Good luck with that. As someone said earlier or on our own forum, getting Qx pilots to take concessions after making billions in profit this year would be the mgt equivalent of a Sully landing.

 

Even if QX could get ahold of the jet flying would they even be able to get ERJ's in that time frame? I thought firm orders and options where spoken for for at least the next five years.

 

"President and COO Dave Campbell said Alaska sees an opportunity to increase the number of 76-seat jets in its fleet by 30 aircraft over a five-year period, starting in 2017. At the same time, Alaska will decrease the number of Q400s by at least 20."

 

My opinion is mgmt doesn't think a 28% cut will happen (they would love to have it, but don't actually believe it will pass). But they have cleverly avoided the conversation about contractual improvements by talking about cuts. I think they want to secure a long-term contract now before the hiring gets really ugly so they don't lose the leverage they likely would when our contract is up in a few years. Still a win for them even if it isn't a "concession."

Don't see how E190's could be on Alaska property if they aren't flown by mainline. I know they contractually could do it, but they would be stepping on some big toes doing that. I sure hope I am not being overly optimistic about that. My bet is they'll fly the hell out of the E175.

I think whipsawing will be the new normal for Alaska small lift flying. Who can fly an E175 cheaper for Alaska - Skywest or Horizon? Trick question, the answer is BOTH. The long-term cost savings lie with Horizon being wholly-owned so it wouldn't surprise me to see the majority of the flying done by QX, but having Skywest around keeps Horizon in fear of being outsourced. It's a win either way for the company.

Alaska pilots are already being bribed to go along with this and have been for years. Every new contract they get that doesn't have scope means money was put on the table to keep that language out of it. Question is - why aren't Alaska pilots the best paid in the industry for not having scope? They're paying insurance money without having insurance.

 

They are leases from Skywest.

Horizon, an Alaska company, is competing with Skywest to fly Skywest's airplanes for Alaska...

 

At least 51% of Alaska pilots are yes men. That is why they are not the highest paid with the worst scope. Standby for their defense.

 

You guys seem to forget that SKW is currently flying Air Group owned jets that once had Horizon paint on them.

 

We know. On that note, sorry to the OO guys out there who are harassed by some of our Captains who are salty as ****. It's misplaced anger that should be directed towards Alaska mgt.

 

I'll second this. It's a small number of people here giving us a bad name. I think the majority of the pilot group is smart enough to realize that blaming Skywest only shifts our attention from the real source of our problems.



How so? QX has felt threatened by outsourcing long before our newfound "commitment to compete." However, regardless of the way you look at the outsourcing of the CRJ's, there are some notable differences.

1. The CRJ's went to Skywest as the CRJ fleet was downsizing due to the loss of the Denver flying.
2. The jets Skywest got from us weren't brand new (I'm guessing AAG has planned all along to phase out the CRJ program with Skywest).
3. Alaska wasn't expanding their route structure with Skywest, they were just looking to save a buck by not having a handful of airplanes flown in house.

Now we're not talking about a few CRJ's, we're talking about 7, then 15, and now 45 E175's that are or could potentially be outsourced. All new airplanes that are expanding Alaska's small lift network that will very likely be on the property for a long time.

How are you Alaska guys looking at this? I can see why you guys wouldn't have cared about the CRJ outsourcing, but do you guys see all these plans to fly into the central US in E175's as a threat to your own expansion?

 

It's difficult for me to imagine a more ignorant statement.