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Continental Airlines to Withdraw 69 Aircraft From ExpressJet Airlines, Inc.
Continental Airlines to Withdraw 69 Aircraft From ExpressJet Airlines, Inc. Stocks mentioned in this article Continental Airlines, Inc.(CAL) Quote, Chart, News ExpressJet Holdings, Inc.(XJT) Quote, Chart, News PRNewswire All PRNewswire News HOUSTON, Dec. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Continental Airlines CAL today announced that it has given notice it will withdraw 69 of 274 regional jet aircraft from its capacity purchase agreement with ExpressJet Holdings, Inc. XJT and ExpressJet Airlines, Inc. (ExpressJet). ExpressJet is currently the exclusive operator of regional jet services for Continental Airlines. Continental will request proposals from numerous regional jet operators to provide regional jet service to replace the withdrawn capacity. The transition of service from ExpressJet to a new operator is expected to begin in January 2007 and be completed during the summer of 2007. Continental is withdrawing the 69 aircraft under its capacity purchase agreement with ExpressJet, as permitted under that agreement, because Continental believes the rates charged by ExpressJet to Continental for regional capacity are above the current market. Prior to today's announcement, Continental and ExpressJet attempted to negotiate a more competitive long-term contract, but the parties were unable to reach agreement. "We didn't want to take this action, but we were not able to reach an agreement with ExpressJet to lower our cost," said Continental's Senior Vice President of Asia/Pacific & Corporate Development Mark Erwin. "Continental will continue to take the difficult actions necessary to remain competitive and protect the jobs and retirement security of our 42,000 employees." ExpressJet can continue to sublease from Continental any of the 69 withdrawn aircraft, although at significantly increased lease rates. However, ExpressJet cannot operate any aircraft into Continental's hubs except under its agreement with Continental. Should ExpressJet elect to retain aircraft, those aircraft may be replaced by a new operator. ExpressJet has up to nine months to determine whether it will continue to sublease any of the withdrawn aircraft. Continental Airlines is the world's sixth-largest airline. Continental, together with Continental Express and Continental Connection, has more than 3,000 daily departures throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, serving 151 domestic and 133 international destinations, more than any other carrier in the world. More than 400 additional points are served via SkyTeam alliance airlines, which include Aeromexico, Air France, Alitalia, CSA Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, KLM, Korean Air and Northwest Airlines. With over 42,000 employees, Continental has hubs serving New York, Houston, Cleveland and Guam, and together with Continental Express, carries approximately 60 million passengers per year. Continental consistently earns awards and critical acclaim for both its operation and its corporate culture. For the second consecutive year, FORTUNE magazine named Continental the No. 1 Most Admired Global Airline on its 2005 list of Most Admired Global Companies. Continental was also included in the publication's annual "Top 50" list, which ranks all companies, across a wide variety of industries, that appear in the Global Most Admired Companies issue. Continental again won major awards at the 2005 OAG Airline of the Year Awards including "Airline of the Year" and "Best Airline Based in North America" for the second consecutive year, and "Best Executive/Business Class" for the third consecutive year. For more company information, visit continental.com . © 2005 PRNewswire http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/tic...228&ID=5381433 ~wheelsup |
I guess this means that it wouldn't be a good time to be going to express jet right now. Any body hear where they are thinking of sending that 69 jet contract yet? Or if express jet is planing on cutting any jobs?
XtremeF150 |
sucks xjet loses cal's hubs
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if people didn't see this coming they need to take their head out of the sand. nothing new here.
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I really hope mesa doesn't get the new bid. I don't even fly for xjt, but dude, mesa? That would suck really really bad.
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Mesa = that just sucks!!!
Can't something be done to stop Mesa from growing. Pilots there should at least fight for higher salaries and better working conditions. :cool: |
Is sad to see bad companies like Mesa, and Trans States messing up good ones like Expressjet and Comair.
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just out of curiosity, do mesa pilots actually get hired with major airlines? I just cant see why a major would want to hire someone who has scabbed out the majority of the regional industry.
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Not to rain on the Mesa bashing parade, but to answer your question...yes, major airlines do indeed hire Mesa pilots. In fact, for example, there's a very sizeable ex-Mesa group at SWA that I personally know of. As a Mesa pilot, I jumpseat on AA and UA, and have run into more than a fair share of ex-Mesa pilots as I shake hands to those in the cockpit.
PIC time is PIC time, whether the A/C is operated by Mesa, SkyWest, ExpressJet, etc, etc, etc. As we all heard when we were doing our primary training, "it doesn't matter where you get your licenses and ratings, just so long as you have them". Same thing applies to PIC time. As far as the "scabs" you're referring to, Freedom A, I would hope that no major, nor any other airline, employs those individuals. I know of one Freedom A scab that went on to Fed Ex, but that's hopefully an isolated incident. So, in aswer to your question: the majors do indeed hire Mesa pilots, yet the majors have not been hiring Freedom A pilots. I chose Mesa due to my personal goals in this business...particularly, to get on with SWA. Whether or not I succeed in achieving that goal remains to be seen. Three of my mentors at SWA (all ex-Mesa pilots) urged me to consider Mesa for the prospects of a relatively quick upgrade, getting 1000 PIC, and applying to SWA. In one of these mentors words, "if you go to the best regional out there, no one wants to leave, and that just puts you in the right seat longer". Makes sense to me. I'll never be the one to defend Mesa (although it appears I'm doing so). I looked into practically every regional carrier in my job search, so I'm familiar with others' contracts, and how their pay, QOL, etc differs from Mesa. Obviously, Mesa is on the low end of most variables (such as pay, days off, etc) but it's really not as much as people like to make it out to be. I didn't come to Mesa to be rich, nor did I come here to make Mesa my career stop. If I was concerned with money, I would have never left my corporate world job. Even the highest paid regional would have been close to a 75% pay cut for me. So, I really didn't see a whole lot of difference between $21 p/h first year pay at Mesa, versus whatever it is at Comair or ExpressJet. And although it would be nice to have more days off, I live with what I get. Considering I was lucky to have 3-4 days off per month when I was working in the corporate world, 13-15 days off per month here is tolerable. I sat 3 weeks on reserve when I first started, and have been a lineholder even since. A lot of the horror related to Mesa comes from being on reserve, and I have been fortunate to limit that experience. I hope Mesa pilots stand up for themsleves in 2006 when the contract is ammendable. Trust me, there are a lot of upset pilots here, and are salivating at the opportunity to make up for what was accepted during the last round. Hopefully, there won't be another Freedom fiasco to deal with either. Feel free to bash Mesa....I'm certainly not going to stop you. This isn't the perfect place (FAR from it) but what regional out there really is right now? |
well put. you have gotta do what you gotta do.
