here is a little more information.

Delta Connection Agreement
On April 27, 2007, the Company entered into an agreement with Delta Air Lines to operate 16
CRJ-900 aircraft as a Delta Connection Carrier (the “Delta Connection Agreement”, or “DCA”).
The aircraft will be delivered between November 2007 and February 2009, with scheduled
service expected to begin in December 2007. The term of the DCA is ten years. Pursuant to the
DCA, Delta will assign 16 delivery positions to the Company under Delta’s purchase agreement
with the aircraft manufacturer. Delta also has the option to require the Company to purchase an
additional seven CRJ-900 aircraft to be operated under the DCA. The Company expects that its
Pinnacle subsidiary (the “Operator”) will operate the CRJ-900 aircraft under the DCA.
The DCA provides for Delta to pay pre-set rates to the Operator based on the capacity provided
to Delta. The Operator will be responsible for the costs of flight crews, maintenance, dispatch,
aircraft ownership and general and administrative costs. In addition, Delta will reimburse the
Operator for certain pass-through costs, including landing fees, most station-related costs and
aircraft hull and general liability insurance. In most instances, Delta will provide fuel and
ground handling services to the Operator free of charge. The Operator will earn incentive
payments (calculated as a percentage of the payments received from Delta) if the Operator meets
certain performance targets. The DCA also provides for reimbursements to Delta annually to the
extent that the Operator’s actual pre-tax margin on its Delta Connection operations exceeds
certain thresholds.
The Company expects that its EBITDAR from its Delta Connection operations will average
between $2.4 million and $2.8 million per aircraft per annum. Similar to the Company’s CPA
with Continental, the Company will likely record most revenue earned under the DCA using
uniform rates, while expenses will vary significantly from period to period. The Company’s
actual financial results are dependent on both the Operator’s operating performance and its
ability to contain its costs within the preset rates provided for in the DCA. The Company’s
actual financial results could materially differ from the estimates contained herein.

 

This is a long line of things that we allow Delta to get rid of the 50 seat aircraft. RAH will be losing the 135s to start in Aug of 08 as well as Freedom will be losing 6 145s at that time(2 per month, I think for both RAH and Freedom). Freedom is getting crj 900s as well. I would expect RAH to get more 170s if not 175s for Delta to replace the 135s.

 

This is not true. There can always be a separate pay rate even if the pilots are cross trained on both types. XJT is a good example. Pilots there are training on the EMB135/145/XR. The pilot may fly all three type on a trip but paid more when flying the 145/XR types. And Captains that hold 145 slots or "Lines" are paid at that rate even if they fly a 135 for half the month due to swaps.

Unity can resolve the eroded pay and benefits packages that have been forced down onto the Regional airlines. Also, a bit of education about the past and the current state of contracts is a responsibility we have to hold ourselves to. If you dont go out and research what others have and what the potential is then you will never step forward.

Good Luck

 

Misread something....

 

PFO: Where did you get the highlights from? Did you listen to the convo? Is there a place on the comp website that has the minutes of the convo?

Thx!

 

If you work for pinnacle, go to the company website and listen to the conference call.

 

While I am sure management would like everyone to fly both the 200 and 900, I am not sure how realistic that will be in the beginning. The first scheduled flying is only 7 months away and they have nearly 1300 pilots to send through the schoolhouse. The differences training (as far as time is concerned) is similar to the CAT II training and they still don't have everyone trained on that.

My guess is that they will have a separate bid for the initial crewmembers who will do the 900 flying and train them first. Then, they can take their time to get everyone else trained and eventually integrate the flying. If they try to train everyone by december, its going to be a nightmare.

 

Difference training does only take 2 days from what I have heard from friends at other airlines, but like you said, imagine sending all 1200 of us for difference training on 1 900 sim in Memphis, CAT II training, and new hire initial training. That is not going to happen in a timely manner unless they start sending us to other locations around the country. Like Phil said on the conference call, this is going to be a difficult year for PNCL, and that is one comment he made that I actually agree with.

 

Sir, I have a question. Suppose you're looking to getting hired around the end of the year, and assume you want the DTW base. However, [assume] that there is a Delta crew base of ATL that opens up, and you get assigned ATL.

Now, since both pilots are going to fly the CRJ200 and CRJ900, I'm assuming the lines will be all thrown together in the mix.

Does that mean that even if you were ATL based, during training, you can bid for and get DTW?

I know that's a lot of hypotheticals, and no one knows of any new base yet, or how all of it is going to work, but still.

Just gauging for your opinions on this.

Thanks!

 

I imagine that the reason phil wants us all typed is becuase there is something else on the horizon in the next year or 2 that will require it. For starters, Delta said that they might require us to buy 7 more 900s if our performance is good, plus in the ASA with Northwest, Northwest reserves the right to exhcange 200s for 700s or 900s on a one for one basis with us if the need is there. I dont think he would want all 1300 of us typed for 16 airplanes, because i am sure it would cost way less to type the 150 or so needed to operate a crew base for the 16 planes. Being in Detroit, I just would assume I never fly the thing, but get a better schedule becuase there are a lot of down south commuters that I am sure would love an ATL base