Is it just me, or did the MEC letter make it seem like a merger is imminent?

The union has stated significant advances in letter 2 negotiations.

“While the final details of these contractual gains are still being finalized, there has been significant progress on, not only topics that were originally proposed in Letter 2, but others as well. With management's cooperation, we look forward to concluding the Letter 2 campaign. We plan on addressing any unresolved issues, on both the Association and management's side, in Section 6 negotiations that start in October of this year.”

Let's hope they move quickly, or MASS EXODUS 2.0 is about to begin.

not sure how you got that from the email, at all tbh

No merger. Bringing them on with longevity and other perks most likely.

Trans States forum has their company announcement posted asking them to go to GoJet.

No merger. The influx of training is from 175 pilots to the 145.

I assume TSA pilots will now move over to Gojets. In my opinion, this could be what caused this entire reshuffle. No one wants to lose a large pilot group. Not when hiring is difficult and expensive.

nope. Most are den based and gojet just shutdown den ops

I hope the training department can keep up with the retypes and new hires at the same
time. Last year this similar scenario created quite the backlog.

Part of the letter sent out to Trans States employees:
"While we believe the Embraer 145 will be the most sustainable traditional 50-seater in the marketplace, in the medium to long term, the traditional 50-seat segment (CRJ200 and EMB145) has had some of the more significant market pressures among regional aircraft. With the tight pilot resource environment, coupled with increased unit cost due to reduced productivity and general cost increases on most line items, the last 18 months have proven to be tough for Trans States Airlines. Last year was an exceptionally challenging financial year, and early indications point to 2020 continuing down the same path. At a time when we need to fly each of our airframes to their fullest potential, we are facing a Captain shortage that will result in an inability to meet our increased productivity objectives and even our current contractual flying obligations. The imbalance between Captains and First Officers is so extreme that earlier this month, the company took the unprecedented action of canceling a First Officer class already in session, while delaying others. Reducing our flying or operating a smaller fleet only makes the economic equation more challenging.
We have explored numerous other options, looking for a solution that would allow us to reduce costs while maintaining efficiency, but none are achievable in a realistic timeframe. In short, our expenses continue to rise, resulting in a balance sheet that is neither profitable nor sustainable.
During our discussions with United regarding possible contingencies and actions to be considered to address these challenges, United relayed a desire to simplify the Embraer 145 program by consolidating flying. Given the reality of our challenges outlined above, coupled with United’s desire to simplify and create critical mass, we have come to the extremely difficult decision that an organized and well-planned wind-down of the Trans States operation is the most viable course of action."

The new hires are coming here because of SJS and to fly the nice shiny 175. Without that, becoming the next Trans States is inevitable without some major contract gains. Endeavor + 1 or NO DEAL.