Word says a new Alaska position bid hits the streets tomorrow:

Growth in SEA.
Small increase in PDX (2 crews?).
Status quo in LAX.
Big hit (17 crew reduction) in ANC.

Good luck everybody.

 

Sounds about right. Hear that SEA and PDX will grow. LAX shrink or stay the same, and ANC will become a turn base.

 

Can I bid the 737 in a Delta base?

 

What are retirements like here? Any numbers available?

 

Retirement numbers based on Age 65 (we've had some retire already, so these numbers are not 100% accurate):

2012: 1
2013: 18
2014: 31
2015: 36
2016: 47
2017: 46
2018: 43
2019: 49
2020: 55
2021: 57
2022: 56
2023: 50
2024: 60
2025: 57
2026: 52
2027: 77
2028: 55
2029: 76
2030: 51
2031: 58
2032: 69
2033: 56
2034: 67
2035: 63
2036: 54
2037: 39
2038: 22
2039: 25
2040: 18
2041: 26
2042: 14
2043: 10
2044: 6
2045: 4
2046: 2
2047: 0
2048: 1

 

We hired someone that was 23 years old!?!?! I see a 2048 retirement...that is 37 years from now and we have not hired for 5 years!

 

The youngest pilot on the property was hired in November of 2007 and was 24 years old at the time... got shafted with the furlough shortly thereafter, but still nice to be hired on at 24, just 6 years after graduating high school. Okay, I feel really old now.

 

What are Alaska schedules like? Do they vary by base? What is reserve like? What is the average days off for line-holders? Thanks!

 

The flying at Alaska Airlines varies quite a bit as you can imagine. We have 5 leg days through SE Alaska and the Arctic, transcons, transpacs, turns out of each base worth anywhere from 5 hours(which is our min per day) to 8 hours, and everything in between. We have some redeyes, but no more than most majors except SWA. Trip lengths are 1 to 4 days, with the occasional 5 day. We have a trip rig here of 1:3.5 (1 hour of pay for each 3.5 hours tafb), so you will be compensated for longer trips and longer layovers. *I don't think the trips are particularly commutable as a rule. If you have a short commute like GEG-SEA or LAS/PHX/SFO-LAX, obviously you'll find the commutability better. I used to commuted from Nor Cal to LAX. *I was frustrated by how many of our trips were not commutable by a matter of minutes.*

Line stats for Sept at each base:
LAX Avg block per duty 5:28, days off min/max/avg: 13/18/14.9
PDX Avg block per duty 5:11, days off min/max/avg: 13/19/15.4
SEA Avg block per duty 5:40, days off min/max/avg: 12/20/15.1
ANC Avg block per duty 5:23, days off min/max/avg: 12/18/14.7

We have long call (75 hr guarantee) and short call reserve (79 hr guarantee). All reserves get two sets of two days off, one set of three days off and one set of 5 days off (it is possible for reserves to bid to have the last five days of one month off followed by the first 5 days of the following month off to get a stretch of time off). *Short calls have a 2 hour report time, while long calls have an 11 hour report time. LCs generally get used before SCs when possible. LCs definitely get used a lot more than SCs. Since I'm a lineholder, I could be a little off on this, but SEA reserves get used the most, especially during summer. I think there were plenty that flew up to guarantee or even a little more. I think the reserves based at the smaller domiciles fly much less. It appears to me that most fly 30-50 hours with some flying more or less than that range. I believe there were two FOs in LAX that weren't used at all in the month of June.*

 

Cessnacaptn

Any chance AK will go back to the Russian Far East routes?

GF