PNCL survial in peril- MEM article
 

Stakes for Pinnacle Airlines high as it moves to restructure debt, cut costs The Commercial Appeal
"... Philip Trenary, who stepped down March 24 with a two-year consulting contract in hand from the airline. It will pay him $1.7 million. (plus seperation)
Trenary said he voluntarily quit the job (Ha!), which paid $808,600 in salary and bonus in 2010 (sean gets more!), plus $760,000 in stock awards and options. . .
Unless the airline enters bankruptcy, several analysts doubt Menke will break the new labor deals reached with flight attendants and pilots.
"The pilots still aren't overpaid by any stretch of the imagination," Becker said.
About 40 percent of the 1,300 pilots and first officers earn less than $30,000 per year, according to the Air Line Pilots Association union in Washington.
What's likely, analysts say, is that Delta will hand over more cash to keep Pinnacle flying. (lets hope that this is what it is all about)
At the same time, the Memphis carrier may order 70-seat regional jets and park the less-efficient 50-seaters that make up the bulk of its fleet and drive up costs. (umm, scope:confused:)

Oh We'll, shut the place down...

Like anybody is going to Miss this outfit......

That's a special statement, I hope someone puts that on your headstone

Who is the Miss that you speak of?

Somebody has to cover your flying. I don't doubt Delta would use PCL shutting down to drop some of the 50 seat lift, but not all of it. Delta will hand out more money to keep the operation going. It's the cheapest thing to do in the short term. Absolutely no reason to hand back 5% of your money guaranteed in a contract that took 5+ years to negotiate.

Delta would probably provide DIP if we were to go TU. A Pinnacle bankruptcy would be very advantageous for Delta in reducing costs of the feed and eliminating competition the Q400 creates on the east coast. Delta would basically own those planes (Q400s) if we went bankrupt.

Here's a thought: Management uses this and dangles it as a carrot in front of the group for a 5% paycut. It's happened before at other regional airlines, and can happen here. Consider that almost half the original 9E group is the Gulfstream pay-to-play types, and it isn't too far a stretch to imagine the possibility. Also, senior lifers who have no where to go would rather fly a 70 seater for more pay as opposed to 50 seaters that are headed for the desert.

Nope, according to Mesaba and Colgan, it only took 90 days of joined contract negotiations. They refused to walk with us in a picket as well. Rest assured, only the original 9E group will have the coined term "5 years of negotiations was ENOUGH!"

There are no more 70/76 seaters allowed for Delta. The cap has been reached. Don't fall for it, because if 9E does get more 70 seaters they won't be down under the Delta banner.

I guess that leaves UAL.

If not for Delta, then for who(m)?

Edit....n'mind. I didn't scroll (scratch?) down far enough on my phone.

What about the Gojet planes they apparently cannot staff?

Yes heaven forbid we didn't walk with u because our MEC asked us not to. Yawn

Yeah cause absolutely no junior guys would rather fly a 70 seater for more pay :rolleyes:
what's your hard on against senior guys that have forgotten more about this stuff than you have learned in your little fantasy airline world?

I bet all these ignorant gulfstreamers/jetu/senior guys you speak of would vote yes to a 10% cut in exchange for some Boeing stickers to plaster all over their flight cases. If only every pilot was as wise as you! Where do you come up with this crap from seriously?

U dont know.

American too...

Well the possibility exists. But as it stands now, no one but AE may fly that size aircraft in AA colors. BK doesn't guarantee that will change.

That's just a rumor. I haven't seen any confirmation that GoJet is unable to staff the additional flying they have been awarded.

Wishful thinking

What is wishful thinking? That G7 is able to staff the jets? I don't really care as I'm mainline & want it all back anyways.

Wishful thinking that they cannot and they wont be getting them.

I would say that number is way off there bud. I'd put that number more around 10% which I still think is generous, besides what the duece does it matter where they came from?

So the 70's are scoped out? I don't know how it works, I assumed it was just 76ers that were scope protected.

Yet another example that mainline pilots don't really get it. You should care whether G7 gets this or whether ASA keeps this flying. G7 is far cheaper than ASA both because of longevity and contract which puts added downward pressure on YOU and the rest of the Delta pilots. When this flying goes from ASA and CMR to cheaper operators like G7 it makes that much harder for you to ever recapture it, and it puts more downward pressure on what you still have left....Sorry, go ahead and stick your head back in the sand....

+1... I did not want to say it.

Have had many conversations with the old man in regards to getting it back and he says its way too far gone to get it back. (wants it back also just feels wont happen)

This is my opinion and NOT what I want to happen but...

DL has way too many issues they want to resolve in the new contract, the biggest being pay and scope. How do you think we go into this mess of RJs to begin with? Top the fact that DL will have to fight in order to keep their rest rules with the new FT/DT being released. AND AMR will throw a wrench into everything when they gut scope and have a new payscale. Back to hearing we cannot compete with AA blah blah blah we can only give you guys one thing scope or pay. What do you honestly think will win? How can one forget that SWA is saying they are paying their pilots too much... I can see it now Richie Anderson is going to say " Well give you the old SWA pay that you want but the only way to compete with anyone will be if we get more regional feed"

So ALPA doesn't think FOs are pilots. Who'd a thunk it. :rolleyes:

True except Shuttle's still bringkng over aircraft that are 170s. Maybe already included in the count, but I know more are to come.

