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Continental Airlines to Withdraw 69 Aircraft From ExpressJet Airlines, Inc.

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Continental Airlines to Withdraw 69 Aircraft From ExpressJet Airlines, Inc.

Old 12-28-2005, 07:54 AM
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Default Continental Airlines to Withdraw 69 Aircraft From ExpressJet Airlines, Inc.

Continental Airlines to Withdraw 69 Aircraft From ExpressJet Airlines, Inc.

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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Continental will request proposals from numerous regional jet operators to provide regional jet service to replace the withdrawn capacity.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ExpressJet can continue to sublease from Continental any of the 69 withdrawn aircraft, although at significantly increased lease rates.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 ExpressJet has up to nine months to determine whether it will continue to sublease any of the withdrawn aircraft.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
Ouch. This has mesa's name written all over it. Our owners were right - the 50 seat market is flooded.

~wheelsup
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Old 12-28-2005, 11:14 AM
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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?

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Old 12-28-2005, 11:24 AM
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sucks xjet loses cal's hubs
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Old 12-28-2005, 04:39 PM
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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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Old 12-28-2005, 05:28 PM
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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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Old 12-28-2005, 05:49 PM
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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.

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Old 12-28-2005, 06:04 PM
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Is sad to see bad companies like Mesa, and Trans States messing up good ones like Expressjet and Comair.
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Old 12-28-2005, 07:04 PM
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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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Old 12-28-2005, 08:24 PM
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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?
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Old 12-29-2005, 06:08 AM
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well put. you have gotta do what you gotta do.
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