ExpressJet's profile was updated today. Where is the note about retiring the ERJs? It was taken down.
They intend on continuing the contract in 2019.

The UAL CPA is good to 12/31/18. The fleet is shrinking to 101 aircraft by the end of 2017 and according to management, stay constant. The CRJ side is shrinking to 73 by the end of 2017.

Intend for the contract, yes. Number of planes that will be in that contract is the question. They have extended the contract several times for the last few years, but the number of planes on the contract are always the big question.

It is kind of like this line in the Quick take:

CRJ fleet transitioning to all dual class CRJ-900/CRJ-700 aircraft

they could have just said:
Removing all the CRJ 200 and adding them to the SkyWest name.

But that would not have been true. Some will end up at SKW, some at Endeavor, and some parked. What they said was actually true, although still apparently bad news.

Just saw this from Embraer social media. Truly heart breaking from what I've heard about this place in the old days. https://mobile.twitter.com/undefined...70076275425281

Interesting reads over on the Commutair board. Things not going to well over there. Guess that grass is not always greener!!

Yeah seems they bit of more than they can chew... They picked a hell of a time to try and double the seniority list when everyone is fighting to just net 0 with attrition.

The one picture with the engine access door open, that would be correct for the times! We had engines shutting down in flight for months 20 years ago. The one with the main cabin door open isn't correct, that door wasn't retrofitted for about a year after the first deliveries. The first a/c starting at #925 came with the airstair doors, they sucked!

Man, those planes were so underpowered ATC kept asking us what they were! We couldn't climb greater then 1000' per minute and accelerate at the same time. None of us even flew a jet before much less flew higher the 25,000'. My first time at 370 was also the captain's first time. We both said "I've haven't been this high in an airplane before and at the controls!" we had no idea what we were doing! Now 20 years later, I'm still flying these things and I can't get hired by a legacy because I'm to qualified! God dam Greek tragedy!

You just need to devote your min days off not to your family and mental well being, but to serving meals to three legged needy inner city blind animals... Supposedly, that's what makes you a good pilot nowadays, but don't quote me on that.

This x1000 😂

Unless their CCF is at least 95%, I doubt anything will change.

Unless you have the "special" qualifications...

How long is the training in Houston?

http://www.flysmartchoice.com/assets/Uploads/BlockImages/TrainingInfographic.jpg

That's cute. At the end, you get FA wings.

Any hope here for a new hire? I need iah and I don't want to go to messa. Refuse to commute. How long to hold a line in iah? My thought is come here hope something good happens in the final hours, if not then maybe messa has a better contract by then.

I don't know if you're new around here or if you haven't read anything about ASA/XJT but it would be very dumb to go there and Mesa will not have a better contract by then. This is a weird industry. You will have to commute initially and the sooner you can accept that, the better. A new hire first officer at a regional airline unfortunately doesn't have the liberty to use words like "need" and "refuse"

This is 2017. If you don't get what you want, you quit. Not totally uncommon lately.

A line??? In IAH??? You are funny!
On a serious note except about a year to get to IAH and be on reserve for While. Or you can be a bottom feeder and go to mesa and be part of the problem. Rumors of Republic opening IAH but you know rumors in this industry.

I am aware of mesa and the problems there. I have no problem sitting reserve in iah. But I read about your problems as well. What's going to happen after 2018. That's what I'm fighting here. To think that the 4th largest city has no regional options is a tough pill to swallow.

Every regional has their problems and it's very easy to be all "doom and gloom" and the "grass is greener at XYZ regional" personally I don't think the ERJ side is going anywhere for the next couple of years as of right now we are still one of the larger pilot groups and I don't think the majors can afford another regional shutting down. IMO United seems to be preparing for the regional pilot apocalypse by distributing their flying relatively evenly across their carriers so we can possibly pick up the slack off one another when we have to. Good group of pilots here and alot of nice work rules that won't have you hate your life too too much. It's your choice my man!

in your opinion how long to hold iah?

Looking at the seniority list, I figure 1.5 years.

If you choose to put hard restrictions on which airline you will and won't work for due to the desire not to commute (which in some ways is a valid reason) you must be willing to live with the consequences that that decision might have on your career growth and access to future opportunities.

ExpressJet, either fleet, is a proud airline staffed with some incredible people who work under a fantastic contract. Unfortunately, the undeniable truth is that this is also an airline that has been shrinking steadily at an alarming rate over the past 5 years to the point where in 2-3 years the possibility of it ceasing to exist entirely is very real. I would highly recommend considering another regional that has growth and/or a more stable future, but if you choose XJT, you'll enjoy the training and operation and should something positive happen you'll be in a great position to ride that wave up; worst case scenario you start over at another regional should XJT shut down.

Best of luck, do what is right for you and your family and your quality of life, but do know that the future of ExpressJet is in serious doubt.

that's some solid advice. wife has a good job and have kids so iah is very important to me. if I don't stay local I won't quit my current day job. I think the risk with you is better then mesa. I can always go to mesa if something happens here. I just have a hard time believing they would disolve you guys. but what do I know. look at piedmont they were hung to die and now good things are happening there. if they do disolve you wouldn't SkyWest flow you into there system or even better ual give somekind of flow. may be wishful thinking just a thought. pilots are in demand so I think someone would want the assets.

Skywest would probably offer preferential interviews. And ALPA carriers may offer the same. Anything else would be wishful thinking.

Piedmont was in a far different place than ExpressJet and their circumstances were vastly different that allowed it "to be saved." Mesa's odds of being around are far greater than ExpressJet's simply due to the fact that they operate 76 seat RJs and have a far cheaper contract.

