Pineapple Guy

And there are another 19 777 A's (18 ATL and 1 DTW) retiring in the next 12 months, so hopefully the bids will keep coming!

Bucking Bar

Not to change the subject of the day, but:

Import Export Bank now saying it also supports AirBus sales.

This kinda highlights the problem. US Taxpayers are providing a subsidy for foreign manufacturers who sell goods to foreign buyers who compete with American workers. Better to allow everyone access to cheap US Dollars (they're free to create from the perspective of Government officials), or just get rid of the nonsense all together.

scambo1

Let me get my stapler out. If I can't find it, maybe I'll get a post hole digger.

This very argument is why companies domestic code share rather than merge.

Check Essential

I think that's about right. Our heavy jet flying is slowly being given to our international "partners". We are currently enthusiastic about hiring and upgrades and all that but its all domestic narrowbody. The top half of the seniority list is stagnant and/or moving backwards.
Whatever we've been doing with regard to top end scope obviously isn't working. We need some new ideas. Signing off on these joint ventures has done nothing but cost us jobs on the big iron.

scambo1

After stove piping the list.

iceman49

From one of our pilots in the MSP Startribune:

Should our government help U.S. businesses export their American-made products? Most Americans would say “yes.”
Should it provide foreign companies with favorable financing unavailable to their U.S. competitors? Most Americans would say “No!”
As Congress decides the fate of the Export-Import Bank, the U.S. credit agency that offers attractive financing terms to purchasers of American products, we have an opportunity to keep what’s right and correct what’s wrong. Congress needs to couple bank funding with common-sense reforms that won’t put American companies and workers at a competitive disadvantage.
As a commercial airline pilot for the last 29 years flying for a major U.S. carrier, I’ve become concerned about the Ex-Im Bank. The bank has rapidly expanded its financing for widebody aircraft (big, long-range planes) that will be used on international routes directly competing with U.S. airlines. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently reported that 42 percent of the Ex-Im Bank’s total exposure is in the aircraft sector; 28 percent of the total is financing widebody aircraft. That amounts to nearly $40 billion worth of subsidies our government gives foreign competitors. It allows select foreign airlines an unfair advantage over our carriers, who are not eligible for this cut-rate financing.
Worse still, many of the purchasers of these subsidized aircraft are state-owned or state-*supported airlines that have easy access to the capital markets and don’t need financing.
By providing below-market financing for foreign companies purchasing widebody airplanes, the Ex-Im Bank saves U.S. airlines’ competitors approximately $20 million over the life of a single aircraft. These savings come on top of other home advantages that foreign state-supported companies enjoy, including a tax-free business environment, a less-restrictive regulatory structure, the injection of state capital into their business, and infrastructure, which may include lower fuel costs.
We already see the end results of this unlevel playing field: U.S. airline companies are losing their share of the international market, and U.S. airline workers are losing their jobs. Recently, Air India, using an Ex-Im-funded plane to undercut competition between Mumbai and New York, forced Delta out of the market entirely.
Emirates Airline, owned by the city-state of Dubai, recently finalized a $56 billion order for 150 Boeing 777X planes. These more fuel-efficient planes can seat as many as 450 people. The entire order is eligible for Ex-Im financing and would threaten the jobs of more than 151,000 U.S. aviation workers.
The U.S. government shouldn’t be stacking the deck against American companies and American workers. That’s why many senators and representatives from both parties, and many U.S. companies large and small, agree that business as usual at the Ex-Im Bank is no longer acceptable. Reform has to happen, because the Ex-Im Bank must help all U.S. businesses compete internationally.
How can we reform the Ex-Im Bank while maintaining its mission of promoting American exports? For starters, here are three ideas:
• First, eliminate the financing of widebody aircraft for creditworthy foreign, state-owned or state-supported airlines.
• Second, require that the Ex-Im Bank conduct impact studies to make sure its financing of purchases by foreign companies does not have a negative effect on American companies.
• Third, expand the focus of the bank to emphasize the small U.S. businesses that have demonstrated an actual need for support.
What about Boeing? Just like the airlines, Boeing is a national asset and, along with all U.S. manufacturers, plays a critical role in maintaining American leadership in the world economy, defending our country and its allies and creating and maintaining U.S. jobs.
Many of the Air Line Pilots Association’s more than 51,000 pilot members proudly operate Boeing aircraft on the routes we fly. U.S. airlines and Boeing share a common desire to compete and prevail in the marketplace.
But all of us must be allowed to compete on a level playing field. If the international aviation market is allowed to function without market-distorting subsidies, there is no doubt that Boeing products will continue be flown the world over, preferably by well-trained American pilots working for profitable U.S. airlines, supporting jobs and communities, like Minneapolis, here in the United States.

forgot to bid

WASHINGTON — House Republicans moved Tuesday to extend the authority of the Export-Import Bank this month as part of a government-wide funding bill needed to prevent a shutdown at month's end.

Republicans unveiled the measure, which would extend the bank's charter through June 30, 2015, late Tuesday. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, had telegraphed the move earlier in the day when he told reporters that even a powerful foe of the bank, Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, believed a temporary extension was in order.

The bank, which helps finance foreign purchases of U.S. exports, has badly divided Republicans, with many conservatives favoring letting its charter expire. But it has widespread support from Democrats and traditional pro-business Republicans. Democrats failed in an attempt to pressure GOP leaders into passing a long-term, five-year extension of the bank.

"I'm working with Chairman Hensarling. He thinks a temporary extension of the Export-Import Bank is in order," Boehner said.

A short-term renewal of the bank's charter would give lawmakers more time to try to forge consensus on whether to pass a long-term extension of the bank while overhauling its powers. Some Republicans said an extension into June would provide an even playing field for opponents and supporters of the bank to make their case.

tsquare

eeeeeeyup. Sometimes we have to be careful what we ax for....

Doug Masters

At least he didn't reference a cheerleader pic.

tsquare

The thing that brought this up was someone talking about what someone with a DOH of XXXX could hold. I responded that that was irrelevant, got an earful from him, and all this angst resulted. The fact is though, that DOH IS irrelevant to what someone can hold in the post merger environment no matter how butthurt 1067 gets in being asked about that fact. I'd just rather relevant and useful information be put out, that's all, especially to someone not yet hired.