What's the Latest at ASA/Expressjet?
 

So anyone know of what is to become of the new Expressjet airline now that Delta has a TA? How will this affect this group and what does the future hold for them.:D

Not sure what ":D" is for? ExpressJet also has United feed. My guess is if the worst comes, they would simply shift flying over to UA. :rolleyes:

We will all get a 20% pay increase 2 extra weeks of vacation, and a guaranteed interview at DAL :cool:

I think there are a bunch of wildcards at play now:

1) What will the new JCBA look like? How long before we vote on it, is it voted in?
2) Will that allow us to capture any new flying in the near term?
3) Will Delta's TA be ratified? If so, what are the short and longer term ramifications for the CRJ side of the house?
4) Will other pilot groups try to follow Delta's lead if TA is passed? What effect will that have? Over what period of time?
5) Pilot "shortage"? Will it happen? How fast and how much?

I don't have a real clue as to what change all of these will bring. It could be a wild ride. I'll hang on as long as it makes sense, but only for so long.

Nobody knows but many will act like they have all the answers. Just sit back and watch. Not much any of us can do about what Daddy D had in the plans for us.

we're screwed.

Until SLI, this seems to be hurting the Asa side more than the XJT side. No one will know the outcome for sometime to come. However, there will be plenty of 1 year F/O's that try to speculate :cool:

Word on the street is there will be a TA by summers end. The SLI will somewhat favor the ASA side. It is also being said that do not be to surprised if Delta comes in and buys some of the pilot group if not all. With Delta's lightning speed contract TA, and what looks like the same with Expressjet, makes one wounder why the rush. let's just say there is something in the works. Can't say much for the other regionals, but it appears that this Delta TA will benefit the new Expressjet, more than any other regional, for the better. Things are definitely looking good as time goes forward.

Wow, looks like you got it all figured out overnight! Congrats.

I rest my case! :)

So Delta is going to buy ASA and Mesaba(9E) ? Riighttt

How do i get whatever your smoking??

Right, my question is.... Why "buy" some of the pilot group or all of it when they can just shrink them as they park 50 seaters and hire them as new hires at first year pay and benefits!

Ding ding ding! We have a winner!

If ASA/XJET is bought, who is to say that they dont have you "flow" into 1st year pay anyways? Altough it seems very far fetched that Delta would want anything to do with ASA/XJET. They have made it clear in the past they are not interested in managing the regional type of flying. A flow into a preferred interview I can see, anything else would lift an eyebrow or two... until then, its business as usual and in a few years maybe something will happen to benefit us regional guys.

Any word on future class dates??

Latest rumor is the TA is done. Waiting for BH to get back from Utah to announce.

and he should take his time... things are gonna get chippy when it's announced is my guess. He's better off taking some time with his family and grieving for a while

I agree, however, we only get 3 days when someone passes... just saying.

From a business perspective I don't understand why any major would buy any regional and return leverage to the labor groups when instead, they can continue to play them off of each other, drive one into bankruptcy, lower the bar, then do the same to the next guy.

We also are not the Vice President of Flight Operations. While there are many reasons to be upset when upper management gets $$ and perks we don't, this isn't one of them. Let it go.

Let what go, I said I agree he should take time. Being a VP of Flight Operations or a line pilot should not matter when it comes to losing someone, sorry. Now, you can let it go.

Just the fact that you used the death of someone's son as a point of comparison between your benefits and those of your VP of Flight Ops seemed discordant and a bit tasteless. The last thing I would think of when someone loses a loved one is to complain about how they get more time for bereavement off then we do. Not to mention that with his position and time with the company, he's earned it. Plus, you don't know that he isn't burning sick time, or vacation time, or something else for the extra time, just like you could call in sick, have a conversation with your chief pilot, or at worse just miss a trip if it were absolutely necessary and let the union go to work if action is taken.

Anyway, I'm done talking about it. You may have the last word. We obviously differ on our opinions as to the appropriate timing of this discussion. That's okay.

