If outsourced flying makes you so ill, I wonder how you stomach showing up to fly your Skywest plane every day?

 

I don't care for it either, but that is what happens when management lacks foresight. MEH management put itself into a position where it was unable to continue paying the leases on the 717's, and was unable obtain replacement aircraft on its own. 190's are available on the open market. MEH could have bought/leased 190's or any other aircraft to keep the airline running. Unfortunately, the top brass at MEH did not figure out that they could not retain and/or obtain aircraft until their financial position locked them into decline. TH did not get some great golden parachute out of letting MEH wither on the vine. He and his staff just messed up, and hurt a lot of people along the way. Had RAH not stepped in, those 717's would have gone away anyway, along with the jobs of MEH pilots. Thank Boeing for that. They have been financially strapped over the course of the RAH/MEH deal, and did what they thought would generate the maximum revenue. It is sad to see a great company and a great product leave our industry, but the truth is MEH managers rode their business model too far.

Remember, please: Labor is the largest CONTROLLABLE expense in the airline industry today. That does not mean that labor costs decide whether or not a company is successful. The problem has been (relatively) poor revenue generation, and it has been that way for decades. The spike in fuel last year, and the loss of a week's flying after 9/11 showed how small a margin the airlines were running on. Had steps been taken to keep revenues up years ago, the airlines could have taken it all in stride. You can put regional pilots on every route, on every piece of equipment, and still lose money.

 

This is where ALPA failed miserably.

 

I guess I should also say that A) You have no clue what I've earned flying places in the past and odds are more than you ever did at a regional and B) You have no clue what my opinions are on the matter since I haven't said them. I might have briefly spoken on the subject on integration i the past and only in broad strokes but I've yet to publicly support or denounce the company for any of it's moves other than stating I wish 190s weren't here. What I wonder is how you manage to know what everyone thinks when you don't even bother reading!

 

Believe it or not, I know who you are. I've flown as your captain before so I know more about you than you think. My posts might come off a little harsh, but I these Republic deals are not good for anyone. Everyone can't be a captain in this industry. Only about half of us can. It is important to be able to support a family as a first officer. The bare minimum to do that for most people is the Republic captain pay scale. If every single first officer flying an airliner makes $37/hour, then we're in trouble. Republic is trying to make that happen slowly but surely. Who cares whether you're flying a 145, 170, 190, or Airbus if it all pays exactly the same? You don't seem to care.

 

Not exactly the real deal:

TH gave up all control of YX 2 years ago when he sold out to TPG/NWA.
All business decisions since are the work of TPG and NWA/DAL.

TH was paid handsomely when the deal closed early 2008. The parachute was in excess of 10 million.

The loss of B-717 A/C was a planned event. Seabury/TPG determined that they could break the MEH union by exploiting the scope clause and replacing all of MEH with much lower paid RAH crews and A/C.
Months before the RAH announcement Seabury provided a take or leave term sheet to the MEH pilots which matched RAH pay rates to the penny.

While last summers fuel spike was hurting all airlines it provided cover for TPG to execute this plan. MEH never filed CH 11/7. It was privately held so the REAL finances were/are not available.

In Jan. of 2008 Midwests MKE market share was roughly 55%. Do you really think the business was in rapid decline with a market share like that? MCI market share was also on the increase as well.

This was all about TPG making CASH on their investment. You're foolish to think otherwise. The money cares not a thing about you and I, or our families.

RAH folks look out. TPG now has a seat on your BOD. It aint gonna be pretty.

 

I guess I'll point this out in every thread where I see mudlsinging and flat out arrogant bashing of one another for the sake of puffing up your chest to appear self-righteous.

This entire group of malcontent spoiled children who come on here and hate on each other (to use your gang influenced ghetto lingo of today) is just a repeating theme amongst eons of men. Once, these discussions were actually held in person and men could face men and spit on each other and brawl it out until whatever silly difference between each of them were realized to be funny similarities.

All of you on this regional board who spend ridiculous energy stoking invisible flames of a theoretical fire that doesn't exist but in your heads and hearts needs to listen to those older and wiser than you. Perhaps you never sat and listened to your grandfather's shy tales about killing men in WWII, realizing that the effort it took to bring those stories out was enough to tell you that bragging or taunting someone (like you do) on this ridiculous forum is low in class and it creates an image in the eyes of seasoned men around you how sad this recent generation of young men is.

There is no accountability these days. The internet furthers this recent development. I see it on our own airline's website. There are "morons" at every carrier. We all know them. You know what to expect when you fly with them. You wonder how the hell or "who" the hell they connived into hiring them. But that's life. If everyone was the same this world would be a bore. At least on this very public forum where any member of Joe Q Public can come on here and see how juvenile pilots behave and poop on each other, have some decency towards one another.

ToiletDuck, you should really try to read your own posts again and listen to yourself retort over and over in a desperate attempt at vindication. No one here cares about anyone else's opinion so trying to change someone's hatred for Republic is going to do you no good. In time, maturity has a way of calming you down and then one day, you don't care what other people think. It would show incredible maturity for you and others to show some restraint on this site.

 

You make so many incorrect statements in this posting..

1. Fuel is the number one cost per seat mile.
2. Money was not the problem at Midwest. TPG is a multi-billion dollar company.
3. The B717 leases are less than E170 leases
4. Midwest owned 10 MD80s, but you can't grow a airline on out of production aircraft
5. TH got over 10 million for the TPG/NWA deal
6. Midwest could have bought E190, but the union would not agree to FOs making $37/hr
7. TPG returned the B717, because you can't grow an airline on out of production aircraft.
8. TPG wanted in on the E190 production line. Republic has production positions with Embraer.

The old Midwest management made mistakes, but this merger was planned back in the summer of 2008 or earilier. This is all about starting a new national airline run by BB and financed by TPG.

 

I never said fuel wasn't the highest cost. Fuel is essentially an uncontrollable cost, though. The plane needs fuel, and the price of fuel is not set by management. Likewise, management can't cut the fuel amount on a given flight by 50% to trim costs. Fuel hedges help stabilize costs, but no airline hedges 100% of its fuel.

What I said was labor is the highest CONTROLLABLE cost in our industry. Labor is a controllable cost, in that management can negotiate or set wages, depending on the labor group. Benefits can also be changed to save money, especially for the non-unionized workers at your company. Other controllable costs include catering, cleaning, and advertising.

My point was that even though labor costs are the largest controllable expense, cuts in labor costs by airlines rarely change the airlines' financial condition appreciably.

 

Passenger Airline Cost Index
First Quarter 2009
(Source: DOT Form 41) Index
(2000=100) % of Operating
Expenses FUEL per gallon 223.4 21.3 LABOR per FTE 121.2 25.8