Close.

You missed 3 more "officials".

 

Told you fellas it would likely be DCA and not ORD. They don't want the WOs to have similar bases to compete for new hires. And they are trying to squeeze AWAC out of the picture so for those reasons, DCA makes the most sense.

 

I was at the meeting as well. Most everything has been reported that I heard. It was the most optimistic I have ever heard our management, if that is worth anything. I have listened to him speak several times, and this time was different. I hope that really means something. We will see.

On a side note, I did not know that 3 of the people in our top management team came from Air Wisconsin. He introduced them to everyone today.

 

Guess he is happy now that Kirby is off his rear.

 

I think everyone is happy that Kirby peaced out.

 

I would not be surprised if Isom's plan for the regionals is to cut the number of contract carriers in half.
AA has said that they were going to cut "several" in the next few years. There will be 3 gone in the next 5 years for sure.

I think the fate of the WO has changes as well. Now, AA seems to want to grow all 3 of the WO. Envoy can easily go to 3000 pilots, and PSA could grow to 2500 under the new plan. I am not sure what they are planning with PDT, but it will likely involve absorbing them into Envoy, likely on a separate certificate at first. They want a CRJ carrier, and an ERJ carrier. There is absolutely no reason to duplicate the management structure and facilities that are required to run three regionals when it could easily be done by 2.

If they could ever succeed in this, and they keep the flow going, it will be possible for them to mandate that AA pilots will only come from their own WO regionals, and that time will be 5-6 years. Go to a college with a cadet program, go straight from there to a RJ (tuition reimbursement will cover a portion of training expenses), spend 2 years as a FO, 3-4 years as a captain, and flow to AA. A nice career progression that is completely sustainable. A "cradle to the grave" type of scenario.

 

I think it's a stretch to say that the WOs are going to grow that much. Make no mistake, I do believe they will TRY and grow us, but the attrition over the next few years will make that nearly impossible I think. I think PSA will end up around 1500 pilots and about 150-160 airframes primarily flying the east coast feed for AA. Any growth beyond that is impossible to predict. I think a lot will depend on what ultimately happens to Mesa as well.

 

In the future there will be far fewer regionals for new pilots to choose from. As the majors take flying back and regionals are consolidated, the ones that are left will grow.

If the lift that is currently be provided by 3 or 4 of the current regionals are all brought to the WO, then it is not hard to imagine the WO growing to those levels.

 

I think Dion and Islom are good pals

 

They used to work together, and are close.