Well said. I'm not looking for the last word and will not claim this as such. Bereavement is something that needs to be improved at this company. I've used it first hand and had to jump through hoops. Yes, in hindsight my comment was the wrong time, however still relevant. That's all I have to say about that.

All classes are on hold till after the summer. We do not need any classes right now. If a class started today, the new hire would not be online until Fall 2012. The fall is our slow time and we do not need the extra expense of having people make 75 hours of flying while sitting at home. Also, our instructors are returning to the line to fill in.

I would expect the next new hire class starting around Nov. 2012 at the earliest.

You get as much time as you need, but only 3 days are paid. He lost his son. Show some love.

Latest at ASA.
 

So the last thing I heard is that we are buying Eagle. Where do people get this stuff?

Wild speculation passed on as fact. Aka, a rumor.

How can you buy a pilot group? Come on, I really want to know!

Newbies make me chuckle.

You would be amazed how this could happen...hang on the next 24 months are going to be a wild ride.

Not to send the thread in an entirely different direction, but I can't imagine one reason why the SLI would or should favor ASA. Because they have a few people that have been there forever? Despite what many over there seem to think, they didn't buy us. They had no involvement in our purchase at all; they were simply acquired by Skywest first.

Hopefully they are open-minded enough to just do what's fair and do it by relative seniority. I've actually met a lot of ASA types on the road and especially in the crew bussed in ATL (I park in their lot) - they are generally nice guys and gals no different than us. Everyone is just trying to protect their interests.

Anyway, the SLI won't matter to me as I came to xjet after the merger and will be stapled to the bottom of whatever solution happens. I just prefer it happens fast so I have some hope of bidding to Atlanta so I won't have to commute. That hope keeps me going.

Of course, you have to wonder what's going to happen with the Delta TA and some of the huge shifts coming to the industry over the next few years. Like I tell anyone who will listen, the minute it becomes apparent that I'll be stuck in the right seat at a regional for some huge amount of time, I'm gone. This was always a roll of the dice.

Can you name me a single time a pilot group has been "bought" outside of a bankruptcy deal or proceeding? what's the upside of "buying" a pilot group for a major?

You're looking to past precedents... for what we're about to experience, there has never been anything like it.In the next three years alone, more people will retire at JUST the legacy carriers than there are pilots at the new combined XJT. Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures. Not saying that I necessarily believe that any airline will buy another pilot group, but some unorthodox methods will surely be used.

It's gonna be a crazy ride

Relative seniority favors ASA captains over XJT captains, and favors XJT fo's over ASA fo's. This is how I saw it on a chart done both ways (DOH and relative) after the merger was announced. It's going to be hard to do it one way or the other when either way affects people in the same side differently. ASA captains will be fightingfor relative, XJT captains will want DOH and vice versa for fo's.

Fair enough, but shouldn't we be talking about how many legacy retirements there are going to be relative to the size of the pilot groups for the regionals in total? In other words, it's impressive that upwards of 3000 legacy major captains will be retiring over three years, but there are almost 3000 pilots at new jet. There are 3000+ at Skywest. There are thousands more at the rest. Will the movement be as fast as you think? I don't know. Mabye, maybe not. Trends away from smaller regional aircraft will reduce overall pilot demands. New rest rules and ATP requirements will increase it.

You are right about one thing; it will be a crazy ride. I'm just not sure it will be a good one for all.

I didn't understand at first but now I get it - yeah this could be interesting. I hope it doesn't take forever and go to arbitration, but who knows. Of course, if CRJ's keep getting dropped then I won't be able to get to Atlanta anyway.

I think there is going to have to be a quantum change over the next few years. At some point the new expressjet is going to have to get more into larger regional gets than the few at the legacy ASA side. Wonder if the new JCBA will lay the groundwork for that.

Pizza and beer? :D

You are correct. Let's not forget that the flight schools are empty. when congress came out with the new flight time rules, ATP lost millions in tuition alone due to a high drop out rate as a result of the new flight time rules. management is aware of the upcoming pilot shortage and are thinking outside of the box.