If XJT is shut down, SkyWest will likely offer preferential interviews and MAYBE 2nd-3rd year FO pay to former ExpressJet pilots, but being that they are not ALPA they could offer no incentives and probably won't simply to save money.

Do what is right for you and your family, that should always come first. But, please keep in mind that the future of ExpressJet is in very serious doubt. Any regional airline, no matter the size is expendable and can be shut down. ExpressJet is 50%-55% smaller today compared to late 2010 and the forecast is for it to shrink even further. If you simply want a flying job and want to live at home and you don't care about upgrading and money isn't an issue, then XJT might be just fine for you. However, if you are going to XJT with the hopes of one day going to a major airline and making a career as an airline pilot then ExpressJet might not be the best airline to start with because the opportunity to grow/upgrade etc there is severely, if not completely limited. Its all a gamble in the end, but why place a bet on a long shot when there are so many other and better options. Don't let the possibility of a commute limit your career.

ExpressJet
 

Just to emphasize this point even more, the high water make for XJT was in late 2008 with 274 aircraft and over 3,000 pilots. Now it is down to about 130 aircraft, scheduled to be down to 101 by the end of 2017 and half the pilots. And the CPA is scheduled to end at the end of 2018.

On the CRJ side at one point ASA had 130 CRJ-200s (2006-2007) alone. By the end of 2017 all CRJ-200s will be parked and they'll be left with between 75-80 CRJ-700s/CRJ-900s operating for AA and Delta. The AA CPA expires in 2019 and the Delta CPA expires in 2020. When the CRJ-200 is officially retired later this year, to hold Captain in ATL it will require approximately 17-18 years of service, or more...and that is to be the plug on reserve.

But big news coming May 8th!!! Just remember guys are mainline partners are "noticing"" 😉

I've got my money on a base closure announcement... either ORD or EWR. Big news is never good news at XJT.

If you know something, why not share it with your fellow pilots? Lots of people on edge at XJT who would like some solid info of the future, while preparing for the worst.

Read your emails, messages, and company portal. You might already know what I'm saying. Plus you might also want to check the dictionary and look at the word sarcasm. But congrats on a splendid first post!

Think you need to listen to the conference call yesterday ... My interpretation is they want to "right size" the XJT operation. With them not wanting to integrate seniority lists, to me that meens just a all CRJ700/900 fleet.. Will UA extend the E145 contract?? Maybe the Air Willy deal just shed some light on it.. thats a glut of 50 seaters coming into UA. Will XJT be able to pull off a switch to AA with the 145's. Doesn't look like it do to UA owning the planes. And the fact that the 100 already lost have not gone there. Just to other UA operations... so the real question is. In 2018 is there room for XJT's 100 E145's in UA's operation....

Not that I necessarily disagree, my position has always been that the ERJs will be gone at the end of the current CPA expiration day. But here are some transcripts of the conference call:




"Demand for our remaining 50-seat aircraft remained very strong and we are working with each of our major partners to meet their ongoing 50-seat needs."



"Well so, I think Michael you're right on point in many respects there. I think that we have seen specifically with American strategic move that they are certainly very hungry for lift. You obviously see what happened with Air Wisconsin but I think there's a general term today Michael that a lot of our partners if not all are most of them are very interested in 50-seat lift."



"So we don’t fundamentally believe that the Air Wisconsin announcement had any impact on our existing 50-seat flying with United, but you're right in that there certainly is some opportunities for 50-seat lift with American and we're always in some good strong dynamic conversations relative to those specifically."



"We fundamentally believe that we're going to be providing more visibility with the professionals at ExpressJet as we continue to evolve some of the legacy contracts within their business model and our feedback is that’s the number one thing that they're looking forward to and it's our number one priority to make sure that we stabilize that entity right now."

I also didn't hear them say anything about not wanting to merge seniority lists. Also, UAL doesn't actually own all of the 145s, just eight of them. They are leased on a 15 or 15.5 year term. Once the leases expire, the lessee is financially responsible and UAL no longer has any tail risk. But even for the ones UAL owns or are still responsible for, nothing stops UAL from subleasing them to anyone like they did with RAH for their other operations. It's better to bring some money in from those aircraft rather than paying to have them sit in the desert.

I get what your saying. But if Demand was so good. Why will the ERJ fleet be shrinking... and for that matter the XJT CRJ200 fleet..

ExpressJet
 

I don't know about the CRJ, maybe because Skywest crews are cheaper and therefore they will keep hundreds of them instead? As for the ERJ, it's because Skywest negotiated a money losing CPA and for all they have done to capture performance incentives, it's still unprofitable. So unless they can convince UAL to pay more for those aircraft, it makes sense to shrink the ERJ fleet to the lowest contractual amount possible. That happens to be 101 aircraft right now.

Where is everybody getting May 8th from? I keep hearing that from people this week. The rumors are really getting outta control here. We need to be told something because one minute we are being bought by delta and either being merged with endeavor or stapled to Delta. Then the next we are opening a MIA base with American, then the next moment we are getting 700s from gojet and building DTW back up. All seem to be pipe dreams right...oh and the other rumor that we will be unemployed by 2019. Wake me up when something actually happens

Sorry buddy, erj side rumors. I was more joking but I think it's something with the CPP. But never a shortage of rumors around here, if not just make one up to keep the mill turning!

So, looking at the ERJ seniority list for May...
Did we just not have any new hire classes in April?

Not that this is a huge difference from the usual trickle of 5-10 people per month, but still.