Mea25000

I know there are a lot of pilots on pins and needles waiting to find out if this base will stay open. I can say with confidence that it will close the end of August.
I know a lot of people are concerned on the VX side with a majority of the transcon flights heading to the Boeing. I can tell you from the Boeing side a lot of us our going to miss the North South flying and all the turns we will see vanish. This transition will be painful for both parties going forward.
I know a lot of you on the VX side understand the economics of the 321 and wonder why we don’t just use them on the east west routes. You are right, it does very well but we just don’t have that many of them. Going forward it will be an aircraft that will continue to fly transcons while the 320 moves almost exclusively to North South and Midcons.
I think it should be noted the 739 max should produce a very similar if not better CSM to the 321. It appears this will be the work horse of our growing fleet going forward.

plt32173

The writing has been on the wall for a while. If this is true, even though it sucks for the east coasters, I think it is better for both pilot groups that this happens prior to SLI.

MusicPilot

I’m not sure how you come about your information and I’m pretty sure NDAs are being violated left and right, but your sources on the Max out performing the 321Neo are inaccurate.
That’s why Airbus is winning and Boeing can’t figure out which way their tail is. Boeing should’ve invested in a 757 neo version.

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4084643-can-max10-catch-a321neo

IDIOTPILOT

This isn’t better for both sides. This means no displacement rights to PDX or SEA.

airb320

I feel for the NY based Pilots but the writing has been on the Wall for a while now!
Removal of that base will actually improve pairing construction for the rest of the bases, imo.

echelon

How so, if 80% of our transcons are going away?

ShyGuy

That would only be true if 1. VX route network stayed the same as it had always been (predominantly transon), 2. use S3RIUS for pairing construction, and 3. and not subject to AS's contractual rules for pairings and "fatigue mitigation rules"


None of those are true anymore going forward, so no the pairing construction is not going to get better. It's going to go down the drain, just look at Boeing pairings up/down the west coast. That's the Airbus future.


For those of us based at NYC, this news is pretty devastating no matter how much writing on the wall there is.

ShyGuy

Can you expand on this? Do you mean to say closing JFK means VX can't displace into PDX or SEA? If this is true and in all likeliness it is, then closing by August means no SLI, and all VX pilots will only be based in LAX or SFO by the time the list comes out. Pretty smart on their end, for legacy Alaska guys there is already one over lapping base and only one new base to bid for once the list is out.


The real question is, does closing JFK A320 mean anything else opens besides LAX/SFO. If the model of 737 and A320 shifts from 20/80 to 80/20, I don't see how the Airbus can do 80% of the north/south without having to open up a SEA 320 or PDX 320.

Mea25000

PDX or SEA 320 base is something the company is considering. Of course the goal of the company is to achieve the least expensive outcome. Right now not knowing for certain the outcome of the SLI, the equation on their end can not be completed. All flying can be accomplished with a significant amount of 4 day trips. This is something that most likely works significantly better for the VX pilots. Once the SLI is done I think the company will make a decision on new domiciles. However, it is possible a SEA 320 base opens congruent to the closing of the JFK base. This would currently be considered a unlikely outcome though.

IDIOTPILOT

You got it exactly.

Even if they wanted to open a JFK Boeing base this August, no current JFK pilot could bid into it.