It's hit and miss, slightly more miss unfortunately. SAP opens tomorrow at noon PHX time on FLICA. As soon as you're able, ideally the literal second it opens, try to drop it. Guys are on their computers just ready to pounce as soon as SAP opens, and it's first come first serve. So if they beat you to dropping those days off, and we're only above the buffer by one, they get it.

Once it opens you can also see what the reserve buffers are at for those days, if we're above them, etc. Unfortunately you can't drop partial trips during SAP.

If you're unable to drop it, look for a favorable swap instead. Barring that, just keep an eye on it; sometimes you'll get lucky and we'll get above the buffer again.

 

Ironic timing.

Rising higher: Mesa Air Group comes back from bankruptcy to become the biggest Valley-based airline - Phoenix Business Journal

 

Mar 20 2015?

One interesting thing from this tho - they mention how mesa got a surplus of pilots before being awarded the 175 contract. Right now we have a HUGE surplus on the 175s, at least for the CAs anyhow.

 

If so why this ****ty TA?

 

So which is it? He tells our union one thing (razor thin margins) so he can try to get away with not paying us, and he tells the public we are comfortably profitable. Don't care that this was written 6 months ago...our profits haven't shrunk in that time. There is more money than he led the union to believe.

Glad I voted no. Any yes voters should reconsider. MEC/NC need to go back to flying the line. We need people in touch with pilot group's wishes/demands to lead our union.

 

BC he doesn't need a TA! Steady supply of pilots, more airplanes on the way, 60 Million in the bank!

 

Attrition > new hires isn't too far off. I went up 12 spots globally this month (my avg since DOH has been around 10), and a third of the seniority list is behind me. I know FOs behind me are quitting at an increasing rate, too. We have been hovering around 1200 total for some time. We are fat now (but still holding back ejet FOs, so guessing they aren't fat), but that can turn to "short" very quickly. Especially when he announces a handful of new jets and we need to staff more.

I know people at Mesa have been saying for a while that a shortage will happen and we won't fill classes, and it hasn't happened yet, but when it does this place is going to derail. Could be 6 months, could be a year, could be 3-5 as our flying contracts are up for renewal. I hope I'm not around to deal with the train wreck that will ensue. This is a house of cards. I don't think mesa will necessarily turn out the lights (never does), but shrinkage isn't out of the question (e.g. UAL will decrease more 700s over the next 5 years...I'd be surprised if we are still flying UAX CR7s beyond 5 years).

Short term I think we will grow a little bit more and be ok as we dupe more new hires into thinking they will be johnny ejet captain in a year. Then we will plateau and it will start to get painful.

1) More flying with advertised (but unrealistic for new hires today) quick upgrades, or 2) an industry standard contract, would prolong maintaining acceptable staffing levels. The latter would have a longer lasting positive impact. But we don't need that right now in JO's eyes so we won't get it anytime soon. Hell, he wants turnover to be high here to keep labor costs down. Every day, we are closer to the shortage, and the closer to the shortage we are, the more leverage we will get. Could be a year, could be more. I'll wait. Better than caving to this POS and locking it in for another 5-8+ years.

I stole this from another thread, but (due to ALPA's rhetoric with most of the crappy TA's of late, especially at the majors) we seem to negotiate bad deals in the good times (record profits) for the bad times that are right around the corner, and we negotiate bad deals during the bad times because we are in the bad times. We never have and never will have a "good" negotiating climate. We have to deal with that, identify it, and work through it.

Our negotiating climate will be as good or better than it was over the last couple years. They need us more than we need them (any one of us can hand pick which regional to go to...hasn't been the case for a while). We can leave after a year or two and cover our seniority reset with higher pay elsewhere. Mainline partners are making record profits. Mainline will pay regionals more when regionals as a whole cant staff (barring age 67/1500 hr rule changing). Other than RAH, there aren't a lot of cancelations due to crew shortages. Yet. At some point pay will have to continue to rise to remain a viable regional to attract and retain pilots. Some airlines have figured that out and are trying to be proactive in managing that reality. JO is rolling the dice that he can hold off.

 

Being fat on pilots is a good thing because it means we are readily available for more flying unlike other carriers that are already struggling with pilot numbers. And as for the 700's in IAD, I have said this before and I'll say it again. The 700's will be around for a good while. Case in point, UAL is putting wifi in all of them. Apparently that is like a 500k install per aircraft.

 

BeatNavy, it's all blah blah at this point.. I respect everything you're saying and agree with everything, (besides contracts up for renewal, earliest current contract is up in 2019, 700s aren't going anywhere - Wifi just now being installed) but at this point you FO's at $22 or 29/hr are nothing but a revolving commodity in this labor market. You guys come and go between regionals in today's world. I've said this before and I'll say this again, Jonathan and the management team have yet to even TOUCH on things like hiring bonuses; add that to no interview and an announcement of another 10 planes, FOs for atleast another 1-2 years, easily.

Don't take this the wrong way - I'm not approving of this TA, the company, or saying any of this is right - I'm just stating facts. Jonathan is a LONG way from feeling actual pressure to offer us any sort of actual respectable sort of TA.

 

We're averaging $60 million cash on hand on a daily basis recently--the company is gearing up for some sort of asset purchase/acquisition, and this TA was just an attempt to lock in a concessionary agreement before the further growth was announced.

We're having a brief lull in hiring/upgrades before the next phase of expansion, and this is the perfect time for the company to try to lock-in 2011 costs at increases that are less than inflation overall.