SKYW Inc Q1 2009 Earnings Call - Furlough ASA
 

Furloughed ASA guys... take a look at page 6. Looks like Inc. considers us a cost cutting steps that will reflect 2nd Quarter earnings. From that I take it we can kiss summer recall goodbye unless ASA management batts for a recall. :( Sucks to hear this 3 months deep into the furlough.

"So, the things that we can do specifically; I think you saw and announced furlough of ASA pilots that was announced maybe a quarter ago and that’s happened and should help us be more inline with our crews at ASA specifically."

SkyWest Inc. Q1 2009 Earnings Call Transcript -- Seeking Alpha

That's rough guys...didn't they say initially that they weren't going to furlough unless they saw it as less than a very temporary measure?

Feel for ya :(

Thanks for sharing Daniel. I've read the entire transcript and get much of the same feeling about this as you did. I don't know about you, but for me, this info just falls in-line and helps confirm what I've already been expecting concerning our furlough. From day one I've tried to take the pessimistic approach regarding our situation, that way I don't get too optimistic over any new ASA current events. Take ASA's large summer increase in block hours for example, it's hard not to take this as a sliver of hope for us, but in reality I believe the only way we might return is when we are compared to the "snapshot" of how ASA looks come fall and winter (my opinion). I would LOVE to be wrong about this though! As things stand now I try to just to remove myself from thinking I fit anywhere in the ASA equation, and focus strictly on bettering and enjoying myself outside of the cockpit. Just trying to make the best of it in my own way like everyone else I guess...

By the way, I've been wondering how many of us are left out of 80? The recall page on ourASA one shows that only one person has listed as a bypass. There are 3 other people that I know personally who are now done with training and flying the line at GJ, and they are still on our list.

I pretty much agree with you guys. This only confirms what everyone thought from the start. Hopefully, just as things did at AirTran, things will be better than once forecasted and we can be back. Can't get your hopes too high though, as they continue to look for any and every way to cut fat.

I also would like to see how many are left. Besides the GJ crowd, there are a few I know who have jumped shipped to other ventures. Come on ASA, find something to do for the ~60 people left

RECALL LIST - I know a few people on that list that is now on the line at Go Jet. None of them personally but I know guys that fly there and they passed their names to me. (first and last looked them up on the list and there it was still) Why aren't they removed since Go Jet supposedly made them turn in a resignation letter?

Also the current recall list is missing some names, just look at the seniority numbers and you'll see the missing ones. One of them was someone I knew so I called him up and asked why did he leave. He told me didn't leave ASA, as a matter of fact he now works there in a different department. He looked at the list and told me that other guys he knows that are furloughed and found another department to work for in the mean time is also missing from that list. So as of right now, it looks like the missing people on the recall list are not really removed. Just working at ASA in another department till recall. Soooooo where is the accurate recall list at? Don't look at me....

Recall - I agree, I think our recall is going to be based of the worst season of flying not the best. (FALL 2009/SPRING 2010)

I think this goes to show that whenever Inc. needs to trim jobs they are going to do it from the ASA side. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Skywest doing some of our flying that we can't cover this summer due to understaffing. I'm not mad about it, I'm just finally coming to the realization that we are the whipping boys/girls for Inc.

I wonder how much money Inc. would have saved if they had trimmed the fat at the management level? Do we really need two seperate management groups? There has got to be some cost savings that can realized by sharing some of the duties between the two groups.

Unless they find a home for at least 10 of the CRJs we are losing they won't need us at all in the spring/summer of 2010. In fact they'll probably furlough more.....

Its the price they pay for not integrating and jeopardizing SKW becoming unionized. I'm sure they perform a calculated risk/benefit analysis.

They wont recall until they find out the fate of the 20 a/c leaving the fleet. No need to bring back the 80, and then furlough again when/If the 20 a/c leave the fleet.

Until that, or attrition happens, ASA won't be recalling. This was a "right-sizing" of our staffing for a loss of 20 planes.

