pete2800

I appreciate the kind words! I do my best to provide useful information, and I'm glad to be of help.

I have no numbers at all regarding how many pilots AS has been hiring from SKW, but we're still seeing a fair number of QX people being selected. If I had to guess, I'd say the 30% idea is still being adhered to.

cactusflyer

The sad thing is that this has probably been in the cards for a while now, since QX is the only wholly-owned regional that hasn't taken concessions for shiny jets or undergone a sham bankruptcy.

Since American and Delta got concessions from Envoy and Endeavor (not to mention PSA) and those airlines have managed to keep operating in the face of a pilot shortage by just offering new hire bonuses or flow (which cost nothing if the economy tanks again and hiring stops), Alaska had to have been looking for a way to get concessions from Horizon.

Having a combination of 20% of our fleet coming off lease within the next couple of years and a Horizon president that looked like he might bring jets back presented Alaska with good chance to demand concessions, especially since Alaska has already demonstrated they have no problems with giving airplanes to the lowest bidder.

alaskadrifter

Is ANC on the chopping block?

cactusflyer

Probably not.

From what I've heard, Alaska likes having the Q400 up there for routes that don't have enough passengers to warrant use of a 737 all year, and I doubt they'd be able to convince Skywest to spend the money to base a couple of airplanes and crews up there.

There were discussions about closing BOI, GEG and MFR earlier this year, but management decided to wait on making that decision until after the summer schedule ends, probably to avoid having people quit right before the busy season.

pete2800

Ironically, I'd guess that ANC is probably the most stable of the bases at the moment.

Southpaw77

Hey all, my first post so go easy on me

I recently spoke with a former QX CA who is in training now. He said that 4 out of 10 in class were Horizon guys. So, at least that class is meeting the 30%. Anyway, I gotta admit, when I heard of this Jet possibility I got a bad feeling in my gut. With us now a CPA carrier and SKW doing ALK flying, it would not be good for us. I envisioned the conversation going like this..."We can look into jets but this is market wage for flying said jets and if you don't want to agree to those wages then we'll just utilize other providers for the lift". A total race to the bottom.
Also, concerning the race to the bottom. I wasn't too thrilled with the union's position regarding the 100 seat jet possibility. The fact that the union felt it reasonable to fly 100 seat jets for what would've most likely been less money than Alaska pilots would is also effectively a race to the bottom for the industry. They cited the fact that the Alaska pilots don't have scope, so it's all good. In my opinion that's pretty much the same thing. The fact that Tilden didn't entertain the possibility kind of supports the industry in an indirect way. I may have interpreted it wrong though.

LaserRacer

Nailed it!

flyingice

100-seat jets need to be flown by mainline carriers at mainline rates. Nothing less. We cannot allow that baseline to ever erode because our careers depend on it.

The 15 Q400s do not come off lease for another two years. That is an INCREDIBLY long time in aviation, especially regional aviation, for a plan to be drawn out.

Management and the pilot group will negotiate in regards to the proposed replacements, and until we have a concrete offer one way or another, it's all speculation. Nothing more, nothing less.

OnMyWay

I agree. The 100 seat jet is not an issue with me. I want to move on to a mainline carrier and this helps with that. The pure fact that BT would even mention concessions to fly any plane is a cup slap to the genitals. Nothing more. Nothing less.

cactusflyer

Southpaw raises some valid points, and I think how this shakes out is going to depend on exactly what concessions Alaska wants from us.

If they're just asking for concessions on the jet pay rate and plan to leave the benefits and turboprop rates as-is, that would probably be more acceptable to the pilot group than asking for pay and benefit cuts across our existing flying as well.

The plan for dealing with the retiring airplanes in a couple of years is also something to be addressed. If the pilots are given an ultimatum of "take concessions or we'll downsize the fleet by 20%", things are going to get pretty ugly, but if the alternative to jets is a mix of lease renewals and buying some new airplanes to maintain the current fleet size, that might be more acceptable to some people.