ALK recalling more pilots!
 

Another system wide bid is going to be posted on Monday, October 25, with 12 more vacancies. The bid will be effective at the end of March. Of course, they are going to try to fill as many of those vacancies with people coming back from LOAs and Mil Leave. But, I think they are all tapped out. Here's hoping for 12 solid recalls.

Hopefully, recalls will continue through Spring & Summer and we'll actually start getting some new-hires on board.

Early congratulations for the fine guys & gals who will be getting recall letters in the near future. Glad to have you back.

Very glad to see recall going out - NOT fair to see people sitting and waiting for a letter of recall who gave up previous jobs to go to AK. I remember 'Digger' and Ryan telling me how lucky I was to get away from NWA and how great things would be @ AK (2500 pilots by 2013 - upgrades in 6 years etc).....they were good times for 3 years and then the tides turned. DAL & NWA merged and moved forward while AK got tight and started to furlough. Since then the AK staffing has been @ rock bottom limits and the top has been making making $$ hand over feet. But what of the 95 or so hijacked furloughees?

I'm sorry guys...NOT fair! I know some of you have over 60 fathers. I bet this will be a great conversation over TG.

Good luck to all of you and I pray you get back soon!!

Baja.

Yep y'all will have everyone back in time for the merger! :D

I hope it's later than sooner. You have any intel ACL? ATL told us that they want AK but that AK doesn't want to be bought. I'm guessing the only way this will happen is if it's forced (AA? HAL...?) You have any up to date intel?

Baja.

No intel. Just tea leaves. It is true that AS does not want to be bought, but with public stock it may the choice of the lesser of two unwanted suitors.

AS is a major feeder for our Asian Ops and if that is pulled from underneath DAL, many of our Asian flights from the West Coast will be put in jeopardy.

@ACL - Agreed. I read the leaves the same as you. Better the way it is, but it will happen is my guess. Better us than AA. I kept hearing in ATL during the quick indoc that DAL has 2 years to make 'all' the mergers happen that they want before the Uni-Cal merger happens. Huh....we'll see what happens. My guess is that AK knows it's going to happen and they are protecting themselves and the share holders by tightening ship and raising the stock price. Currently $50+...wow...a top price. Stoked share holders (including myself.) Let's watch the fun.

Baja.

Hah! "Digger" Nice... :)

Stock swaps are zero cash. If AMR buys them they get to pay a the poison pill for terminating our code share with money they frankly do not have.

DAL needs AS, HI, and the NKS LA routes in the next two years. AMR will do something with B6 and most of the B6 terminal in JFK will become our domestic terminal by default. (No customs) I see that is a very doable phase two to our JFK plan. !:D

Oh yeah, this in not a DAL thread. :eek:

At least I'm HWP. I'll look good in that Russian Submarine Officer's uniform. My name tag will read "Vasili Borodin." I'll probably have to move to Montana and buy a recreational vehicle.

No problem with that. Uniforms are not that bad. Buy baggy. :D

That's providing that I still have a job after the merger. If I do manage to survive being totally &#%$ed, I'll be sure to wear my hat commuting from SEA to JFK, ATL, etc.

I am sure you will have a job. It seems like the hiring here as been put on hold. The AS flying needs to be done because of the feed it provides, they are getting rid of any real overlap, so like the NWA merger it would be end to end IMO. Probably some growth too.

Alaska? Don't you mean American?;)

If DAL bought AMR that would be sweet, but lead to a lot of job loss.

Or is it? :eek:

What does DAL do with the unique Alaska flying that Alaska does? Rebrand it? And then who runs that revenue in the northwest, a company from Georgia? Given how we've handled LAX over the years it seems like you might want to keep some SEA marketing management stuff intact.

And while I'm assuming DAL-AS merge, will LaHood allow it even with no overlap? Wouldn't AMR lobby it to death? And I mean SWA just bought AAI, if AMR goes and gets B6 then a lot of the non-legacy major carriers are disappearing.

The rest I'll save for the Delta forum.

