Duck I honestly don't know why you keep defending our precious company. Take a vacation my man...

Thanks for the insightful post...troll.

I wonder the same thing. He has never made a respectable wage flying airplanes yet he praises his company for this. There are Midwest pilots that started flying for Midwest around the time he was born who are about to lose their jobs. All ToiletDuck has to say is that the Midwest pilots should be thankful to have a job at Republic even after taking a 75% paycut and losing all of their work rules all the while ToiletDuck's situation improves a little. Yeah, I'm sure the Midwest pilots will be thrilled and proud to fly with you guys. Give me a break.

Erroneous, Erroneous on all counts!!!

Not entirely true. ACA flew Delta Connection starting in the summer of 2000 till Nov 2004 out of LGA, BOS, and CVG. Delcon continued for a brief time after all UAX flying was terminated. Granted, not much, only 33 airplanes. However, when the DelCon fleet was planned in 1999/2000 it was going to exceed the size of the UAX operation with around 150 airplanes when all was said and done, using a mix of FRJ328, and the yet to be built 428 model. 9/11, as well as Dornier's insolvency issues squashed that.

When they were a UAX/DelCon carrier, the revenue split as a percentage was about 85/15.

True, but when you're main competitor is operating in BK, it's hard to compete at all. Also, when another airline puts aircraft on the EXACT same point to point routes, even more difficult.

Some routes were, some weren't. One decision that was made late in the game was the delay in delivery of the Airbuses that were coming to try to retain cash.

Ooohhhh good one MD80...looks like we have a pretty good investigator on our hands!

THREAD WORTHLESS!

Down goes another RAH/YX thread.

This is starting to look like a Mesa Forum ladies.......

are you surprised?

Boy, I'll tell ya. I just spent about an hour and a half reading all these pages on this thread. It just makes me even more sure I did the right thing leaving RAH when I did (2 years ago). Why doesn't everybody just line up on the ramp, facing each other like they did during the Revolutionary war, shoot at each other, and see who is left standing? Airline flying is not now, or ever will be, like it was in the past. What happened to the "love" of flying? I guess that's gone too. Now it's just to see who can bite the biggest chunk out of someone else's *ss and get away with it. Sorry guys, just my .02. After 36 years of flying, I never saw it get better, only worse.:(

Yeah you used to work for CHQ, didn't you?

It it ok to trash us now that you've moved on?

It's all the same where ever you go. Some of the biggest Comair haters at the mainline level are former Comair pilots (and perhaps rightfully so) that have moved on to bigger and better. I would imagine that harsh feelings abound amongst pilots at every regional in the US right now.

Your furloughs are MORE important then so they come back first?

La La La La, I cant hear you.....pbbbbbbbbbbbbbbtttt!!!!!:D

Of course the Republic furloughs are more important. Some of them flew the line for an entire month. Others have 600 hours. How can you reason with that? For you Republic pilots that think this is false....it's not. You have furloughed pilots with 600 hours total time right now.

nope that is just wrong info., 1200tt is the lowest I have seen in 3 out of 5ish classes that are furloughed, also most were on the line for 3.5 months or more.

...................

I know personally at least two pilots that were hired at Skyways with 300 total time. These two pilots flew the line at Skyways for a month and a half before the company went under. One was hired into the Shuttle America 170 with about 450 total hours and now currently has just over 600 hours. The other pilot has very similar numbers. These pilots are on the seniority list. I am sure there are pilots with 1200 hours or more furloughed, but there are also a few 600 hour pilots. These pilots may have been given a break due to previous 121 experience, but they are 600-hour pilots none the less. Why don't you research next time before trying to discredit someone?

Alright so you might be right about the two guys from skyway. I only said I knew about 3 of the 5ish classes of furloughed. 1200 was on the lowest of time in my class. Your original tone was trying to say that all the furloughs have 600 hours and a month of OE, which is the exception not the case. So I'm going to set it straight, thats it. Frankly I'm not too concerned how all 3 pilot groups furloughs are integrated because it won't be pretty for anyone.

I saw my first RAH E190 in LAX today…………..very good looking airplane but it truly made me sick……...sick to my core. Those jets should be operated by Midwest pilots, not RAH pilots, but my comment isn’t directed toward RAH pilots. I’m talking about the overall situation and what MEH has become.

got scope? Sticker (Oval) > got scope? : got scope?

Good day.........

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.

1st Qtr costs, excluding RAH ;)
 

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

I fly an E120 not an E190 so I have no problem showing up to work...........BTW, outsourced flying under and with in a scope umbrella is one thing but the Midwest "debacle" is a whole other animal.

I agree, that's why my posting was not directed at RAH pilots. The blame falls squarely on MEH's top brass. What has become of MEH due to their poor leadership and foresight churns my stomach but once again I don’t blame RAH pilots.

I do care, greatly. However you say I praise the company for their decisions and am happy that Midwest pilots lost their jobs and that flying is here when if you've ever heard me speak on the subject in person you'd know better. Your statements couldn't be farther from the truth. You might know my name or history, and we only flew a few days together, but it's apparent you don't know my view on things. Saying it doesn't make it so. I've never once said, on any forum or in speaking, that I didn't feel we deserved or shouldn't fight for more. I don't want to offend or argue but your assessment of my opinions on these situations isn't accurate by any means.