Well I'm happy for you branded hit it's projections. Guess they were set just a little low then. Sorry I didn't know you were in charge of hiring.

Still waiting on that PM.

 

One third of the workforce at CAL is former XJT (people talk)....and your name has actually been dropped a few times in the CAL forums (XJT pilots have access). If I was you, since you're obsessed with going to CAL, I'd get away from the forums, and grab a slice of humble pie.

 

Pardon me? I'm furloughed, my friend. Just ask Bond; I'm not exactly the biggest XJT cheerleader in the world. I miss my old company but I'm not going to sit here and blow sunshine up anyone's butt and talk about how everything went according to plan. If it did, we wouldn't have 347 of our brothers and sisters on the street.

However, I won't sit here and let you armchair quarterback the happenings of a company you don't have any vested interest in. Here are the facts, coming from a guy presently flying C402s in the Caribbean after losing his seat: Just as everyone has been telling you, Branded met every goal and then some. Oil spiked over the summer, which had nothing to do with the business plan. It's a very big shame that it happened the way it did, but if oil had stayed where it was Branded would have been profitable. The load factors were just becoming strong, and the fares were on the rise to meet the demand.

Don't think for a second XJT fumbled this one. Those are the facts, kool-aid not included.

 

I believe I argued this point into the ground when I said he was a good ceo and you guys were screaming about the midwest deal.

 

So what does that say about the business plan? I understand load factors etc were met. However no matter how you slice it branded flying on 50 seat aircraft with XJTs higher cost infrastructure did not have the chips in it's favor. No one wished things the way it did I hoped like hell it had continued for multiple reasons but it was obvious the business model simply wouldn't work. From the get go till it's closing it's large investors stated the same worries. As far as me not having any vested interest. I owned several thousand shares of it at one point. Fortunately I was able to get out when I did. My information never came from word of mouth it came from quarterly reports, CEO statements, analyst outlooks, etc. When they all point to a downhill trend it doesn't matter how or why it happens it just means it's going to happen. I never said it was a crap product I simply said that based on the information available it was not going to be successful. I do respect your post you make some good points. There have been several however, a couple in this thread, that seem to think because the stock went up 40% in a day that things are going great when this is only after a 10-1 reverse split and the price was hovering around a much smaller market share. This is no monday morning armchairing. Go look back a couple years. Consistent statements all along that unfortunately came true. Never once did I jump in and say things like "Your company is the cancer of the industry" and "your company is putting pilots on the street" or "how can you feel respectable" etc. All these cheap shots and maturity have to stop. I know a lot over there are disgruntled but keep it there. Stop name calling and ruining every thread by turning it into one about your company.

 

What does what have to say about the business plan? The oil? It says nothing about the business plan... It was completely unprecedented and outside the company's control.

 

Oy.

RAH is loaning money to Frontier purely as a business venture. Those involved in the decision came to the conclusion that it was a sound investment, based on information that neither pilot group will ever see. There is a solid precedent for this in the Commuter World at DCA, where Republic owns most (if not all) of the parking spots.

Most of the pilot group at our three companies (myself included) are not happy with this decision. Although it is admittedly a brilliant move on Bedford's part, it does not sit well with us as pilots. Unfortunately, we were not involved in the decision. It is important to keep in mind that the pilots who post on APF are the vocal minority.

As far as our pay: it sucks. We know this, and most will readily say so (remember: vocal minority). When our current contract was signed, 170s weren't even on the horizon. Now they're here, and we don't earn enough money to fly them (unless you believe the podcast that said our 190 pilots are paid too much to get any new flying). Fortunately, there is a wonderful tool in place to fix this problem: the current negotiations on a new contract. Everybody would like to see improvements in our contract. The problem is, we have such a wide range of operations across three certificates and who knows how many bases that it will be impossible to get a majority to agree on a great contract.

If you're one of our 140 pilots based in STL, especially if you're senior, you probably don't care a whole lot about duty rigs or DH pay. The American Connection flying offers some fantastic trips with not a lot of sitting around or riding in the back of planes. If you're an IND 170 pilot, trip/duty rigs and 100% DH pay will fatten up your paycheck a lot faster than a token pay raise.

I'm afraid that the seeming lack of unity in the RAH pilot group (and lack of faith in IBT) will cause us to end up with another middle-of-the-road contract and payscale. I look forward to being proven (notice the correct spelling) wrong and hope it happens.

Wait, what was the question?

 

My point was there was little room for flexibility. The market nich was so tight that with a 50 seat aircraft things were going to have to run perfect.

 

Great post, thanks for the insight!

 

TD, I don't know of any independent airline that could reasonably build the kind of flexibility required to make a profit on $140/oil. Well, I take that back; Cape Air made money, but it's an entirely different niche working either established routes or EAS subsidized routes. For an upstart operation, forget about it. It's not realistic.