Tough trend?
 

wow, so this has been an interesting week for the airline business. Aloha is closing their doors. Champion just announced they will be ceasing operations in may. Northwest and Delta started talks again and look like they are going to push ahead with the merger deal. in less than a month there will be over a thousand well qualified pilots back on the market. when will it start to ease up?

We'll see how "tough" it plays out, one thing is for certain, it will be interesting. Wish the best for all the Champion / Aloha folks out there though, hopefully they can make a move that will be somewhat secure. Also hope that NW/DAL will find a way to get through this without guys losing their jobs, know people who are at the bottom of both seniority lists, and that's not a fun place to be, especially with stuff up in the air. Best of luck to everyone, including myself over the rest of this year.

emirates, etihad, jet airways, and all the asian carriers are probably excited that they can scoop up more qualified u.s. pilots, because theyre hurting for em over there. sad isnt it how backwards things are?

Northwest had some sort of stake in Champion. Makes me wonder if their shutting down had something to do with that.

no it had more to do with flying gas guzzling 727's that require a 3-man crew and are expensive to maintain

I thought they were in the middle of some brutal contract talks as well.

Champions problem was surely not related to labor costs. Too bad for everyone there and Aloha

You couldn't be more wrong

Plus bringing along one sometimes two Flight Mechanics, at least on all of there charter trips. I used to see them in Lucaya, Bahamas doing charter trips for Atlantis, Hotel and Casino, and the always brought along two mechanics.

I feel really sorry for both companys and wish everyone there the best of luck. I hope I am not ever at a company when the doors close.:(

Good luck to everyone, its starting off to being a bumpy ride this year!

Champions shut down had almost everything to do with NWA. IT was NWA that "took" all the MLT flying and made it their own. IT was NWA that curiously bid and won all of Champions sports team flying. Wow, in a matter of moments, there's no work for Champion. Combine that with fuel and gas guzzling 727s, their shut down was seen 8 miles away. Anyone ever wonder why their contract never got settled? Because mgmt knew what was going on and it only made sense to drag it out!

I knew when NWA didn't send some unneeded 319s to Champion during Ch11, Champion was doomed.