Just want to make sure I understand (thinking about what regional to work for):
AE will be sold in the next few years for sure? - Meaning that it will be either a very bad or very good thing for AE pilots? How would turn out good, how would it turn out bad?

 

Good=Expand,more planes.
Bad=BK. Park planes. Caput.

 

Most likely the latter. I'd avoid Eagle like the plague. Even Lakes is sounding better right about now...

 

Even if things go "good" I bet it will be at the expense of pay/work rule concessions. If things go "bad" it will probably be because we dont accept any concessions. It might be a defeatist attitude, but expect the worst and hope for the best.

The other major players in the regional industry will dictate what happens with us as well, so keep an eye on who gets what for a contract in the near term.

 

With your most senior guys going to AA and new hires coming on board, your operating costs should be in line with the rest of the industry. Better place to be then at Comair.

Hopefully it all works out for the best.

TC

 

A little more expanded version of whats going on at Eagle:

Eagle is owned by AMR Corp, which also owns American Airlines. AMR Corp used to own lots of other subsidiaries like a hotel chain, computer reservation system, financial firm, etc but AMR has slowly been divesting (selling) off these assets so they can focus on their "core business" of running an airline. Specifically, AMR is now trying to focus on the core business of AA International flights.

Since Eagle doesnt have much to do with serious International flying, AMR is looking to divest the company. By doing this, it will theoretically allow Eagle to stand on their own and focus on what we do best, flying small to mid-sized props and jets around the country. By not being a part of AMR/AA we wont be held back by their high costs, and huge international support structure. We could be smaller and nimble, cheaper, etc. At least this is what the company is telling us.

In addition to that stuff, AMR is looking to divest Eagle so that they can find a cheaper way to feed AA International flights. Why pay to have Eagle fly a 50 seat jet BOS-JFK when we could have an alliance with a carrier like jetblue to fly an A320 BOS-JFK, and dont have to pay them a penny? Or, why pay Eagle $500 per flight to go BOS-JFK when we can pay Mesa $400 per flight to go BOS-JFK? I really dont think they are interested in having a Mesa-type carrier come do feed flying for them, but I DO expect AA and jetblue become partners and watch jetblue feed passengers to AA in JFK.

We are for sale, but nobody wants to buy us because we have old a** airplanes and a senior(expensive) pilot work group. In all reality I expect Eagle to get spun off and become an independent company. We probably wont do as much flying as we do today, because the aircraft we operate on routes like BOS-JFK just arent the right sized aircraft for the demand. It makes more economical sense to have a jetblue type aircraft fly those routes. BUT, Eagle does have some strong points as well. We run a good operation in our other hubs like MIA/ORD/DFW flying to smaller cities like Peoria, El Paso, Gainesville, and places where our aircraft are the right size for the route.

How this affects a newhire? Our current payrates might drop by a couple dollars per hour, especially on the CA payscales. Some of our really cushy contract rules might change, bringing us in line with most of the other regionals out there. But we will be more competitive, and probably get some new aircraft like Q400s, or more CRJ700s. We have over 1200 pilots on our AE seniority list with rights to transfer to AA. We are expecting to lose anywhere from 20-50 AE CAs per month for the rest of 2011, and probably well beyond that. There will be huge upward movement here, and thats a great thing in this business.

I can honestly say that if I was starting out today and looking for a regional company to go to, I would chose AE no doubt. The future is un-certain, but I dont think there is anything drastic ahead for us like what Comair is going through, or something like going out of business.

Of course a lot of the above is pure speculation, and until the company publishes a plan of divestiture, and a business model for us after being divested we wont know the future. The AMR Board of Directors is supposed to make an announcement sometime in Jan/Feb time frame as to the status of a divestiture and some more specifics. One thing is for sure, AMR has spent a crapload of money to build Eagle into what it is today, and they want us to succeed so they can collect a return on their investment. Follow the dollar...

 

Hey Flyby1206 -

Thanks for the detailed insight. Good information to know when trying choosing where to go.

 

Yes thank you Flyby. I am one of those guys making that decision right now. I just got hired by Pinnacle and have an interview with AE on Dec. 13th. I am not looking forward to making that decision between the two if I get the job at AE as well. Any advice there Flyby/anyone? If I don't get eagle then it's an easy decision! lol.

 

Its all a freakin crapshoot

Lots of people say chose a regional that has a base where you live. I originally chose Eagle because they had a base where I lived (BOS) and life was grand! But then they closed the base...so now what?

Some people say go where you can get a quick upgrade! Eagle was notorious for 8-10yr upgrades, and I had lots of buddies leave here for greener pastures only to be still stuck in the right seat. If they stayed at Eagle they would be CAs by now.

In the end you have to have blind faith in your decision. It is stupid and corny, but really we have no control over what happens to us once we start that Day 1 of indoc class. Chose a regional and sit there, making lateral moves to other regional carriers very rarely pays off. Find a place that will work good for you today, because you never know or have any influence on what the company will be tomorrow.

 

I can tell you that I have dealt with 4 other airlines, Eagle has by far been the most professional and treated me with respect, lets say it cost 15K to train the new hires, AE has orders for jets and they are getting them as fast as they can... WHY would AMR hire hundreds of pilots to just dump the company. You will be an AE employee from day one, unlike other companies... Do the math like stated above follow the money, it could be good, it could be bad. But once the senior guys move on AMR might look at eagle differently.