In fairness to Jay, maybe he jumpseated with one of those super senior guys who went from Navajos to CRJs and made crazy money just from Comair stock way back when Comair was in charge of its own destiny. There was even talk of Comair buying out another airline and getting mainline-size jets. When Delta bought Comair, all that ended, but the what ifs have gotten rosier over the years. I can easily imagine one of those guys thinking #2 777 CA would be the proper windfall. Comair has its share of crazies, just like anywhere else.

But i don't think the strike or the Lawson letter have much to do with Comair's fate. Oldest airplanes, most senior pilots, highest payscale. Shrinking to its current size has made Comair what has to be the most expensive regional in the history of aviation. I think RA pays attention to spreadsheets, not settling old scores.

As for the Lawson letter, I've always wondered what the real impact of it was. Absolutely, more ASA guys were hired as a result. But how many more, exactly, in the last 10 years? Dozens? Hundreds?

I hope the hiring spree comes soon, otherwise all those ASA FOs will face the same meager options we did all those years.

 

Well I read the death note from Gumm. Then I heard from multiple cvg maintenance buddies that Comair will cease ops on Sept 30. What a shame. Does this rumor have any truth or traction?

 

They are just rumors......................

 

Some good news to report: It looks like Comair updates? will be on the first page of the APC Regional forums for a while.

 

I can tell you that the last 3 CMR MEC administrations tried very hard to undo the harm that was done by the select few at the top during the JC era with both the DAL MEC and with DL management. I know they tried hard because I worked in various positions for those 3 MECs.

Ultimately, Comair's fate was determined by those sitting in Atlanta. Comair management really didn't "manage" Comair in the business sense, they only managed in the day-to-day operations. The suits in Atlanta actually steered the course for Comair and ultimately basically threw away an asset that they paid $1.6 Billion for (give or take a few hundred million). Delta management is the one to blame for not investing in Comair and not growing it and failing to bring its costs down. Delta management is the one that drug Comair into the sham bankruptcy. Whether or not that's payback for the strike? Who really knows for sure? But ultimately, Comair's failure is Delta management's failure.

Ultimately, I know for a fact that the CMR MEC tried tirelessly to mend the relationship. Unfortunately, everyone at CMR got shat on (can I say that, shat?? It's not really a word. If I get a "warning" for it, oh well) by Delta and ALPA National.

I left Comair for greener pastures a while ago, but I'm proud to have been able to work with most everyone there at Comair and I certainly wish everyone the best! There is life after Comair and no matter what happens I know that the professional aerial conveyance facilitators at Comair will land on their feet.

 

Hmmm does this mean I might finally get my merger contingency fund back? Might need that for my dinner contingency fund in sometime in september!

I liked friday's "don't panic" email from the union. I finally figured out the "rebuilding" logo is actually us being buried after our funeral. 6 years of dues down the toilet for nothing!!!

 

Hey RJ,

Any news on the B&C series?

 

Very well said.

 

Supposedly the 2 hour pilot episode has been shot and is ready, but they're not sure if they are going to actually air it or put it straight to DVD and scrap the whole series all together. I guess they're going to go with more wrestling on SyFy as opposed to actually producing quality SciFi shows like BSG and Caprica.

 

No stress to me; whatever your justifications are. Go shout and shake your fist about our MEC, RJDC and whatever else you feel the Comair pilot group did to wrong you with your fellow DL pilots. No one wants to hear it here. But if I was a betting man, I’d bet you’ll be back stalking the regional forums tomorrow. Sad.