50 Seat Viability
#11
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2013
Posts: 164
dremaldent
I appreciate the optimistic post and know you are trying to buffer the doom and gloom. That being said it is more important that all pilots right now stay grounded in reality so they can best position themselves for the future.
All of your points are optimistically subjective at best and misleading at worst. University of North Dakota is not a world renowned financial college and have not predicted anything close to 96% accuracy. In fact they released the same info after 911 saying it was going to only be a couple month slump. We know how that turned out. Being a large aviation school they are trying to paint a rosy picture not grounded in reality. They survive on students paying hundreds of thousands of dollars buying into the pilot shortage myth. They and embry riddle have been peddling this fantasy for two decades.
If pilots learned anything from the lost decade, and this is shaping up to be much worse, things are going to be bad for a really long time.
I am not trying to attack you but after 911 I spent more time listening to pilot recruiters and not enough time focus on reality and it hurt my family. Right now all pilots would be best served planning on the worse case scenarios instead of banking on the best. Some airlines are better positioned then others but all are being hurt. If you are at AWAC and heard Kirbys words you should be planning accordingly.
I wish nothing but the best for all pilots but don’t want to see people with their heads in the sand ignoring the huge red flags. Like they say sh*t in one hand and wish in the other and see what fills up first.
I appreciate the optimistic post and know you are trying to buffer the doom and gloom. That being said it is more important that all pilots right now stay grounded in reality so they can best position themselves for the future.
All of your points are optimistically subjective at best and misleading at worst. University of North Dakota is not a world renowned financial college and have not predicted anything close to 96% accuracy. In fact they released the same info after 911 saying it was going to only be a couple month slump. We know how that turned out. Being a large aviation school they are trying to paint a rosy picture not grounded in reality. They survive on students paying hundreds of thousands of dollars buying into the pilot shortage myth. They and embry riddle have been peddling this fantasy for two decades.
If pilots learned anything from the lost decade, and this is shaping up to be much worse, things are going to be bad for a really long time.
I am not trying to attack you but after 911 I spent more time listening to pilot recruiters and not enough time focus on reality and it hurt my family. Right now all pilots would be best served planning on the worse case scenarios instead of banking on the best. Some airlines are better positioned then others but all are being hurt. If you are at AWAC and heard Kirbys words you should be planning accordingly.
I wish nothing but the best for all pilots but don’t want to see people with their heads in the sand ignoring the huge red flags. Like they say sh*t in one hand and wish in the other and see what fills up first.
#12
Banned
Joined APC: Mar 2018
Posts: 1,358
United was going to do a bunch of things a few months ago. That playbook is in the trash. They are now talking about the possibility of retiring 767’s that they spent millions on recently upgrading to the Polaris configuration. Any plans for an interior improvement on the 50 seat fleet are probably long gone. It’s hard to believe how fast and dramatically things have changed.
#13
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Dec 2019
Posts: 407
United was going to do a bunch of things a few months ago. That playbook is in the trash. They are now talking about the possibility of retiring 767’s that they spent millions on recently upgrading to the Polaris configuration. Any plans for an interior improvement on the 50 seat fleet are probably long gone. It’s hard to believe how fast and dramatically things have changed.
#14
Banned
Joined APC: Mar 2018
Posts: 1,358
I don’t know what they favor, but when Kirby talked about United fleet retirements he went back and forth from best case to worse case. When he threw in the comment on the 50 seat flying, it sounded like they have made a decision that regardless, it will be “a thing of the past”. I would think that when the big boss says something like that, it shouldn’t be considered spoken out of context, that’s only worst case, etc. I think that he meant it. The question is when. Will it come early or late in the recovery, somewhere in the middle, or will they change their mind? It’s a guessing game at this point.
#15
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Dec 2019
Posts: 407
I don’t know what they favor, but when Kirby talked about United fleet retirements he went back and forth from best case to worse case. When he threw in the comment on the 50 seat flying, it sounded like they have made a decision that regardless, it will be “a thing of the past”. I would think that when the big boss says something like that, it shouldn’t be considered spoken out of context, that’s only worst case, etc. I think that he meant it. The question is when. Will it come early or late in the recovery, somewhere in the middle, or will they change their mind? It’s a guessing game at this point.
#16
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2019
Posts: 148
We have no bloody clue when this virus will be curbed or cured if that. We have no clue when the economy will start to recover.
Call me a simpleton but would I rather focus on saving money after a pandemic or blowing it on air travel? This virus caught America and Americans with our pants down and butts bare. People are definitely thinking what’s important to them now or should have taken importance.
Even when the economy opens up, recovery won’t be overnight or even 6 months. The damage this thing has done will take a long time to recover from. China just started reopening stuff and had to shut it down again because the virus started coming back. Factor that in as well, it won’t go away completely.
Everything is being dictated by the virus and some dork sitting on his computer sipping Earl Grey tea at UND or Riddle can’t be right. When the hell did a virus REALLY impact the airline world like this? Even bird flu or swine flu didn’t do this kind of damage. A company like Emirates is bleeding through its rear end and looking for money even with their subsidies.
People will be afraid to travel unless everyone is like woohoo let’s get on a plane because everything is dandy. It isn’t the invisible enemy for nothing. Would you feel safe right after a pandemic getting on a wide body or CRJ with someone right next to you?
Of course we want to be positive, plan for the worst and hope for the best but this is unchartered territory for EVERYONE not just airline pilots and nobody has a real answer on how we’ll overcome this.
If the 50 seaters go then they go and it’s better we adopt a mindset of accepting that now than be given a rude awakening later and thinking of a backup plan of employment. If they stay then perfect for us and it’s happy days...
just my two cents.
Call me a simpleton but would I rather focus on saving money after a pandemic or blowing it on air travel? This virus caught America and Americans with our pants down and butts bare. People are definitely thinking what’s important to them now or should have taken importance.
Even when the economy opens up, recovery won’t be overnight or even 6 months. The damage this thing has done will take a long time to recover from. China just started reopening stuff and had to shut it down again because the virus started coming back. Factor that in as well, it won’t go away completely.
Everything is being dictated by the virus and some dork sitting on his computer sipping Earl Grey tea at UND or Riddle can’t be right. When the hell did a virus REALLY impact the airline world like this? Even bird flu or swine flu didn’t do this kind of damage. A company like Emirates is bleeding through its rear end and looking for money even with their subsidies.
People will be afraid to travel unless everyone is like woohoo let’s get on a plane because everything is dandy. It isn’t the invisible enemy for nothing. Would you feel safe right after a pandemic getting on a wide body or CRJ with someone right next to you?
Of course we want to be positive, plan for the worst and hope for the best but this is unchartered territory for EVERYONE not just airline pilots and nobody has a real answer on how we’ll overcome this.
If the 50 seaters go then they go and it’s better we adopt a mindset of accepting that now than be given a rude awakening later and thinking of a backup plan of employment. If they stay then perfect for us and it’s happy days...
just my two cents.
#17
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2019
Posts: 148
#19
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Dec 2016
Posts: 524
Bingo. I’ve been saying this for months. WiFi and BYOD entertainment will immediately placate a good chunk of the CRJ’s naysayers.
#20
Banned
Joined APC: Mar 2018
Posts: 1,358
Exactly, then all they need to fix is the tiny, cramped cabin with no ability to bring carry on luggage, plus the issue of having to walk outside on a noisy ramp to get to the plane. I really don’t know why Kirby said what he did.
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