Question for AA73 and 7576FO
 

I picked this off msn.com under key developments for AMR. Is AMR cashing out it's capital in the ATR 72s? This is an interesting move to me, much like the sale of American Beacon was. These guys are tough to follow.

AMR Corp.'s American Airlines Announces Sale and Leaseback of 39 ATR 72 Aircraft
December 2, 2008Nordic Aviation Capital A/S (NAC) and KIRK Kapital A/S announced an agreement for a sale and leaseback transaction with AMR Leasing Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AMR Corp. for 39 ATR 72 aircraft operated by Executive Airlines, Inc., also a wholly-owned subsidiary of AMR Corp. doing business as "American Eagle". AMR Leasing Corporation will sell the 39 ATR 72 aircraft to an entity that will lease the aircraft to NK Aviation Limited, Ireland, a newly formed joint venture between NAC and Kirk Kapital A/S. Executive Airlines will lease the aircraft back through a sublease structure and will continue to be the operator of the aircraft. NAC will be the servicer for the aircraft.

This is a question for American Eagle ATR pilots, not American Mainline pilots.

Right?

LOL !!!!! (you must be a new guy).

Well, there's speculation as to several motives. One involves cleaning up the books of Executive and another involves future purchases of aircraft. Executive has a Operating Certificate that may come in handy for AMR in the future in one of several ways. AMR wants more operations to go to the "large" RJ segment (70-seats and above) and also wants at least two operators to insure whipsawing remains in place. They freely admit as much in their contract proposal to the APA (which they know would be soundly rejected).

Any money paid to another operator for THEIR profit is money lost (some call it "leakage"). Many believe AMR wants a scenario of two seperate (and highly profitable) short/medium domestic operators flying 70-100 seat large RJ's and selling American Eagle, Inc and modifying Eecutives Airlines, Inc. could be a future plan to insure AMR gets their cake and can eat it too. They could (in the right fashion) control these two competing carriers and reap all the profits.

Of course, there is one primary thing that is standing in the way ; Mainline Labor. It's NOT just about pilot scope, but about the ability to operate these aircraft with labor costs low enough to insure maximum profit using competitive costs...........and like it or not, the competition is already defined and will never change. Look around and you'll notice more and more CRJ-900's and EMB-175/190's appearing with labor costs at (or below) those currently at Eagle. We wont even metion the hundreds upon hundreds of 70-76 seat (many mixed-class) aircraft out there. ALL the mainline labor groups at AA are intertwined (whether they like it or not) and it is the TOTAL picture there that must be considered. AMR has virtually NONE of this and knows to be a profitable corporation in the future, it has no alternative but to compete in like fashion and do so without the current hamstring situation that is killing it.

For AMR, timing is everything here. They need more time to insure the competitive landscape will be what they think it will and to line their ducks up for what they believe will be ultimately necessary to resolve their problems once and for all.

The ultimate future (er,.....lets say my opinion) will involve AA being an International and long-range/transcon carrier (it will also operate in selected medium-range markets) roughly half it's current size that competes with other high-cost carriers. The other will be a dual short/medum range domestic carrier arrangement operating up to 100 seat jets with lower labor costs that will grow substantially. Eagle itself will probably shrink noticably, but another carrier (I wonder who ?) will be the primary growth vehicle.

2 things are most important over the next couple of years for AMR to achieve this ultimate goal (and free itself from the currently hopeless rope around their necks)...........time and timing. They still need time to align certain things to insure timing is right to reach the ultimate outcome. They're not stupid and they're not sitting around not planning. They're palnning and biding their time and there will be a time when the moment is at hand to complete the process. That moment will be triggered by an entity OTHER then AMR.

AMR is doing what's necessary to insure they're ready when that moment arrives and that my friends you can bank on. The profession of airline piloting is nearing the bottom of the long downward slide its been on for 15 years and now its too late to go forward to the past. The only way to change it is to get a magic De Lorean and go "Back to the Future" for a "re-do". ALPA fumbled the ball when Comair introduced the RJ in the early ninties, by not fiercly protecting this type of flying in its infancy. They failed again, by not insuring regional feed networks were closely aligned to their associated major networks with cohesive labor integration (SSL's, transfer/protection arraingements) that INCLUDED these pilots intead of DIVIDING them. The APA could have seen that even as recent as 5-7 years ago and wrapped their arms around the Eagle pilots not for the Eagle pilots, but ultimately FOR THEM. Mutual allies with common interests would have had a much better chance of shaping AMR and AA for a different and more beneficial future for all, instead of the hopeless and permamant division that now will likley result is one entity watching the other entity engage a final battle that will produce some decent results for half and ultimately sacrifice the rest.

At AMR, it seems the final play will play itself out and the ultimate casuality will be the profession that "once was". The old saying comes to mind......."keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer". Again, the best bet was for ALPA (and the APA) to make ONE profession of pilots instead of fragmented adversaries (or even enemies).

Ahhh, if only we could go back in time...............................

Great question. I do not know. I will send a couple e-mails and see what I can find.
I also have respect for Eagle and it's pilots. Someting that need said more often. I was a commuter pilot.
7576

Good analysis, 'eaglefly'.

Mistakes have been made in the past. Still, I wouldn't give up hope. There's no time like the present.

Instead of that saying, I'd consider "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". It's time for APA and ALPA to get together on this one and put their differences aside for the time being. I'm not advocating APA and ALPA merging, just working together temporarily to improve the lot of all the pilots who get paychecks from AMR.

It's not just the pilots involved with this. You're talking about all employee groups at AMR. The price demanded by AMR for combining the companies would have been HUGE and paid by mainline ONLY in the form of dumbing down compensation and benefits. In short, the idea of folding in AE into AA WAS and IS simply a cheap pipedream that ain't gonna happen. AE ALPA has ZERO leverage in the deal with their current long term labor contract and would be the only one to benefit. Even with a combined company the threat of pilots willing to work on the cheap wouldn't go away. You need to remember what company you're dealing with here. With AMR any concession will NEVER be enough until you can get below Great Lakes and Mesa in employee costs.

If AA wants a bankruptcy contract, at least from the APA, they're going to have to take it to bankrupcy and management may have to forgo their rich bonuses for a year or so. The pilots at least are fed-up with business as usual at AMR. I've got no problem with a bankruptcy. Bring it on. When the senior pilots smell a BK you'll see probably 1500 senior captains immediately retire. AA management says they need to retain their "top talent" with these fabulous bonuses. A good bankruptcy might clean out a lot of dead wood and dead thinking at Centerport. Who knows, they might even get a couple of real leaders up there.

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What differences are you speaking about? Please be specific.

Work together? How? Specifically? What practical, concrete, and actionable leverage does AE bring to the table besides "moral" support (as if AMR cares about employee morale)? Considering their long term contract + several years of negotiations, what can they do besides sit on the sidelines? Spare me the standard "kumbaya" please.

APA pilots don't have anything left to give. It's all been taken by the 2003 rape and cost of living since then. And AMR wants to kill off probably another 1000 mainline pilot jobs through productivity "improvements" and taking a meat cleaver to scope. The prevailing thought is that AMR's bottom line is pay stays as it is, but all benefits and productivity get dumbed-down once again.

Right now AE ALPA is toothless and AMR knows it. AE ALPA is in the box and AMR is not about to let them out of it, regardless of what the APA does.