FNG1

What it is a shame is how low your envy takes you in a moment like this

this shows your ignorance about them. Some of them have families

bubi352

@Saab - I totally understand your point of view but if we go with your logic, you should know that some of those "Riddle Kids" are married with kids.

Ooo yeaa, and mine is just pregnant.

JoeyMeatballs

not quite........

wxyz

Quote:
Originally Posted by emj55
Spirit Airlines President Says No Layoffs Planned


POSTED: 3:19 pm EDT June 3, 2008
UPDATED: 8:48 pm EDT June 3, 2008



MIAMI -- The president of Spirit Airlines said Tuesday the carrier has no plans for layoffs, despite reports that implied it is laying off half of its employees.
According to letters released Tuesday by union leaders, the airline may lay off or move up to 60 percent of its flight attendants and 45 percent of its pilots in an effort to cut costs and deal with soaring fuel prices.
The Miramar-based discount carrier wrote in the notification letters that it plans to close its hubs in New York's LaGuardia Airport and San Juan, Puerto Rico, and shrink its main Fort Lauderdale hub by Aug. 1. The airline is also closing its Detroit hub for flight attendants, according to the letters.
Spirit told NBC 6 no layoffs are planned. The airline's hub will stay in Fort Lauderdale, but the carrier may relocate crews to different cities to save money.
The letters, required by law under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, were sent out Friday by Jeff Carlson, the airline's vice president of flight operations. Carlson wrote in the letters that the airline will furlough or displace up to 448 flight attendants and 242 pilots.
"It's kind of unfortunate that it got put out that way," said Spirit President and CEO Ben Baldanza.
He said the letters began as a precaution to keep the airline alive and then became a rumor that the carrier was dying.
"The Spirit management team, the owners of Spirit and all of the employees of Spirit are completely committed to working through a very tough economic environment with high fuel prices, doing what it takes to keep the airline stable, solid and growing over time, and that's exactly what we're all here to do 24-7," he said.
Baldanza said the airline will not raise airfares and has no plans to cut any routes. He said the carrier is even adding new destinations.
"If we make the actual decision to shrink at all -- to reduce one frequency on one route or return some airplanes or do anything -- if we made that decision, which we have not made yet, we would absolutely talk to all the employees affected directly about that change and what that meant for them," he said.
But the letters sparked concern from the pilot and flight attendants unions.
"It was utter shock," said Sean Creed, chairman of the Spirit Airlines pilots union. "To say I am disappointed would be an understatement. We are devastated."
Spirit has about 540 pilots.
As many as 240 attendants could be affected in Fort Lauderdale, 141 in Detroit, 15 in New York and 52 in San Juan, according to letters sent to Patricia Friend, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants. Spirit has about 750 flight attendants.
"These are the worst case scenario numbers," said Corey Caldwell, spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants, the union that represents Spirit's attendants. "It's likely the ultimate number will be less, but it kind of popped out of nowhere."
Spirit spokeswoman Misty Pinson said the notices were necessary to comply with the WARN Act.
"We have made no final decisions about reductions, if any, but to maintain flexibility, we will need to continue to evaluate our overall flying this fall during our lowest demand period of the year if fuel prices remain at record levels," she wrote in an e-mail.
Creed said he has been flooded with calls from concerned pilots, who were listed by name and title in the letters.
"It's very difficult, as a pilot, if you lose your job to go find another one," Creed said. "Pilots are worried about their future."
Baldanza said the airline is getting ready to make changes to deal with the tough economic times but has not committed to anything. He said the carrier plans to grow over the next few months.
"In a fast-changing economic environment, generally the people who survive and the people who win out of that environment are those who are the lowest cost producers of their product," he said. "And Spirit is the lowest-cost producer of its product everywhere we fly, and therefore, if you're going to bet on any airline for the fall, Spirit is the kind of airline to bet on."
The airline industry is struggling to overcome with record fuel prices.
"Fuel is pushing up to be 50 percent of our total cost and that compares to less than 20 percent just a few years ago," Baldanza said.
Last month, American Airlines said it would cut domestic flight capacity by 11 percent to 12 percent in the fourth quarter, after the peak summer season is over.
Delta Air Lines said in March that it would offer voluntary severance payouts to roughly 30,000 employees -- more than half its work force -- and cut U.S. capacity by an extra 5 percent. The Atlanta-based carrier said last week that more than 3,000 people took the package, and Delta will accept all the volunteers.
Spirit, which is privately owned, flies to 36 cities in the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean. The carrier employs about 2,200 people and has hubs in Detroit and Fort Lauderdale. Spirit is one of the largest carriers at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Related Articles:

On the other hand, the overseas contract consultant I am employed with met with spirit management this week and was told he would have 160 "contacts" by the end of June.
Yeah, I believe the management guys..........


I posted this response at the beginning of June, in the same week that spirit management said there would be no layoffs, I said that there would be 160 laid off by the end of june. That 160 number is still in play and will be announced by the end of the summer. The overseas contract agent that represents me met with spirit managers the same week that they made their "no layoff lie". Spirit made it clear to him that he would have 160 new pilots (furloughed spirit pilots) to find jobs for overseas.
The spirit furloughs are only starting.

acl65pilot

Is it official that they are letting pilots go? If so, how many?

MDT06

Welcome to the real world. It's about the same in other industries. You should know this by now.

bubi352

@wxyz - Are you saying Spirit is trying to divert a few jobs overseas for a specific contract? I may have misunderstood.

andy171773

If we were talking about 50 out of 10,000...it's not a lot.

But 50 out of 541 is a significant number. Just shy of 10% of anything (just like the number of furloughs) is large.

FliFast

Having been furloughed 4 times in my airline career, there are few things I can add from experience:

When an airline hands out furlough notices, they...

Don't care what school you attended..
Don't care how much total time you have
Don't care that your brother's uncle's neighbor's daughter's friend is the Chief Pilot
Don't care if you are the Ace of the Base or a crummy pilot.

The reality is...
You are without a paycheck and your bills don't stop.
The mouths at home to feed, still need feeding.
Your self-esteem is knocked back considerably.
Aviation jobs are usually scarce since most airlines furlough in concert because of cyclical, economic downturns.


Not all Riddle grads are 21 years old either. Some are older like me and have families. If your bone of contention is with ERAU or the "unorthodox" way they got their job, write to the HR/Flt Ops at Spirit. But leave the berating of recently furloughed pilots whether they be ERAU, UND, FIT, Purdue, OSU, Military, or Joe's FBO...leave the insults out. If you read my paragraph above you can see they have enough to deal with.

And yes, I am a double alum from that over-priced, flying school in Daytona.

Flifast

I used to jumpseat from DTW to TPA on Spirit and was always treated great. I hope your furloughes are rescinded or are very short in duration.

tpersuit

As a UND grad, I kind of get where Saab was coming from. If I was at at major right now, I could definitely understand why a pilot, who has been in this industry much longer, could be angry at me getting into my position. The one thing I've learned is nothing compares to actual 121 experience.

While I don't blame the Riddle grads for taking the Spirit job, I can definitely see why people would be upset at them getting it so quickly. I for one think its a good thing to pay your dues at a regional or where ever you go. Sort of builds your character up a lot better than if you hadn't. JMHO