XJet taking 9E flying?
 

Heard some news out of DTW that xjet is taking the Q400 flying on the 135 and that was part of all their hiring. Sources were fairly reputable but was curious if anyone else has heard anything on it.

Sounds reasonable.

That's what I heard...

Doesn't make sense to replace
a 74 seat aircraft with a 30 something.

More likely, the 135s will serve as a Saab replacement until or if someone else comes in.

What he said ^^^^

Yea, those replacing the Q's just doesn't pass the sniff test. What I think is gonna happen is we're going to reach an agreement with united on the Q's but not the saabs and the saabs are going to be parked but at the same time we'll get more Q's. I feel like that's a win win for everyone. Except united pilots of course, I would love to see the Q's go to mainline but thats a whole different can of worms.

There is no q's in dtw so therefore your source is a LIAR!

Yes its true .

The 135s are being used to cover flying this summer while a bunch of 145s are going through heavy checks

I think he means he heard it while he was at DTW.

No way everything written on APC must be taken word for word. :) Unless he heard it from a gate agent, then you know its true

Not true, the 135s are covering C-checks in March only and 5 are actually online in April.

So did you hear this rumor too? I just dont see how putting 135s on these routes would be very effective

There wasn't a lot of detail but xjet does have the resources, especially if they get say through the end of April, to cover the flying short term till they implement a Q400 training program. I rarely buy rumors but it kinda fits. They already have a presence in IAH / EWR and apparently Jerry Atkin has been spending time with our boy SM.

What I heard from the training center in last 2 weeks is that we have about another 25 135's parked in kingman. The company put in a bid and they are waiting on United to sign off on paying the additional training cost for new hires ect.....then they will pull them out. But it's never true until they are parked at the gate so I just take it as rumor.

Flaw:
Do you think Menke is dumb enough to help out the competition of they were getting flying we could renegotiate for?!

ha ha, I was just thinking the same thing, Let me get this straight, Pinnacle CEO hangs out with the competition, and is going to help them take over the flying that Colgan is doing for UCal, the flying that Colgan is supposedly doing at a loss, and now is going to be picked up by someone who will likely pick it up at profitable rates. Don't forget the little detail that it will cost a lot of money to start a new fleet that happens to be owned by Colgan! Sometimes WoW is what comes to mind reading some of the stuff people put on here,

More like Pinnacle CEO hangs out with the competition, sells out to the competition, and get a nice golden parachute and moves on to a better job without the headaches of his present job.

Not saying I buy this either, but I don't see Skywest just buying the Q operation. The cost of buying the Q operation would be more than just starting it yourself. Plus you would have to deal with ALPA. What does make sense, however, is buying out a competitor cheap and getting more control of mainline lift which gives you more leverage when negotiating contracts with the major airlines.

Sounds like he'd be taking a page out of Lorenzo's book.

True...but the Q operation is up and running right now. It'd divert a lot of manpower and company resources for skywest to start a Q operation from the ground up.

I suppose this all pivots on whether or not United wants to play ball and renegotiate the terms of the contract. They'd be setting a bad business precedent and open themselves up to the possibility of other carriers coming forward asking to renegotiate the terms of their contracts. United's not in business to make other carrier's money.

From time to time it has been "rumored" that Skywest has produced training manuals and classroom material for a Q operation. I think the last time I heard about it was back in 2010 when someone snapped a photo of the stuff.

Couldn't XJT just picking what chaniqua is losing this year? Pretty sure unical is.done with them by the 3rd quarter.

Xjet "taking" 9E flying? That statement assumes that Pinnacle owned routes in the first place, but the cold hard fact is that they don't. Delta owns the routes, and all of Pinnacle's routes are mostly outsourced DC9 routes from the NWA days of 2000 to 2012. And no regional airline is taking another regional airlines flying, unless the mainline partner says so. This thread should be re-titled because it is inaccurate. You don't own any routes or flying when at a regional.

This is the first time I agree with you brother :)

EXACTLY. The markets are assessed by the suit wearing types in the crystal palace headshed. When the brain trust gets done, they decide what aircraft are going to do THEIR flying. Whether that's aircraft they operate with their own labor, OR one of the many outsourced/contracted entities in which they do business with.

