Mesa to Furlough 100 additional pilots
 

quote from the e-mail we received today:

Unfortunately, Mesa Air Group is not immune to these challenges. Our partners are
reducing regional capacity and while our contracts require them to operate the
aircraft, these contracts do not specify a minimum capacity or utilization level.
These reductions in block hours, combined with the reduction in aircraft in service
have driven our current staffing surplus. This surplus is exacerbated by the
significant reduction in attrition that we have observed over the last 9 months.
Regrettably these combination of events has resulted in the need to furlough

approximately 100 pilots.

.........just more bad news for the industry\

looks like DOH will go back to about 2/2008.

Well so much for a recall.. best of luck to the 100 that are about to join us. This industry SUCKS!

No real suprise here. Company got Pbs, so know they can get rid of the extra pilots. The also had to wait for the guys that got displaced to get out of training before they could furlough any more.

I'm a little shocked that there is no clause for minimum block hours.

I heard mesa missed a renewal deadline and lost 6 RJ's from their DCI contract this month. That would account for the furlough...

Is PBS implemented already?

SERIOUS QUESTION...No flame.


How is Mesa's cash flow right now? Last I heard they were all the way down to $20 million with a negative cash flow. Any news on this? How about the Delta injunction? Is Mesa still flying those ERJ's for Delta?

I don't think we have any renewal deadlines with Delta since they canceled the entire contract. The only force that is keeping us flying is a court injunction. I haven't heard anything like this, but I don't fly on the DCI side of the house.

Parallel bidding is currently underway for PBS. It goes live on 03MAY09.

We are still flying the ERJ's for Delta.

Mesa Air Group Reports First Quarter 2009 Results and go! Achieves First Profitable Quarter

PHOENIX, Feb. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mesa Air Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: MESA) (the "Company") announced today first quarter net income from continuing operations of $15.5 million on operating revenues of $265.1 million. Total operating revenues for the first quarter of 2009 decreased $61.5 million, or 18.8% primarily resulting from a year-over-year decrease in capacity and lower fuel revenue. The net income of $15.5 million, or $0.46 per share on a diluted basis, compares to net loss from continuing operations of $2.8 million, or $0.10 per diluted share for the same period of fiscal 2008. Pro forma net income for the quarter was $10.0 million or $0.31 per diluted share. Pro forma net income for the quarter includes adjustments for the following items on an after tax basis: $5.0 million gain on extinguishment of debt, $0.8 million income from equity method investments, $0.5 million of go! legal, $0.4 million in startup costs associated with our Chinese joint venture, $0.2 million of lease return costs, and $0.1 million loss on disposal.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990210/LAW065)
Total Available Seat Miles ("ASM's") for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 decreased 18.4% from the first quarter of 2008. The decrease was primarily due to a reduction in the number of aircraft flown from 183 as of December 31, 2007 to 151 as of December 31, 2008. At December 31, 2008 Mesa's operating fleet was comprised of 77 50-seat regional jets, 38 86-seat regional jets, 20 66-seat regional jets and 16 37-seat turboprops. As of December 31, 2008, the Company operated 49 regional jets and six turboprops on a codeshare basis with US Airways, 46 regional jets and ten turboprops for United, 34 regional jets for Delta, and had one operational spare. The Company also flew five regional jets in Hawaii, operating as go!
As of December 31, 2008, the Company's cash, marketable securities and restricted cash were approximately $64.0 million. In the second quarter of fiscal 2009 and similar to prior years, the Company will be making significant aircraft lease payments that will impact our cash position.


This is cut an paste from the company website.


Mesa Air Group - Press Releases

Good thing you guys got PBS. Senior pilots selling out the junior ones at Mesa.

Who woulda thought?

loosing the 6 had something to do with getting the 900's. JO is so awesome we lost both

they just awarded the COLA's but they are only a month long. wonder why they didnt go longer?

from the 10-Q ending Dec 2008

" Cash and cash equivalents $ 50,118"

December 31 2008 10-Q DOC

that's 50 million..to eliminate any confusion

if you go off rosters its 9/07
Thats alot of Dash sims they need to schedule

good point, I forgot to include that

They lost enough hours to let 100 go? I dont get it... Makes no sense to me.

no. PBS changed to staffing model. Congrats you yes voters

that's not true...my hire date is 11/07 and i have 162 pilots below me...just thought you'd like to know

Well, I guess that means the stock should go up a few cents...........:rolleyes:

on the senority list. Rosters go to 9/07 for a 100
its not looking good for good chunk of the dash drivers

Has nothing to do with PBS.

See above. It has absolutely nothing to do with PBS. Don't try to blame this on us. In the fall, attrition was running approximately 4%. Given that number, no additional furloughs were needed, and I anticipated hiring again in the summer of 09. However, the number drastically dropped, and was NO WHERE NEAR 4%. I think we've had 4 people leave the company in the last month, and 2 were not pilots. I think a total of 12 people or so have left this year. That is the reason for the furloughs.

I too, initially thought this was due to PBS. But PBS is not even implemented yet, and after making some phone calls and finding out more info, I learned the above. If you have any questions, or want to know more info - please don't hesitate to PM me! I'm here to try to help. This is a very difficult time for all of us, and all I care about is the wellbeing of our folks.