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SkyWest on the move
Rumor has it that Skywest is getting ready to move ASA on that flying of the 69 jets. After all Skywest did fly those EMB-120 for CAL not to long ago.:rolleyes:
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Just another note, but did anyone else notice that xjt's stock dropped 21% yesterday and is down another 2% today. Ouch
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Originally Posted by love2fly
just out of curiosity, do mesa pilots actually get hired with major airlines? I just cant see why a major would want to hire someone who has scabbed out the majority of the regional industry.
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Its what they have not done. XJET worked hard to get a good contract and livable wages only to get cut down by a low ball company that has shiatty work rules and a shiatty contract. The pay looks like its not that far off but when you look at soft pay time and contractual pay issues they dont even compare. When one company strives to make this job better that company just gets punched in the gut by some other company that undercuts them only because they are cheaper. Look at what happened to Comair. They fought hard to get better pay only to get shot down asap.
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its not what they do, but what they don't do.
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Superpilot's right...and I hope (and I feel I'm speaking on the bahalf of all Mesa pilots) that Mesa doesn't get a SINGLE plane at the expense of XJT. None of us in the trenches want that...but I'm sure JO is licking his chops at the opportunity.
If it's not Mesa that gets that flying, it will be CHQ, or TSA, or SkyWest...or...heck, you name it. CAL's not, at least at this point, in the dire straits that Delta is, or NWA, but they're not that far from it. Delta simply couldn't afford Comair when they went into BK. I think that's what's so unfortunate about the regional equation right now...we all, as regional pilots, are intent on blaming each other for our CEO's doing what they do. But ultimately, it's the parent companies (such as CAL, NWA, Delta, etc) who are demanding lower rates so they can sustain themselves in tough times. If it's not Mesa, or CHQ, or anyone else who agrees to fly for cheaper, they'd probably farm it out to some third-world carrier (ala like all the tech jobs are being outsourced overseas). I have many, many friends in the IT field that got layed off due to their companies being close to bankruptcy and their jobs being farmed out to cheaper labor in places like India. Is that possible in this case...no. But if it were, they'd have done it a long time ago. It's a shame. I really don't know how this is all going to end. I just hope Mesa stays away from this one...please JO, STAY AWAY!!!! |
Last one to leave...
I love how main line is blaming regionals for their profit woes. They farm off a ton of domestic flying to the regionals (to save money) and then tell them to do it for less (just in case anyone is making a living wage). It's a race to the bottom with survival of the sh*ttiest. So long as ALPA is nothing but a bunch of little fiefdoms we'll spend all of our time fighting for the scraps. At some time we need to make a stand as a pilot group and say "enough".
...turn out the lights |
Agreed!!!!!!
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Let us not forget, It is a business.
I find it interesting how everyone is willing to blame Mesa pilots and hope that they don't get the work. This is the kind of crap that divides people who should be standing together.
Remember the last time you went to Jiffy Lube to get your oil changed? Why weren't you thinking about the guy who was going to charge you the most and give him the work. It had to be better oil, he had to have better working conditions why not pay him more. I am with everyone on the fact that things are not good but someone mentioned that we all do what we have to do to survive. You get your time where ever you can, you upgrade as soon as possible so you can move on to greener pastures. So to say something like Mesa pilots are scabs or I hope that they don't get hired at majors because they worked for Mesa, think about the guy with the corner garage you put out of business by going to Jiffy Lube because it was cheaper. Its a cycle of business, I know most of you guys talking about the regional are in your 20's maybe early 20's and think you have seen the way the world works, trust me I, was there as well. I am 35 and only now realize that I still don't get it yet. But the next time you drive by, look at that corner gas station that was closed because the “little guy” could not compete with the convenience store selling gas cheaper. Its not all that different. Compete or die on the vine. People at Express Jet new this was coming, the pilots I know did anyway, like someone said if you did not see this coming you need to poke your head up and look around. Just remember the guy your bashing may be on the hiring board when you take your application in to that "major airline", so be sure to whine about mesa pilots at the interview. There is a chance you may be talking to one. Everything is changing, what do you think is going to happen when Virgin America and Skybus open their doors, the people at SWA and AirTran and JetBlue are going to feel the same heat. If you started an airline carrier to make a multiple 6 figure salary by working 10 days a month you may want to reconsider your aviation degree. Enough about that, Happy New Years everyone, make it a safe one. |
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