GoJet/ASA
 

[quote=USMC3197;606599]RECALL LIST - I know a few people on that list that is now on the line at Go Jet. None of them personally but I know guys that fly there and they passed their names to me. (first and last looked them up on the list and there it was still) Why aren't they removed since Go Jet supposedly made them turn in a resignation letter?


I can name three on the furlough list who went to GoJet as well. Does anybody know how many went to GoJet? I’ve heard rumors it may be as many as a dozen. These pilots should not be allowed on our list; giving up seniority to go to GoJet was part of the deal.

It was part of Go Jets deal not ASAs. Remember, ASA said that we are allowed to find other flying gigs. Go Jet was the one that wanted us to give up our recall number if we went to them. - THIS WHAT I WAS TOLD WHEN I CALLED THE FURLOUGH COORDINATOR A MONTH AGO ABOUT THIS MATTER.

I'm not defending anyone here though... I didn't go to GO JET.

I think the main reason (outside the union stuff) is to keep the two certificates. They don't currently need it, but it may be useful if they ever need to skate around a major's scope... ie shuttle america, chq, republic or gojet/tsa.

I thought that was EXACTLY why that did that. So in the future ASA can go for WEST COAST UL flying because SKYW is stuck with DL out there. ASA is stuck with DL in the east so SKYW can do the UL flying here.

I don't think so. As you pointed out Republic Airways Holdings has a single unionized seniority list with three separate operating certificates. Skywest Inc could have easily done the same if they wanted to go that route.

Or do the same thing with a separate seniority list.

They also maintain the ability to sell ASA should they desire, which would prove difficult with one pilot list. Not that I think they have any intention of doing that.

I seem to recall an exchange along the lines of "sure, we'll remove you from the seniority list, when GJ sends the letter, nod, nod, wink, wink". My understanding was that the furlough coordinator secured this.

If they got a job at GJ and are still on our list, good on them!

I wouldn't be so sure. Many highly informed individuals wonder if Delta just "loaned" ASA to SKW with the intentions of buying us back later.

That would also explain why SKW hasn't "realized the synergies" of merging the companies. As ACL65 will tell you, some things are happening at the Red Brick Building on Virginia Ave. and the DALPA HQ to corroborate that theory.

Yeah I heard the same thing but I wasn't going to be the one to repeat that story.

Now they are stuck with Mesaba, Comair and Compass.... I dunno if that is true any longer.

From everything I'm hearing, the plans include Mesaba, Comair, Compass, and ASA. ASA is the only one not wholly owned by DAL. Why do you think we're included? ACL65, jump in here anytime.

Are you talking about a staple?

The story I keep hearing is bilateral flow leading to an eventual staple. Will it actually happen? Who knows. I give it 25% odds.

That is interesting. About the only way the mainline pilots would buy it would be by unanimous agreement to a staple. But would the W/O pilots go for a staple? I'm not too sure that the senior ones would bite off on it. It would go a long way to ending any whipsaw and outsourcing though.

Theoretically though, how would that work?

Yeah, a senior regional guy might be at the bottom of DAL, but in relative seniority on equipment (all the RJ's) his QOL should remain relatively equal? Until mainline guys bid down to the RJ's for better schedule. Then I guess that would screw that plan, huh?

When I was at ASA during the PID, I offered this scenario. Didn't go anywhere, but tell me what you think of it.

Arrange the W/O SL however works for you. When it was just Comair and ASA, DOH would have worked. Then staple to the mainline with the following conditions.

Everyone keeps DOH for pay, travel, vacation etc. Each pilot elects to be affected by the flow up/down or not. Those who choose not to are fenced to the largest equipment negotiated. (-700 or -900.) In the event of a flow down, the flow goes around them. They cannot be displaced, but neither can they bid bigger equipment. I believe Compass has something like this.

For those who choose to join the flow, when their seniority allows them to bid bigger equipment, they go to it at whatever their DOH pay would be. So they are not put back on NH pay. Been at ASA for 8 years, get 8 year pay when you change categories.

