Expect to be IAD base for at least 5 to 6 months.

How many are on the seniority list now? Is there anything new on pilot retention?

Dulles is going to be rebid on within a few months with the DOT. Silver wants and needs Dulles to stay afloat right now, but I am not sure the Dulles outstations want Silver anymore. It will be interesting to see what happens...

Also, pilot retention will never be a concern for management. They only want to recruit new pilots because that pilot is much cheaper to pay. The training is a sunk cost.

They have to do something ASAP to attract and retain the current pilots otherwise I'm not sure whats gonna happen here. A lot of people leaving in the past couple months.

What makes you think the out stations don't want Silver? I don't mean to ask in a condescending manner or anything, I'm just wondering what you know that I don't.

Apart from the occasional mx delay most of the flights up here run pretty smoothly. I'm sure they're bidding at the moment against other EAS carriers like 6G and 9K but from what I've noticed the out stations don't just look at prices. They actually care about reliability, speed, and even the availability of a lav.

The people out there already get freaked out by the Saab, I can't imagine their reaction when they see a Navajo or a 402 pull up to get them.

Conversely, if a larger, RJ flying, regional is trying to pick those routes up they'll have to deal with mountainish flying and the occasional short runway like in MGW.

The information is all out on the internet Silver's performance at the outstations. Unfortunately several outstations passenger loads have dropped dramatically. I believe SHD had the biggest dip, I don't know if it came from United cutting ties with Silver, or Silvers poor performance. That being said, some passenger loads have held, like MGW, LWB, and I think JST as well. I know several airport managers have posted in their local newspapers that they were not happy with Silver. But as you mentioned, the biggest thing going for Silver is that nobody else may want the routes.

I agree. MGW is the only route in IAD system with the most loads. Dubois is pretty much empty mlst of the times with may be 1 to 5 people, samething with CKB and PKB. IAD is totally different than Florida which most of the flts are always full.

I doubt the IAD system even gets rebid if the staffing is as bad as my friends there say it is.

I haven't really been around long enough to judge the fluctuations in passenger loads. I did take 32 out of SHD the other day, but those days are few and far between. MGW continues to be the big seller by far. I often see 15 - 20, which is huge up here.

I can speculate that the drop in SHD you mentioned to the lack of performance into SHD. When a plane is mxd or something happens that threatens to halt some operations SHD is the sacrificial lamb. It's a 2 hour drive from Dulles. So they cancel SHD and shuttle the passengers over, hopefully not in one of those ****hole ABC Cabs.

I'm just hoping they don't close Dulles. I kinda like it up here. But if they do I'll just go to Commutair after I cash in my bonus.