erj145s for skywest
 

anyone have any theories on this? we went to the faa to get authorization to fly erj-145s. surprised me, with all the 50 seat obsolescence talk. think it's just due to the expressjet offer? or something else behind this?

hmmm
 

Maybe to buy Mesa?

Doesn't Mesa have thirtysomething ERJs that will be out of work soon?;)

More like 20+, some of them are going to TSA as I understand it. I'll try to find the link.

It's true, authorization from the FAA was given yesterday. Training programs are in the works as we speak.

They do appear to be spooling up for training...

But what for??? It seems we could buy used CRJ's to fill a 50-seat opportunity. Why ERJs? For once I really have no idea or even a good guess as to what is going on here...

This has been in works for months, I heard about it last year, but had assumed it was going to be EJets, not ERJs.

If we buy mesa, we inherit the pilots too. I could maybe see buying the freedom certificate after most of the pilots are removed, but freedom already has ERJ authority...why would SKW need ERJ authorization just to own/operate freedom? They wouldn't...

that's what i'm saying. i find it odd that just because we may or may not buy some other company (which would be operated independently post buyout like asa) we would be doing this. so it must be for something else.

Hey maybe us Bro guys will get first dibs seeing how we are already checked out on the big wheel handles:D

Hey Wavit, how long does it take to put together and start such a training program?

chq threw a crj training program together real fast so i can imagine a 145 program wouldnt be a real hassle. I wonder if they are doing this to pick up the pieces from a faltering express jet or maybe get some american flying that eagle cant staff

my guess was for the continental flying expressjet is supposed to be losing (if things fell through) and, if expressjet didn't sell to skywest, continental still plans to pull the airplanes from them, which they could then lease to skywest who would need authorization to fly them. The only reason i could imagine them not going with CRJ's would have something to do with a deal struck between continental/skywest which is financially better than them attempting to find and purchase more canadairs from the desert.

can't exj continue to operate these airplanes just like they did when cal took away planes the first time...I don't think CAL can just lease these planes

Ding Ding Ding!!!!!! What do we have for him Johnny?!

You have stumbled onto the exact thing that is happening behind the scenes.

As I posted before:

It's becoming a burden being right this often. In all seriousness for the XJT guys I wish I were wrong on this one. In addition, sadly, I believe (read as know) that SkyWest's experience with the ASA acquisition further soured their attitude toward ALPA and as such they just want the contract with CAL, the equipment to execute it, and will dispose of anything else they can. Saabarooski's comment about XJT guys interviewing for their own jobs at first year pay may prove prophetic. Good luck to all. Be proactive.

That is correct. XJT can keep all or some of them. Thus leaving CAL in another pickle because if some of the 51 or all are XRs you can bet XJT will keep them and use them. I suspect CAL wont make that mistake again but there is NO way XJT will just give up the XRs. If 20 of the 51 were XRs and the rest er's, lr's, and 135s i would guess XJT would give those back unless another carrier wants xjt to fly them. Either way XJT has first rights to ALL aircraft.

Short of XJT going out of business thats not going to happen per the ALPA pilot contract and scope language. The only way around the scope clause is going out of business or XJT pilots giving it away neither of which will happen IMHO. I sincerely hope you XJT guys give them He1l !! Good luck guys

Except that is exactly what CAL and SkyWest are planning to do and unless XJT wants to keep dozens of ERJs to add to their branded flying or for something else then they will slowly be bled to SkyWest. I don't like it either but trust me when I tell you; that's the plan as of today.