My guess is that flying would get spun off to a regional carrier that flies large turboprops (for the good runway performance) and that already has experience with RNP (for JNU, KTN etc.) and CAT III (for those crappy days in ANC). :eek:

Funny that you mention that...a certain regional carrier that flies large turboprops (that have RNP/CATIII), was recently seen in the ANC area flying to KTN. The tech pilots were "testing RNP", and won't say anymore...but you know what they say about ducks...

Interesting.

I flew for a regional up in AK and that would be a major deal if they do that.

Here's to 10 more years in the right seat.

One benefit is that you'd have the option to be in the right seat of a 767 or 330 going to Asia. You'd also get more options for the Left seat but that would not be in SEA.

10yrs?!? That's very optimistic!:eek:

You must have missed the "more" in the sentence. 10 more years!

What you call overlap, most of us call giving DAL flying away.....FYI.

I commute anyway so I couldn't care less about SEA. Depending on how a SLI worked out I would probably still end up in the right seat of a narrow body for the foreseeable future. At least I have some bubbas I can crash with in ATL.

SL - If they were seen it's not like it was a Black Op's mission. Who was it? Horizon? And can anyone else fill in the blanks here? This is VERY interesting. They could test RNP anywhere, why KTN (SE AK?) The rumor or AS dropping in state (AK) flying stopped over a year ago.....huh. A 70 seat TP makes a lot more sense than 700's. But how will they do the cargo feed? Or does AS even care?

Baja.

Every thread evolves into a DAL thread on this site. :)

Here's to more recalls @ AS. It'd be nice to see the fleet grow a bit as age 65 retirements accelerate.... as long as the new airplanes aren't Embraers operated by a third party.

Aircraft 407QX was broke in KTN a while ago and all mgmt said was it was a misprint. But what other airports do we fly to that starts with a K? KMT is gone. Congrats on the recalls. Hope everyone is back soon.

So did anyone 'see' it there or just paper rumor???

Baja.

I didn't personally see it but many say they heard and saw it. Maybe SL has more info. Or anyone else.

For the 16 years I worked at Horizon there were always on-again, off-again rumors of QX heading up to the great white north. But, if DL does end up buying AS I could see this finally coming true.

It could go something like this: DL keeps QX as a wholly-owned (I know DL is trying to get out of the WO business but it might be different with QX since they already have their own established brand). QX would then take over the majority of the intra-Alaska flying and keep their Pac-NW TP flying. The west coast RJ type flying that QX had would get sent to one of the other DCI operators (QX's RJ's are going away anyway). DL would keep the ANC/FAI to the lower 48/Hawaii and would take as much belly cargo as they could on those flights. The cargo only and combi airplanes would be gone along with the rest of the 737-400 fleet.

Imagine that, a broken Q400 :eek:

KMT? Kampot, Cambodia? Or did you mean LMT, Klamath Falls, OR? Either way, you're right, I don't think that QX flies to any airport that start with a K.

Looks like the military "teat" has dried up for the Reserves. Many of us took a mil LOA when furloughs started to help keep guys on property. Well since this all happened, we don't have orders to stay out anymore and more importantly it just got pretty challenging to make a living. I imagine many returning over the next couple months. What terrible timing.

I hope they come up with some money soon to keep the MPA going at least on a limited basis. Doesn't sound promising though.

Anyone have any idea how many military guys are planning on coming back with this round of 12?

On the previous group of 12, I heard rumors that not all were coming back. I know the 2 week period is coming up, any word on actual numbers?

Giddy but reserved....

Looks like money came through till the end of the year. Hopefully more after that.

Alaska Air CEO Confident Of Keeping Hawaii Advantage

By Doug Cameron, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Alaska has more than a dozen marketing ties with other airlines and is seen as a logical takeover candidate for a carrier such as the American Airlines unit of AMR Corp. (AMR) looking to beef up its west coast presence.

"It's not that we are totally opposed [to a deal]," said Ayer after a speech at an industry conference in Seattle.

He said Alaska just preferred the prospects of continuing as an independent operator, mining its strong community links with the Pacific Northwest.

__________________________________________________ _______________

That was a subtle but significant change of tone...

Please don't let it be AMR.

I think the mighty Bill just showed his hand...Just pray it's the Widget and not the Staple bunch!

Baja.

Both Alaska and Horizon are on the block.