And would you be OK with mainline flying the CRJs or ERJs and if so for what compensation are you willing to take?

Delta is maxed out on scope. The E170's going over are already counted. There may be room for a couple more. But no more than five 70 seaters are left to be had at delta. Unless of course they relax scope some more.

Yes. Large RJ's(51-76 seats) are capped. 255 is the limit. Of those 255, only 153 can be 76 seaters. If the mainline fleet grows past a certain number, the 153 number increases, but 70 seaters must be removed because the 255 number cannot increase.

My head isn't in the sand Joe. I'll admit that I worded it poorly. I should care that these jets are going to a Teamsters pilot group. I want the flying back at mainline. The planes can come back to mainline, & the ALPA DCI pilots can be offered jobs at mainline. That's what I want.
Keep ALPA pilots unified, and get our flying on one list.

Absolutely. I'd fly them. I'd find some of the best rates and go up from there. New FO rates would have to be negotiated because 1st yr pay regardless of equipment is $56 an hour. Even if it was a B scale the better work rules would make for a better QOL for those flying them at regionals.

RgrMurdock is correct.

And that my friend should be the wish of every pilot! How do we get to that point though

ALPA "unify" pilots ?

That's a hoot. :rolleyes:

$56/hour new-hires for RJ's ?

You can forget that.

If AMR's 1113's look anything like their last "best" proposal, the new-hire A319 pilot at AA would be $40/hour and second-year at $50/hour and the new full-time job of United and Delta management's (along with everyone else with comparable aircraft), will be how to get their pilot rates down to the new competitive bar.

The future 70 and 90-seat RJ new-hires will be half that. Problem is, is finding people willing to work for that.........well, if the jet is shiny enough, it beats a 172, so they'll probably get pilots, but not as many as the past. If one looks out across the typical hub now, one sees about 50% of the domestic flying covered by 50 to 70-seat RJ's. The majority of that will simply be replaced by 105-125 seat larger RJ's (really the A319Neo, 737Max and perhaps the Bomb C-series and E-190/195, but shhhhhh...........don't tell anyone they're really mainline-sized aircraft) and thus the future capacity obstacles will be improved, but with very little additional labor expense. Let's put that into perspective, shall we ?

50 dollars/hour times, say 75 hours/month times 12 months is $45,000/year. 4 years from now, with health care increases and inflation at average, that would equate to roughly about $37,500/year in todays dollars. That will be the MAJOR airline pilot with 18-24 months at his carrier's compensation, off probation and considered no longer a new-hire. This will be the new "bar" (as in, "lowring the bar"). This aircraft is likely to be a LARGE portion of AA future ops, so it may take a pilot 5 years or more to graduate to say, the 737NG, so with modest increases in hourly rate to say 5th year @ say $72/hour that makes the half-decade MAJOR airline pilot still flying this class of new RJ of the future about $65K.....but add another few years of upward medical and inflation and chop that back to about say, $52,000 in todays earning power and again, that will be the new bar that forces all the other competitors to chase. In reality, United, Delta, American, etc., will be the future regionals and their future pilots will be back flying many (though not all) of those routes, just for essentially regional scale (pay, scheduling constraints and 401(k)). I don't see the current major hopefuls out there getting what they dreamed of and I see a LOT of anger and disappointment coming.

If only pilots weren't blinded by shiny metal, perhaps they could see the forest through the airplanes, eh ?

As far as any 70 and 90-seat RJ's...............well, those will have no choice but to pay REAL peanuts to labor for their lack of revenue generation ability. BTW, the above hypotheticals involve the pay "band" for the A319. The 737Max @ 105-seats and smaller RJ's are noticably less. THAT is the future that is about to be unleashed by one major carrier with a perfectly timed BK as far as pilot labor cost adjustment is concerned. The other competitors will not be able to laugh that off and unless they can compete on an "even playing field", they very well might have no choice but to play the same card if profits drop off. It's already obvious they see they're going to have a REAL problem. Even SWA has fired that shot across the bow of its employees STRICTLY based on this new development.

See ! Pulling a rabbit out of the at ain't so hard. All it takes is a little inginuity and some time...........well, that and a lot of dopey pilots, of course.

The argument that.........."well, THIS TIME we're going to hold the line !", etc. or other such nonsense is proved absurd simply by looking at the past. It's a past whereby airline management (AKA the 1%ers) has run roughshod over pilots with virtually no resistance and considering the greater leverage that existed in the past as compared to now, makes any such claim laughable, to say the least. ALPA, especially has a distinct record of stepping aside to avoid excessive bruising when the charge of management rumbles toward them. The Midwest debacle and the TWA disaster just a couple of examples.

eaglefly,

Delta already has pay rates for the CRJ900. The 1st yr pay is currently $56 an hour.

You will never fly them. That's the point.

Can I borrow your crystal ball?

Well then, as stated above, you'll never see them. Especially if AA pays $40/hour for the A319. Your management would have to be certified idiots to put them under DAL's current pilot CBA at that rate. A new VERY low bar may be about to hit the profession like a tsunami and if it does, it inevitably it will wash your current pay rates out to sea.