My thoughts as well

 

It's been explained already. But it's NOT just about that hourly number, it's about the longevity and everything that goes along with it. Primarily, vacation for XJT.

I don't know the vacation rules at C5, so I'm not comparing that.

And I wish I could remember even close to the number, it was a long, long, LONG time ago. And at that, a much less senior (less longevity) group.

But dusting off the cobwebs, vacation trip touch ALONE cost in the millions of dollars.

Never mind sick, training, DC contribution, what have you.

A "creative" pilot at XJT (at least when I left anyway) can effectively take half (or a little more) of the month off 7 months out of the year it they so choose.

Pilot overhead is "expensive".

 

Not to mention.....the overall attitude of the groups is very different. XJT is like a dog who has been abused and just wants to bite now. The lack of demand makes this a perfect time to do all this. Shutter XJT, transfer planes to C5, and gradually hire whoever is needed once demand returns. It SUCKS, but it makes sense. A whole lot more sense than the theories of why XJT is the choice for who stays. I hope I’m wrong. Still plenty of good people at XJT.

 

Other than the youngsters (and I totally get that), who the hell would go? That's laughable to me.

 

Unemployment beats that, no doubt. The entire vector has changed; even if you start over again there's no guarantee the career goes anywhere for years.

 

One could posit that it's easier to shrink a large operator than to grow a smaller one. Growing an airline costs time and money. Two things to be carefully considered especially in an environment where human resources have been significantly scaled back. Contracts, including property leases, can and will be re-negotiated.

I don't think United is secretly conspiring against one company or another. The pilot group is only one piece of the labor puzzle and United will choose the operation that makes the best financial sense and meets the needs of United at the end of the day.

 

With the parked aircraft everyone has and going into the fall with what appears to be weakening demand on top of traditional seasonal adjustments, I’m betting there is a UA fleet planner who has a plan that kills both xjet and c5, spreading the lift among the other regionals, and what they can’t do, backfilling with parked 737’s etc.
Both unions are under an ALPA gag order and neither union has to put concessions to a vote. We won’t know anything until it’s announced. Hope for the best (whatever that is anymore is anyone’s guess) and prepare for the worst. ~W

 

Then ignore them and keep the blinders on that your news sources, even those written by someone from the "Stanford School of Journalism", are heavily biased to make sure Biden wins the election.

 

You are correct but C5 and EV aren’t airlines. ExpressJet was one once. Add 145s to your flight planning software and any existing SoC can handle them. Line maintenance? Checking tire pressure, refilling oxygen bottles and deferring items is pretty much the same on every aircraft. Same with ground handling. Same with cabin crew. The only possible delay to moving these airplanes to another certificate is pilot training. But that isn’t an issue at all. There’s idle 145 sims all over the place and plenty of type rated out of work pilots to be instructors and more than enough flight instructors willing to work for far less than we are.

Critically, there is no damn hurry. The lift simply isn’t needed right now.

Your second paragraph is absolutely correct. It’s just business. Ruinous for a large group of people and a human travesty but business nonetheless.

Absolutely. Make no mistake they are gaming multiple scenarios and have many possible solutions. United will live on but significant carnage will be left in its wake.

 

At the end of the day XJT has to be profitable to stay in business. UA wants to pay less for regional feed. If XJT can’t be profitable at the price UA wants to pay, then they won’t stay solvent. XJT’s only potentially controllable expense is payroll. There are ways to get it under control without asking concessions from the staff but they are limited. The letter was frank. I don’t think it was unreasonable given the circumstances. It’s been validated by UA as real and not just a rumor where XJT pilots take concessions and both airlines remain. XJT pilots need to make a decision. They could include language that if they are not the only 145 operator that rates snap back.