SkyWest just wants the CAL flying and the planes........ not the union pilots.:(

Skywest thinks they are going to get in bed with CAL for 70 seaters and thats not going to happen. CAL pilot arent going to let it happen thankfully. I hope if that happens then XJT dumps the old crappy 135s and ERs on Skwests lap after they strip them down with all the upgrades XJT had done, or at least RIPS Skywest or CAL off on the price of the upgrades. XJT probably will be doing the mx on them also when its all said and done, boy i bet thats going to be expensive. Oh and it wouldnt be far fetched that the XJT training center might be doing the training, man that would be fun to sit in on wouldnt it. LOL Whats a shame is these non-union carriers are doing the flying that should be done by the mainline alpa pilots. The mainline pilots should at the very least stand up and stop non-union pilots from doing the flying. Its too bad I am not in charge of ALPA ;)

as posted earlier it sounds like SKW is starting up a training program...who knows

just because a skywest FO in the "know" mentioned adding it onto the ticket doesnt mean a training program is a done deal ;)

Have you gotten checked out in the Diesel 9 yet ? Those union mainline pilots agreed with management's handing over their flying to regionals.

Maybe you should be in charge of the companies that hand out the contracts. I doubt ALPA would have any more impact in the future than they have in the past.

Been done with training for a while now thanks for checking though. Here is some news for you. Those same union pilots who let the cat out of the bag are currently working on putting it back. The merger contract that is being discussed right now will be reducing and putting a cap on the regional flying. This time though both the pilots and the mgmt teams want to reduce regional flying thus making it easier to get accomplished.

I just hope this isn't the reason why the want to get rid of XJT's Holding Letter. SKW buys XJT and then transfers aircraft over to SKW with their new authorization.

Continental stated in its letter that in the absence of entering into a new capacity purchase agreement with XJT that contains “savings of the magnitude we have negotiated with SkyWest”, then Continental expects to deliver a notice on June 28, 2008 to withdraw 51 aircraft from the Continental CPA.

It is clear that its a negotiating tactic on CAL's part. Either they get their savings from SKW or from an independent XJT. Nothing in that letter said that CAL was going to release aircraft if XJT didn't get bought out by SKW.

Also, if CAL releases aircraft from the CPA, XJT has the first right of refusal on them. This is the same deal they tried with CHQ. CAL thought XJT would give those aircraft back and they would sublease them to CHQ. I hope that SKW doesn't fall for the same trick because then SKW would be counting on calling XJT's bluff again.

Refer to my reply to flynavy.

Hey, thanks for straightening me out. Seems the regionals were great when you were building time to get to fly that 30 year old mainline plane, but now you've been in the "big show" for a few weeks, you're a-holes to belly buttons in line to get those bad regionals.

At least you don't hide behind your hypocrisy. Again, thanks for sharing.

Here is where you have again proven you dont know what you're talking about. Even when i was at the regionals i didnt want scope relaxation. I am and was the biggest advocate of CAL keeping the 50 seat Scope limitation. None of these jets ever should have been at any regional. I am no hypocrite, my goal has always been to move on and try to become part of the solution. You better believe my goal is to make sure no more mainline jobs are given away. Anyone in their right mind wouldnt want scope relaxation because the more RJs there are the less mainline jobs there are. The mainline pilot groups have finally seen the damage that was caused by allowing the first wave of regional jets and they/we are actively working on putting an end to it. The mainline companies are where the money is at. Even with concessionary payscales its far more than the regionals. If you are content flying at the regionals for regional pay then enjoy but dont be shocked when the majors all start cutting regional feed. Being at the whim of the major you fly for sucks no matter what regional you are at.

Also dont pretend you know how long i have been at NWA your wrong again, oh and your jab at my 30 year old airplane was cute, but most are 30-40 years old get it right. Also is flying an older airplane supposed to be a put down? :cool: Congrats on your "achievement" of aviating from the right seat in a CRJ and good luck with that case of SJS :cool:

i also hope not. i doubt that would be the case. not the way they like to do business in st. george. as far as i can tell by all the info you and others have posted, the biggest reason skywest inc. wants to negotiate that stuff out is so there doesn't have to be a merging of all the groups, which would create far more problems than it would solve, from a smoothly-running-company standpoint. maybe there are other clauses they would seek to change? i obviously don't know. you have mentioned what seems to be the biggest one.

Well said.

Now to add to the conversation... How much does it cost to add an aircraft? Perhaps SKYW is doing it as a scare tactic to help persuade XJT's decision to sell?

