That would be 4th largest Pelican.

 

Why no ETOPS alternates in eastern Russia? AS used to serve Petro, Vlad, Magadan and Khavarovsk. I wish you would return so my next crew change in UHPP doesn't require two nights on airliners and much of a day waiting in UUEE.

GF

 

You are a union equipment operator not a stock broker.....will market cap(whatever the heck that means) get you more money or an upgrade....NO...will it make your mgmnt richer....YES....so size is what matters for union equipment operators...dont forget it....blue collar good...white collar enemy

 

I wish pilot pay was that simple-fly plane, make money. In our world, even with most pilots represented by one union, we still have individual pilot groups negotiating with each airline's management.

Market cap (wall street's perceived value of a company) is a reflection of a company's earnings or earnings growth. Unless a company is a startup,
earnings do directly affect our upgrade time and our ability to negotiate a better contract. Look at F9. Do you think BB was able to extract concessions, because they were making money hand over fist? You know Alaska management will try to negotiate away the pilot's pension every time we negotiate a contract. As long as we are making money, the pension stays or they buy it from us.

Your airline's market cap does affect your upgrade time. I know there are legacies that have an older work force--AA can continue to lose money and you could still get your captain seat. Alaska has had relatively slow and steady growth. With the exception of a few years, one third of it's pilots every ten years. As long as we are making record profits, management is going to grow the airline as fast as possible (in relatively speaking). So far, they've grown ASMs by replacing smaller airplanes with bigger airplanes. With the delivery of the -900s, that will continue. As long as the current plan sticks, the fleet, and block hours will increase, thus lowering upgrade time.

 

So what happened to you guys? Your company is bustin out with market cap and cash and record profits and 78% of you agree to abandon your retirement, take wage and benefit cuts and allow skywest and republic to do your flying¿?¿



guys

 

I can't speak for everyone, but most junior guys wanted out of the pension plan. They wanted something that could not be taken and was portable. In regards to wage and benefit cuts, those actually went up from the last contract, but are still below the high. Skywest...that is a whole different thread. Not good at all but they are doing flying for Horizon so there is not much we can do.

 

First of all, what company do you work for? I'm just curious, since you like to drop grenades in the Alaska threads and refer to our pilots as "you guys."

Our company is "bustin' out with market cap and cash and record profits" today. When our current contact was negotiated it was during and after $140 oil and with our stock price lingering in the teens. Not many people, including investment bamkers, could predict our stock rising 4 fold over the next 2 years. Our company at the time was barely worth the cash it had on hand which was barely 750 million.

We didn't vote to "abandon" our pension. We were given a choice. Most pilots have kept some form of it. No other pilot group that I'm aware of has been given an option with there retirement plan. Pensions have been robbed from every pilot group except for a few.

 

P.S. RAH doesn't do any flying for Alaska...yet.