Skyvector

Big things are happening for Envoy. Management held a Q&A session today and provided the following information (borrowed from someone else's notes of the meeting):

Revised Flow/Upgrade numbers - AA has 600 newhire slots planned for 2016. 1500 AA newhires over the next 2 years is the plan.

300 Envoy flows for next year. 750 Envoy flows over the next two years alone.

205 upgrades planned now. Those are yet to be awarded and will be in class before the year (2016) is out.

New hire upgrade/flow to AA now planned at 2.5/5.5 years.

Additional 175's - Options are on the table, along with acquiring other existing airframes.

iPads - iPads should be coming our way around March or April and will be individually mailed to the pilot's home address. We are currently fully EFB (ipad) approved but pilots have to provide their own ipads. Starting next year the company will be providing pilots with their own ipads for use.

Envoy shooting for 345 new hires next year. (PM current Envoy pilots for help getting an interview sooner rather than later)

Again, these notes are not mine but from others who attended the meeting. Whoever else was there please add to this information anything else you may have.

chrisreedrules

Is this new news? I thought all of this (save for maybe the iPads) was already known.

Skyvector

It's new. We had no idea/confirmation of AA's hiring plans for next year let alone for the next two years. We also hadn't heard anything regarding upgrade plans for next year, E175 plans, and a revision to the 2.5/5.5 for new hires.

Also new which I forgot to mention: The 145s that were transferred to TSA and Xjet will be coming back as they go in for their heavy checks.

And the flying we are currently covering for Republic will also be transferred to Envoy on a permanent basis.

billyho

This has been out for awhile.

billyho

Good to hear about all the hiring and how much is coming from the flow. If you're trying to get to American then on of the best ways will be through a WO.

chrisreedrules

Good for you guys. Makes you wonder why Doug decided to transfer aircraft away in the first place?

I've heard several rumors about you guys getting additional 175 options, and I know that despite the new TA, things aren't looking great for RAH. PSA doing all the DCA ops and now you guys doing a lot of that RAH flying permanently. Perhaps a MIA satellite base is on the horizon?

Anyway, over the next few years you will see more and more flying coming to the wholly-owneds. Not a bad place to hang your hat for a while.

Do you know if that 1500 figure takes PBS into account? I've heard AA's hiring projections will go down with the introduction of PBS.

PilotJ3

So...almost half of the Envoy list will be gone by the end of 2017. It could be more if AA keeps increasing their projected pilot recruitment as the retirements continues.

N927EV

Just to clarify...they are JUST talking about excercising options on the -175s and/or getting -175s from other carriers. That's what I understood from the notes anyway.
-2016 flying is still being figured out.
-The union has mentioned a couple of times of the -145s coming back as soon as next year, but it remains to be seen if they'll stay here or be transferred to PDT.

Skyvector

All agreements to transfer aircraft were made in 2014 prior to us voting in our current contract. Now it's a whole new ballgame. And I hate to say the cliche...but the tide has turned back in our direction.

As for the 1500 new hire/PBS question: All I can tell you is that Doug Parker himself (and other higher ups) are the ones releasing this information. I don't know how PBS plays into this or not, but I'm sure Parker knows and has already adjusted that number accordingly.

billyho

It's been told that Piedmont will get as many 145's as they can staff. We shall see how much they invest into us. But as long as the flow is kicking I don't think anyone at Piedmont cares.