Regarding the E-Jets, it's only a "regional" airplane if the region is "North America."

Hawaii is part of the USA...how long until that is "regional" too? Seems "regional" means 76-seats or less. And here I thought seats were a measure of capacity, but I guess it's a unit of distance...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

From the 2014 10Ks
American Airlines | Investor Relations | SEC Filings
DAL 12.31.2014 10K
United - Investor Relations - SEC Filings
http://www.annualreports.com/Click/1020

Fleet Count at the end of 2014
DAL mainline 772 regional 499
AAL mainline 983 regional 566
UAL mainline 691 regional 566
ALK mainline 137 regional 59


Regional ASMs as a percentage of Consolidated ASMs

DAL 10.49%
AAL 10.59%
UAL 12.97%
ALK 10.11%

Has AAG announced how they plan on filling the gap between the Q400 and the 738? I don't recall them saying anything about it. I'd be worried more about that. 28% savings is a huge chunk of change for QX, even with how cheap we are. I'm going to go tin hat here, but here's what I think the board at AAG is hoping for(obviously just a thought):
Get QX to cut 28%
Order an array of aircraft to cover the gap (Embraer 175s and 190s)
Place them at a regional to fly (notice how I didn't say just QX?)
Take a portion of the 28% savings and give the Alaska pilots some as a bribe to go along with this.
Every few years revisit the whipsaw to order more large regional jets to replace Alaska mainline flying.

All this is obviously hypothetical based on both pilot groups going along with this which is more far fetched than my above theory.

Fire away.

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.