Originally Posted by Bengalsfan
According to the airlines section of this site, USAir has furloughed almost 2000 pilots. How long ago did this happen, and if this merger between USAir and America West works out, how many of those furloughs are going to accept their call backs... I'm sorta young and new to this, but if I'm not mistaken, USAir furloughed a very very very long time ago.. right?
And just for questions sake, do some of you more experienced (hate to use th word "older") guys think that Northwest, Delta, United, etc pilots will be looking at the same extremely long callback time?
cya
USAirways started furloughing December 2001 and continued into 2003 for a total just under 2000 pilots on furlough. The date-of-hire of the most senior pilot on furlough is roughly in the 1988/89 range. ( somebody will know the exact date, but I stopped counting and paying attention awhile ago ). What you may be thinking about in regards to furlough a long long time ago was the furlough after the first Gulf War. USAirways initialy furloughed over 600 pilots, 303 of them remained on furlough until October, 1998. That number became less and eventually about 200 accepted recall.
I know the second part because I was furloughed on July 1st, 1991 and not recalled until October, 1998 eventually returning in July, 1999 after a short leave of absence. That was a total of 7 years 3 months on furlough. About 212 of those 303 were furloughed in January, 2001 so they spent almost 8 years on furlough. I was furloughed this time on November 5th, 2002 and it's highly unlikely I would accept a recall to a merged list. I'm one of the youngest USAir pilots from that era and I'm 40 now. I just can't see taking the risk of a return to that company again, especially now that the pension is gone. There is no incentive for me. That isn't true for a some guys though. The ones flying J4J or who haven't found gainful employment will still go back.
TP