Originally Posted by
theHub
So what did Kirby mean by consolidate? Does he mean USAirways buy AWAC and or MESA then consolidate? Or could he mean sell PDT/PSA to AWAC and have them consolidate and just contract us?
Whipsaw still works with owned vs. contracted. If they aren't willing to consolidate two carriers, why would they consolidate three or four? I think he was just throwing the ARW/Mesa ideas out there to create a secondary excuse for why he and his mgmt counterparts aren't 'creating synergies'. Fact is they are completely capable of saving the company "$2M/yr" (probably more than that) and they simply are not willing to do it. It would cause them 'brain damage'.
Awesome work ethic.
You'd think they would want to keep at least one wholly owned because hopefully someday the regional pilots will be paid a respectable wage and mainline is going to need someone to force flying on when contracts won't take pay cuts. That's where a wholly owned is benifical.
I don't think that management hopes we will ever be paid a respectable wage, after all we're just "part timers". You are correct that the biggest benefit of having wholly owned(s) is that there is no limit on capacity reductions in down times, which acts as a hedge against risk that the contract carriers can not provide. For that reason I don't think you would see Airways without a certain percentage of their regional lift in the wholly owned department. Doesn't mean they wouldnt sell PSA/PDT for a cash infusion and eventually start up a new one though.