Although I'm not sure how much it would scare XJT..

the way things are going it looks like the majors care more about the Int'l Flying since those are the money makers. The majors might be more willing to be lax on the "domestic" scope clauses that gives more flying to the regionals and getting those aircraft at the regional closer to those 100 seat "regional" jets..

I'm wrong about how long you've been at the big show? I said weeks... so how many weeks, 10, 20 max ? Ya, you're an old hand now (snort, belch). Yeppers, you're the sheeeet.

I actually worked at Douglas Aircraft, building the DC-9, probably while you were filling your diapers up. I can't give ya too much grief, 'cuz I wouldn't want to be on the bottom of the seniority list of a merging airline, in an obsolete airplane. Good luck, chief.

Obviously, shiny jet syndrome isn't something you get in a DC9 !!!

Certainly counter to what sluperpilot is spewing. If regionals (contract) flying can be done cheaper, I suspect that will win out in the end. Just the facts of life.

I predict the first thing a merged NWA / DAL will do is park the DC-9 and replace it with some big regional type jets. What pilots will be flying them is the only real question in my mind.

Save a few short-sighted folks out there, I don't think anybody really wants scope relaxation. Its pretty clear when you have 7 daily flights to FWA from ORD in CRJ-700s that there is a problem. Mainline can barely break even and the regionals are raking in the cash? Either this is an elaborate money shuffle or something needs to be done.

Superpilot, I agree with many of your stances, but unfortunately I don't think XJT has anymore aces up their sleeves. This guess could certainly be wrong, but I think they would be smarter to either start securing more regional flying or give the planes back. I don't think the branded flying can support that much expansion (although you know better than I do) and just holding on to airframes to make CAL mad is childish and not in the best interest of the XJT pilots, the shareholders or anybody else that I can think of.

I know you and Superpilot have a nice banter going back and forth, but your posts lately haven't been keeping with your normal amount of level-headedness, Tony. I often disagreed with yet always respected your posts...but that's starting to slip. What's changed to make you have such a stereotypical "my airline and airplane is better than yours" regional pilot attitude? You're starting to sound suspiciously like the cocky XJT FOs from 4 years ago and the RJET 170 FOs from 3 years ago...and your comments certainly don't seem to be tongue-in-cheek.

Not that it really matters and certainly not that I'm your keeper, but as an outside observer it definitely has me wondering ***?

amen to that.....

one word. sapa. they pick them young and naive so they can mold and brainwash them into the company yes men. its a sad but real truth.

But Tony isn't young, and shouldn't be naive. He has more aviation industry experience than a dozen average regional FOs having been an air traffic controller, member of NATCA, and evidently an employee of Douglas Aircraft. He's obviously been around long enough to see the ebb and flow of the industry...if he was paying attention.

No, I don't think your hypothesis works for Tony. Maybe some SKYWers, but not him.

Tony doesn't have to justify himself or any of his statements to me or anybody else...but I am curious why the shift in his demeanor has taken place.

Skywest has been getting smacked around on the internets a lot recently, and it grates on you to get called a w#$re every day by anonymous people.

Sucks even worse for those of us who think that overall it's a good company but don't drink all the koolaid St. George serves. I feel stuck in the middle and get ****ed at both the skywest haters and those who think that SKW can do no wrong.

If they really are planning on getting expressjet's 145's to fly for continental, I'm not going to be happy.

Mesa's certificate has ERJ approval also, those ERJ's were on the Mesa certificate and moved to Freedom for scope reasons with Delta.

Those of you who think the Skywest is going to take the planes and not the pilots have to be smoking something. Where are they going to find pilots to fill those seats? I do not think many Express Jet guys will go over to fly the planes and start over in seniority.

I think CAL is playing Express at the cost of Skywest. Good luck guys.

You got that right.

Skywest has the pilots right now- we got boatloads of guys sitting around on reserve and everybody else scrambling to fly more than 75 hrs /mth. No pilot shortage here my friend.

And Tony W. I wish you would stop trying to make yourself the skywest spokesperson on here... you make us all look bad.