As far as the argument about hiring, set two minimum hiring brackets. Have less than say 1500 hours, (negotiable,) start on the RJs. Have over the said amount, start on the DC-9. So even if a guy hired after you starts on the DC-9, when you can hold it, your seniority number would be better than his, and you get paid more than him.

I'm sure there are holes in this, and some will say it's unfair, but how else to do it?

I like the idea. give me a place where I can stay for a career not start all over if I want to move up anywhere. that's the best part about it. I'm just a young guy though and i'm sure there are old guys that think exactly opposite because they are on the opposite end of the career path.

That's the thing. How can they? There is no way it will affect them. The mixing is all on the bottom end. Now, some negative comments I have gotten from senior guys is how this impacts their squadron buddies who haven't made the jump. My reply is that I'm not about to spend any negotiating capital on someone who isn't contributing to the company's bottom line. DCI guys are contributing. If the bubbas don't like the set up, they are free to apply at some other carrier.

If you merge a regional with a mainline, if it wasn't a stable and DOH came into play somewhat, you would have to go to every pilot at the mainline and see how much time they had at a 121 carrier, because what if a 2007 hire at Delta had 15 years at ASA before going over to Delta? Would the 10 year CA at ASA go above the 2 year FO at Delta that had 15 prior years at ASA? I don't know if that would be that fair.

This seems fair to me. Of course I only have two years in the industry so I'm not sure of the opposing views of this. You basically get the choice to try and move up or stay put with security. I like it. Now make it happen! Ha

No, you do not allow the mainline pilots the ability to try and claim something they gave up. When I left ASA, I resigned my seniority number. I now have no rights to that nujmer and the associated DOH that went with it. With the staple, the Guy who left ASA one week prior to the staple would have bidding seniority to everyone stapled below him. However, those guys would be getting more pay and vacation than him, based on their DOH. Are we now going to be Socialists and complain because someone junior to us for bidding is making more money? If that's the case, then I want a cut of everyone junior to me who rakes it in doing Rolling Thunder.

It would be completely unfair for that pilot that had 15 years at a regional and then went to Major to be put behind a pilot at a regional that has less total years. If that is the case than I would just push for all the regional pilot's to get stapled below the Major pilots. This is why all mergers go bad because you aren't looking at total service of each pilot on the list.

The only pilots that should go above a mainline pilot on a merged list are those with significantly more 121 time than the pilots on the major list. A regional pilot with 20+ years would start to fall into this catagory.

If you say that pilot who left ASA doesn't have any right to count those 15 years of service, then I would say the pilot who is currently at ASA with 10 years deserves zero years of credit because he never got hired at the Major level yet... to the bottom of the list you go.

http://www.imsai.net/images/war_image/wopr.jpg

Don't worry, I'm working on this complicated stapling dilema as we speak... How about a nice game of chess? :D

DId you even read what I wrote? All the DCI pilots are stapled BEHIND the most junior mainline pilot. Their BIDDING seniority is BEHIND every single mainline pilot. The ONLY thing DOH gets them is YOS for pay and vacation. Not a single one will ever be able to hold a position senior to a mainline pilot. Now, what is wrong with that? Or do you have heartburn that one of them may make more per hour than that most junior mainline guy? It's the same principle as when ACS folks transfer to IFS. They are junior to FAs hired after their original DOH for bidding, but get paid more per hour.

I don't want to rain on the speculation parade to much but I haven't read anything about why in the world DAL mgmt would even think about giving the pilots that type of negotiating power.

So when would any of this take place? I'm assuming DALPA would be organizing this? And what would management say about or do to prevent it?

It was just an idea of how a staple could work to most everybody's advantage, if the company ever wanted to combine everybody. Didn't say that it was a done deal.

Oh I know... but earlier posts mentioned that it was "in the works." Just didn't know if this was a management push or a DALPA push to get RJ flying back.

HAHAHAHAHA "Would you like to play a game?"..... Miss that movie.

It's part of DALPA's 5 year plan. It's their pie in the sky plan to get the RJ flying back.

So how is it you know what DALPA is or wants to do, but the membership doesn't?