Flyby1206

I assume this was sarcastic, but it isnt far from reality. A few years ago we had Continental and United both sending regional jets out to the same destinations for feed. Now that they are the same company they can cut the overlap and change to to one mainline aircraft. Same can be said for Delta/Northwest.

Beyond that, I think we will see niche carriers (Alaska, Jetblue, USAirways, VX) form close partnerships with major carriers to provide codeshare/interline feed in major hub cities that they already operate. Why contract a RJ operator to fly from JFK/DCA/SFO/LAX when you can have an existing stand-alone carrier do it for free? No need for fee-for-departure!

RJ operators and Regional Airlines are two different animals. AS, B6, US, VX are regional operations, focusing on O&D traffic from a specific region. PNCL, RAH, SKYW are interchangeable carriers that dont have a tie to any particular region and therefore no passenger loyalty.

PeezDog

hahaha nice. The public wants to pay bus fares anyway, so let them take the bus

Rudder1

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Boomer

Gee, isn't that what we're all doing as regional pilots? Taking it in the shorts in hopes to "live to fight another day" at the majors?

I don't feel real bad for ol' JO. I'm actually kind of surprised he's still around.

Confused

In terms of the aircraft we fly for the rates we fly them. US airways rocks the E-190 and does not pay those crews much more than a lot of the RJ operators pay their crews.

I think if given the chance to bring all of it back in house the mainline pilots would be all for it.

Management is a different story.

I do agree though, this business model is in dire straights. No major wants to sign on for more than a few short years with a feeder. The contracts are much less lucrative. As soon as one carrier gets something good going another operator comes along and undercuts them. It's frustrating and goes to show how important a good management team is to preserving, growing or even just keeping a regional carrier alive.

To the many many many guys I fly with that say they are never moving onto another airline I often wonder if their "safe" decision to stay put making 80k a year will actually be the safe decision in the end.

200Driver

Zymurgist didn't prove anything wrong, the Comair situation was just executed without support from the rest of the industry. I have the upmost respect for Comair pilots and what they tried to do. The strike would have worked if the rest of the regional pilots followed suit. Problem is there are to many other regionals out there with pilots who would just about pay the company to fly a jet. These companies pick up the flying and under bid. Just a thought but what if when those guys went on strike there was no one to take the flying because everyone followed suit and went on strike as well? We CAN make huge changes in this Buisness but those changes would come with (IMO) short term consequences. If as a whole the major regionals all went on strike together you would effectively shut down 60-80% of flying and force management, the public and others to see how tired we are of the stuff going on. Trust me when only 50 people showed up to get on that 747 flight it would effectively change managements tune real quick. Problem is you would never get enough people on board, to many factors to deal with, thus there will never be change and that major job everyone puts up with this stuff for will be garbage in 10 years anyways do to pay cuts and out sourcing.

Fly IFR

Take what SkyWest did with US Airways for example, they are operating at a loss of somewhere in the neighborhood of $60,000 a plane because of the money they have in the bank, just to get their foot in the door with US Airways. How in the world do you undercut Mesa, that's quite an accomplishment and a possible new low...

SenecaII

Im guessing I will be very unpopular after this post, but so be it. There is an elephant in the room and someone needs to address it. The Lessons here are this. Someone needs to look for long term solutions not just short term ones to get ahead quickly, and Be careful of the precedant you set getting ahead, it may be your downfall later on. Short sighted actions can and will bite you in the butt later on. You think that the "save all" is to return all flying to the majors. Lets see, for every 3 jobs there will now only be 1 so 2/3 of the pilot base will get furloughed. Oh wait thats pretty much what has happened in every merger/alliance in the past, why not now, because the ends justify the means? Why should we care about the other guy, because we will be flying for a major, and title is everything. Broad brush strokes arent the answer here guys. The Old guard sold their scope years ago and now want to gripe? Anyone here believe in Karma. Looking back ask a TWA or Ozark pilot if he would treat another pilot differently in negotiations knowing what his actions could come back full circle just a few years later. Would the old guard still sell out scope for the handful of gains they received, if they knew what they know now? Fact is boys, pilots started down this path years ago to get ahead without thinking it through and how it would affect others long term and it has backfired horribly. Dont blame the new guys (regional pilots) who entered the industry the only way they could with what you left them. Sadly this business model continues to swirl to the left in the northern hemisphere...

Golden Bear

The only source for that statement is Jonathan Ornstein himself in his memo to employees deflecting blame for Mesa's poor performance to everyone but himself. SKYW currently has 704.7 MILLION in Cash and short-term investments on hand, which they certainly DID NOT accumulate by operating aircraft at a loss.

https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:SKYW&fstype=ii#

A statement probably closer to the truth is that MESA would be losing 60k per A/C if they were to sign a contract at those rates because of his horribly mismanaged opertation (as is evidenced by the recent trip through the BK process).

BTW, why is JO still running MESA? So much for the best & brightest making their way to the top.

Zymurgist

The Comair strike taught delta not to keep so many eggs in one basket. This started the bidding war. Yes it would be great if we could all stand and support an action, but that is ILLEGAL. Until we are released from the confines of the RLA. A national list that maintained longevity would do great things. Contracts would go to those who performed, not who has the youngest pilot group.