I am not in the know. I will make that clear from the get go. I talk to no one in Flight Ops here at DAL for many many reasons. Primarily because they think there is a leak and there never has been. I just keep my ear to the ground and connect the dots.
In that regard I was wrong about today. I am sure there is more, but the best guessers that I talked to did not see Trans States anywhere near this deal. Nor did I. I get em wrong too. Pinnacle was one of two ways this could have folded.
So now that I have discredited my self in your eyes I will give my personal take.

It is simple. Appearance. 60 may flow. That would be 60 days Aug 2, 16 and the first class of Sept.
What would your take be if they were not doing all of this stuff to make it look like we were going to be screening you guys? Can we all say lawsuit and intent.
Understand that all of these "costs" are negligible, and the licensing is part of our package. The true test is to see if they pack up the second the money hits DAL's bank account.

 

How did you see this going? Who was the buyer you had in mind?

Your logic make sense. Act like everything is just fine, even though its not. Otherwise your vulnerable. I wouldn't be surprised if the flow goes - but it is unfortunate to those who want it, but aren't in the top 60 of the list.

 

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

Interesting. It appears DAL made a little more $$$ then just the initial sale.

 

There are a great many pilots working at many carriers for DCI.

What I saw what Mesaba going to SKW but there being the same ole issue of giving one entity to much of the DCI market share and having the ability to control the ASA's and prices. Read Not good for Ma Delta. That is why Pinnacle a former WO NWA carrier who has two other relatively small carriers a good choice in the eyes of DAL. Split it up and get it off the balance sheet. The sale price is a joke considering ASA was bought by DAL for 800 million and Comair for over a billion a decade ago. ASA was sold at a bargain price of 400 million the day before DAL entered CH11 protection, and now they are selling these airlines for nothing. That sends a message to me.

The message is that DAL does not see DCI and or being a runner of WO airlines as the way to go moving forward. They want new ASA contracts that allows for risk sharing of said flying, they want to make the third party carriers responsible for their delays and effect on the passengers. That will happen.

Now in regard to CPS. This one to me is screwy. I figured they would sell the jets to RJET the only major 175 operator in turn for them getting out from under their DCI ASA deal. It would have involved them returning the CPS cert to the feds. With TSA getting the airline intact as well as the sim it sends a message too. It also says keep the flying split up, we did not like the deal RJET or ASA was offering, and keep them fighting among each other. TSA is a bottom feeder that play poorly. One name, Go Jets. Just remember this is the company that created that alter ego. They were kicked out of DCI by Leo Mullen of all people. That should tell you something right there.

It tells me that they like the jets enough to keep them in a 10 year agreement but if TSA finds a need for them somewhere else, DAL may be willing to let that ASA go. It is called divesting from your under performers.It also leaves a lot of DAL pilots not wanting TSA to have anything to do with hiring pilots involved in a flow agreement with DAL. Read pressure from the one place that has leverage to make the flow stick, DALPA. Smart move IMHO. TSA is not someone that imo can tote the line on the customer service levels DAL wants. I see them having a hard time. Not the pilots, the airline.

In the end Pinnacle will be the core of DCI with SKW. Everything else is expendable. That is apparent. These new agreements all end in 202o or so. Everything is looking to end in 2020. What does that make people think? It has many different and varying answers, but one thing appears clear, DAL does not want DCI lift with contracts past this decade.

We will see how the flow plays out, but in the end, the careers of those pilots will be decided by their representation. Talk to your guys no matter where you are working.

 

I've seen this scenario once in my career and this one is playing out basically the same way. When we kicked CPS off our MEC the writing was on the wall that they would be sold and the flow cancelled. Trans States and Delta will try and get out of the flow agreement. If ALPA goes to work some of the guys who are now eligible to flow will come over and the rest might get guaranteed interviews. Any newhires will get nothing. I also think we will see the flow-back provision cancelled and we'll all move on as seperate carriers with no flow provisions.

I posted this same view last fall when we voted them out of the MEC, but I can't seem to find the post to quote it. The only surprise in this whole deal was how little money they got out of CPS. Delta really wants them out of the house if they took 20 million for them.

 

I think DAL still owns the 38 jets.

 

I highlighted most. It only takes one to file a DFR case. There are going to be guys that decide, for one reason or another, to stay at Compass and make their career there. For those pilots, this is a classic case where there are differing priorities regarding scope issues. Why should the MEC restrict 90 seat flying to only Delta pilots, when they represent the Compass pilots too? (assuming we kept the old structure). What if Delta decides to merge with Compass, who would be their merger reps? In this case, the Delta MEC Merger Reps would be representing BOTH SIDES in the SLI discussions. Let's say this happens 5 years from when dates of hire and flows are all mixed up. The old representational structure was an accident waiting to happen from the start.

 

I agree that the prices we sold them for indicates a fire sale. So that begs to question, Where is the fire? Something is up for those prices. What? Who knows.

It could be a plethora of things.

DOT 3
New Rigs
Hiring flows
etc.

Point is that we gave them away.

 

So Sec 1.40.e Exception 2 states:

In the event the flow provisions of NWA LOA 2006-10 and LOA 2006-14 cease to be available, either at the feeder carrier affiliate referenced in such LOAs or at another carrier, the number of jet aircraft configured with 71-76 passenger seats specified in Section 1 B.40.d will revert to 85.

Assuming they want to terminate the flow, I wonder how they'll get around this one. Hmmmm................