Thread: Alaska/Skywest routes announced
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Old 02-26-2011 | 09:34 PM
  #23  
TheTransporter
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Originally Posted by duvie
Thanks for the first post, Welcome I'm glad you took the time to explain yourself, I hope over time you don't resort to one liners like so many others. Ultimately though, of course it is your prerogative.

I'm not rationalizing anything, because I don't have anything to defend. I don't think SkyWest does or does not deserve any flying that we do, I was simply explaining why I believe we have acquired it. You are totally right about the economies of scale and that the Horizon pilot group is comprised of some very skilled pilots, probably some of the best out there at what they do. I guess that "value" of being able to execute a Cat III approach on a single engine, although impressive, didn't justify the higher cost that they are being paid. Furthermore, I believe that SkyWest pilots would be up to the challenge of Cat III certification should the need ever arise.

I'm not sure either of us understand what is meant by "sub-par" wages. SkyWest pilots are payed better than most regional pilots out there. So what would par be if we are above average? What we deserve? How would that be determined? What about Delta pilots who used to make 50% more than they do now, yet still gross over 200 grand a year. Are they making "sub-par" wages? When would their wages be "on par?" Would the union determine "par" wages? Then who would ensure they're enforced? If there was that kind of unity between unionized pilot groups then would the regionals even exist the way they do now?

Just as a side note, it seems that people who are innocent rarely try to appeal to your "feelings," they ask you to simply look at the facts. Rationalization and people who ask you to consider the extenuating circumstances are generally the ones trying to justify what they've done. At that point each of our judgments' are subjective. I'm not asking anyone to sacrifice themselves for my betterment and I will not sacrifice my values for another and on that note I'm not asking you to "see things my way," I'm just telling why I believe things are the way they are. I'm not embarrassed at all to go work tomorrow with SkyWest wings on my pilot shirt.

Thanks for the warm welcome, . No plans to resort to name calling. The people that resort to name calling over logic, reminds me of a quote from my ex-girlfriends dad "You can't argue with stupid" (referring to the name callers). With that being said, I have been reading these forums for years, just thought it would be better to learn from it, then to stir the pot. However, this thread has hit close to home. To fully understand the scope (pun intended) of what has happened over the past 3 years at Horizon you would have to have to be on the inside of the AAG, the RAA, the ATA or F&H.

The AAG is notorious for being passive aggressive. A prime example of this is the Alaska rampers in Seattle having their jobs outsourced after demanding a livable wage. Sounds familiar huh? They are not smart enough to actually plan out this game of chess on their own, they have help with that. The help is named Ford and Harrison. Who, along with the ATA and RAA, have been instrumental in union busting tactics. In reality, SkyWest is far from the cheapest lift provider. I'm pretty sure Republic or Go-Jets would have been far cheaper and willing. But they have one thing that SkyWest does not, and that is a UNION.

Arguably, the cheapest short term thing to have done for Horizon is to keep the flying in house. Originally it was said to have cost the company 5 million a CRJ to off load them. Not sure what the price ended up being, but with that said, it cost the company millions to get rid of the CRJ's. Not counting the cost of retraining the remaining 130 or so pilots left in the RJ, and all the displacements that are going to happen because of it. I could understand allowing this to happen if the Q400 was going to be around for 20 more years, but we all know that is not going to happen. So there is not enough time to recoup the cost of the transition to a CRJ fleet.

So, going back to what you said about it being cheaper to use the non-union Skygods for lift, in place of QX or Alaska. This is really just an hourly rate that is cheaper, not the overall cost of operation. The company can hide these costs due to the use of GAAP or Generally Accepted Accounting Practices, in which they omit the one time write offs such as fleet transition costs.

In conclusion, SkyWest attained the lift contract not because it was cheaper for the company, but because it is part of the constant downward spiral of the pilot profession that is being orchestrated by Ford & Harrison, the RAA the ATA, and enabled non-union pilots. Which means you chose a job that sells out the rest of your peers. Not because of wages alone, but because you have lower wages then QX AND NO UNION.
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