and workrules brought back down to "Industry Average". And Comair continues to shrink.
Long story short - that's been attempted, nearly destroyed the airline, and other regionals were quick and eager to backfill.
To add insult to injury, most of the "Mentoring" I've gotten from mainline pilots sounds something like this...
"You seem like a smart guy. But if you ever want a job at Delta, you've got to get away from Comair. Go to Pinnacle or Mesa or someplace where you can upgrade fast. The pay will suck but you've gotta ask yourself, are you and your family willing to pay the price to get to mainline? Cause if you're not, then you might as well stay at Comair."
-Actual conversation with a Delta Captain and training instructor who "works closely with the hiring department".
I do remember that. AWAC and ACA (Inependance) also had their flying distributed by United when they refused further concessions. ACA, well you know what happened to them. AWAC lost their BAE 146's (the payscale that made it worth staying there) and continued to cut costs to remain competitive. Unfortunately not competitive enough to get new flying after the USAir transition. Hopefully their pilot group keeps holding the line of 50 seat pay although it will probably result in the demise of AWAC when the currenent contract for flying expires.
There is always someone willing to do it cheaper, you have to ask yourself if that person is you. I will not do it cheaper and am exploring other options to support my family while furloughed which will probably be a loooong time.
Until the endless supply of people willing to work for pennies to pay their dues ends, this cycle of undercutting each other will continue. I try to educate every young or new pilot with professional aspirations on the situation and encourage them not to make short sighted choices. Most of this seems to fall on deaf ears because they assume a quick upgrade and movement to the majors will happen for them.
The reality the way I see it is that the management at the major airlines will do everything they can to keep putting flying at the regionals and outsource (through stratigic alliances to foriegn carriers) the international flying. If this is allowed to continue there will be no careers at the majors to move on to, only jobs at the regionals who will continue to undercut each other. Why is this so hard for new entrants to the profession to understand.
