For those of you who have left Eagle:

Where did you go?

SkyWest

Do you regret leaving?

Not one bit of regret, best decision I did for myself.

What made you leave?

Uncertain future and lack of west coast presence. Also I did not like the culture of AMR.

How was your transition to your new work environment?

Very easy and everyone has been very welcoming.

What are some of the good things you took from here?

Learned a lot from good Captains, learned what not to do from the bad ones. Also being based in ORD is a rude awakening as a first domicile base for a new hire. If you can handle ORD, you can handle pretty much anything out there.

Were there any bad things that caused you to leave?

Company culture, lots of grumpy old Captains that made work miserable, the constant displacements of pilots so you never knew what next month was going to bring, ancient computer software (Sabre).

What does your new job offer you that Eagle couldn't?

A domicile closest to home, dominate west coast presence and while not perfect, a strong management team that seems to know what their doing.

How are you doing now?

It was a gamble giving up seniority, but it's the best decision I've ever made career wise, based at home now and currently in a comfortable place until I can hopefully move on to a major.

How long ago did you leave?

What's the possibility of Republic swapping their American Connection erj-140s for some E170/E175s and locking in a new contract once the current one expires, which I think is soon? The APA scope preventing non-amr carriers from operating anything larger than 50 seaters will probably be gone by the time the Republic erj-140 contracts expire, right?

Honest questions .....if USAir and AA (Pilots, FA's and TWU..per negotiation talks) come to terms on a merger:
1. Doesn't AMR have orders (understood as options) for 480 aircraft. (Rhetorical)
2. If the pilots go, the airframes don't?
3. If pilots go, and pi$$ of AMR, the only pilot group left is Eagle?
4. Then can you see AMR retaliate against the merger?
Not being a "high fiver" by any means. I just heard this hypothetical through friends.

The media calls this a merger but the only way that is going to happen is if AA Managment agrees to it or their exclusive period expires, this will likely be a hostile takeover. US Air would acquire all of AMR, unless they chose to break it up between other parties. As far as the pilots going and. It the airplanes, what would AMR do with order of airplanes with no gates, no slots, no routes established and no brand name! Essentially they would be a start up... But again if US Airways acquires AA they are acquiring AMR as a whole, with pilots, slots, airplanes, gates, 4.8 billion in cash and over 25 billion in debt!

Unable to know now exactly who the "other players" will be regarding AA feed right now. Eagle may once again put up for divestiture once they have a feed contract for AA and competitive labor costs. Part of Eagle can simply be divested off to another, effectively pitting Eagle against itself if necessary (part of the current Eagle actually becomes one of the "other players"). AMR scrambled the whipsaw egg back in the '90's by joining all the Eagle's and simply may partially unscramble it if necessary to revert to the old model. I doub't you'd see it return to 4 Eagle's, but only 2 with a third or fourth carrier to be added (or retained).

One of the future Eagle feeders may only be a Q400 outfit.

I don't understand what you're getting at here ?

Those groups have ALREADY "come to terms" with U via the CLA's (Conditional Labor Agreements) already negotiated. These only apply if Parker takes over via his POR being accepted by the creditors and prior to BK exit. If AMR retains control and their POR stands, then the CLA's don't apply. At that point, AMR and U can still agree to a merge, but contractually, new terms would have to be agreed to with labor. As far as the AA pilots are concerned, even if they agree to a contract with AMR, it wouldn't affect their efforts to support Parker's plan for a pre-exit merge.

At this point, the process can still go in multiple directions.

Well, a "hostile takeover" is something that occurs outside BK, wherby an outside source goes directly to shareholders for the purposes of gaining control and overthrowing the current management/BOD. Different scenario. Any merger scenario wherby some assets (routes and aircraft with/without labor) are relinquished would have to approved as part of a POR.

Oh, and no one will be "acquiring 25 billion in debt". That is what the Chapter 11 process is for, i.e., to eliminate the majority of that. Regardless of a U merger or not or who has the awarded POR, AA will come out of Chapter 11 with very competitive labor costs, VERY low debt and plenty of investors willing to (actually wanting) to get in on the action.

Over a year and a half ago.

Hostile takeovers

A hostile takeover allows a suitor to take over a target company whose management is unwilling to agree to a merger or takeover. A takeover is considered "hostile" if the target company's board rejects the offer, but the bidder continues to pursue it, or the bidder makes the offer directly after having announced its firm intention to make an offer. Development of the hostile tender is attributed to Louis Wolfson.

A hostile takeover can be conducted in several ways. A tender offer can be made where the acquiring company makes a public offer at a fixed price above the current market price. Tender offers in the United States are regulated by the Williams Act. An acquiring company can also engage in a proxy fight, whereby it tries to persuade enough shareholders, usually a simple majority, to replace the management with a new one which will approve the takeover. Another method involves quietly purchasing enough stock on the open market, known as a creeping tender offer, to effect a change in management. In all of these ways, management resists the acquisition but it is carried out anyway.

US Airways Moving for Hostile Takeover of American Airlines, Has AA Unions on Board

Here is what happened with Delta

"On January 31, 2007, Delta's creditors rejected US Airways' hostile takeover attempt, and US Airways withdrew its offer to buy Delta"

Same thing happened with United

And now AMR, Also the debt will be restructured but most of it will be there until paid off, yea some stock will be issued but the majority of the debt will be there but with more favorable terms. Of course there is going to be debt shed as aircraft are returned and other changes are made.

Read Below

"Insurmountable levels of debt are another albatross around the neck of the legacy airlines. While American will likely shed or refinance some of the airline’s debt in more favorable terms while in bankruptcy, the massive debt problem for U.S. legacy airlines is still obscenely out of control. Prior to the bankruptcy action, American Airlines was carrying at least $10 billion in debt with another $7 billion in unfunded or underfunded pension liabilities. Sadly, even after bankruptcy, Delta Air Lines is still carrying $14 billion and United Airlines $13 billion in debt and pension liabilities"

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/flight...core-problems/


Again, most of the airlines shed cost and recede some of the debt but they kept most of it! Also US Airways has tried hostile takeovers with United and Delta and we are next... There is no question about it.