No they don't. About 2/08 is where I see it.

Is this purely seniority based, or does equipment have anything to do with it?

Should be seniority based, but I wouldn't put it past our trash management to try it, and our spineless/worthless union to nothing about it.

The guys could "grieve it" from furlough.

Thanks. Have a friend who recently moved from the CRJ to the ERJ at Mesa. Was just curious as to whether he could possibly be less likely to be furloughed (Summer '08 DOH) due to being on the ERJ.

If you really think that PBS is not the reason for reduced staffing needs, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

PBS ALWAYS leads to reduced staffing, that's why airline managements absolutely love it.

That would be true. It used to be you could bid a schedule putting all your training, vacation, etc. over scheduled trips giving yourself lots of days off. With PBS, everything is pro-rated and you will always feel like you are getting shafted. If you work for a dishonest company, they will manipulate it forcing everyone to work how they see fit. They can force almost the entire company to work 18 days/month for the guarantee if your company does not have decent rigs. PBS is not a good thing. It's sad that some unions actually give up concessions to get PBS and view it as a win. PBS sucks.

PBS, anticipated settlement with Delta, reduction in hours... doesn't matter.

If you are senior... mesa is not so bad in the grand scheme of things.

I'm pretty sure he's a union guy, but some of his posts make him seem like he plays both sides of the fence (management and union).

I'm not so sure he doesn't wear a red lanyard himself...

No, my sources aren't P2P's, and they certainly aren't management. I'm just really concerned that this is going to further divide our pilot group (which is exactly what management wants). We'd have the no voters on one one side, pointing the finger at the yes voters, who will be on the other side trying to defend themselves.... all the while management continues to laugh and find ways to screw us again.

For me at least, I don't really care what caused the furloughs right now. I am more concerned with making sure those 100 pilots will be okay. Some have families, kids, etc. Rather than sit around and complain and play the blame game, I'd like to find a way to help those folks, and make sure this doesn't happen any more.

I think you're right. And I have been trying to remember that Brooklyn Bridge line for a while now. THANK YOU for saying it! haha!

No I don't wear a red lanyard, and no I don't have anything to do with management - I'm just a lowly f/o. :p

What is anyone gonna do for them ... hmm ? They gonna find them another job, make there student loan payments, car, family etc.? What did anyone do for the last 50 ... better yet what did you do? Actually and more importantly what did ALPA do, Anyone ... anyone? We live in a selfish world and hell even those on the "F" list are already counting the ways they could possibly avoid the street... don't be foolish people. You should care what caused the past/pending furloughs ... but caring would be asking alot of many.

Nothing personal just using your statement

Discuss ...

your right i just counted again.
100 active pilots is 1/16 hire.
The COO of Freedom Airlines is 17 from the bottom.
They havent been here long enough to have voted for this POS TA.

Okay but the thing I am confused about on the seniority list (which I'm looking at now) is the DOH. You see the COO of F8 is almost at the bottom, but look at his hire date of 2000. There are a few other pilots who have that too, whether they were doing another job within the company prior to being a pilot for MAG, I don't know. But, the company just can't pick and choose who they want to furlough right? They will have to furlough 100 people in order from the bottom of that list, and then they will have to retrain a bunch of them to spread out the staffing I suppose.

Ryan Gumm - a real piece of work. I'd be willing to bet he gets "furloughed" from line flying, but retains his COO position and salary all the while, staying current. He quit Mesa (or was fired), and came back, retaining his hire date (so he gets more vacay, etc.). I think he was an Freedom A-Lister as well.

There was a big stink recently about him flying the left seat on a charter or two. I guess his COO position and previous Mesa CA experience overrides that fact that he's one of the most junior pilots on property. These kinds of things happen when you've got ALPA on your side.

I thought he was an A-lister too, but he's not on my list. Oh well, I just added him with a question mark. Anyone know for sure?

He is not an A-lister...the rest of it; COO, charter, etc I don't know

p.s. My name is not Ryan Gumm:)

Sorry but this is a worthless defense. PBS doesn't start until next bid, and the furloughs dont begin until "April 7, 2009 and [will] continue through the fall of 2009."

A few weeks ago I had a chode-box CA try to tell me I was an idiot for voting no. I wanted to whip it out and [relieve myself] on his face. Is the mesa pilot group divided? Absolutely.

I actually agree with DublinFlyer that this is not Pbs related now that I look at this more closely. You can't just look at the roster for determining how far back this goes. There are people on leave and these numbers are incorrect. You have to look at the seniority list. From that it looks like it will go back to around 2/12/08 class, number 1307 on the list. Of those bottom 100, 35 are dash fo's. There are 64 pilots already on furlough from Mesa. Plus these 100 it will equal the approx. first 150 the company annouced back whenever September, and then the show generously cancelled because of Christmas. The only reason the cancelled these was because if they furloughed them guys there dash operation would have came to a hault. That's why they realized that they had to run this Displacement. Most of the classes are finished now, so they can continue with the furloughes. I beleive these 100 are not tied to PBS. That's why I believe in say June or July once the company figures the way to run pbs to get them the most bang for there buck you will see another furlough of even more pilots. So to you junior fo's in ORD and JFK hope you enjoy your block or better while it lasts, because you should have voted NO!