The flying belongs to the "corp" or the "holdings company" in which the paint job is associated with, NOBODY else. Excluding any at risk or pro rate agreements of course.

Regional CEO's don't paint their faces in camo, hop in stealth helicopters, and go in all ninja/SEAL team six style and 'take" anything. Let alone the pilots.

Doesn't apply to me personally, as between the two carriers I've worked it's been both ends of the equation.

But yeah, I understand your point fully. But regional pilots that like to get their colon in a twist thinking it's "their" flying really need to get a grasp on the bigger picture.

I'm pretty sure everyone knows what the OP means without having someone argue the semantics of it......keep the title as it is. Those of us with common sense that are non-argumentative have no problem with it. :rolleyes:

XJT had every right to be mad when others came in. This is because unlike most "regionals" of today, ExpressJet used to be "Continental Express", owned by CAL, part of CAL. We all had CAL employee numbers, we flowed up on schedule when our number came up, and our paychecks said Continental Airlines on them. We walked to picket line together, "ONE AIRLINE, ONE CONTRACT". Then we were sold off and turned into just another regional player like everyone else. We weren't just some company who bid on some flying and won the routes. We were created by CAL, for CAL, to be part of CAL. Many pilots went to CAL with their current employee number, current board date, and current pay. We were one in the same until 2003. This is why you see guys that have been around awhile cringe when they see Colgan or CHQ or Commutair or whoever come in and fly for UniCal. We're not misinformed, things have just changed a lot in the last 10 years. Carry on.....

Wow sucks those guys are still there... I'd be ****ed off if I was a regional lifer too

took the words out of my mouth

Keywords, used to be.... We're all disposable in this little regional,game...

So...regional lifer, huh?

Lol

I guess you work for XJT, but the post doesn't really make any sense in the timeline.

As you should know, all the "we" stuff ended in 2002 on the IPO/pump and dump spin off, NOT 2003. In other words, after that there no longer was a "we" when referring to people that worked at the COEX side of Continental Airlines. It was as that point, in 2002, that ExpressJet became just another player. The flow through, done. It was only the flow up-flow down-flow backs, "schindler's list" and "P.I.G.s" at that point.

The ONLY thing that XJT had going for them was the structuring of the CPA that was done as part of the spin off. At which point, in 2007, CAL simply exercised their option to start having 25% of the flying done by anybody they chose. Which they were able to announce in beginning of 2006.

A regional airline; get in, get your time, and GTFO ASAP.

The shifting/cycling and terminating/awarding of FPD's and CPA's is NOTHING but part of the constant suck of working for a regional provider.

Agreed. And sadly, unless scope is recaptured, so are the junior pilots at (insert legacy airline here).

How do you know your not one?

Better check the arrogance. For your sake, I hope the industry treats you better than it has many in the past decade.

lol the joke is actually on you guys. Yes, I chose to watch my kids grow up and be around for my family because that is the most important thing to me, not this pathetic career. Its pretty nice not having done an overnight in many years while making around 120K. And guess what, if we get replaced by another regional, then I'll....dare I say it......go do something else. I made the choice many years ago that I'd rather take my chances and be there for my family rather than go to CAL and do 5 days to Hawaii and be lucky to be home 1 or 2 nights a week.....all to say I fly a 737 or 757 or w/e. Those of you guys that are single and live for only yourselves, right now going to do that Intl flying seems pretty great.....but talk to me in 5 or 10 years when you have a wife and a few little ones at home that don't understand why daddy can't make that soccer game or why all the other dads are at the daddy/daughter dance but not theirs. Talk to me when you kids start hysterically crying as soon as they see you pull your uniform out. Trust me, your wife and kids will be really impressed with that 7-4 you're flying when you're missing 75%+ of all the important things in their lives. Those regional lifers lol, man they need to have their head examined.

I think about this more and more everyday. This career really is pathetic and it gets worse every year. Our Ego is the death of us.

Wow...this is an extremely intelligent comment...

Ty...I understand no one "owns" their routes. I am simply saying given the circumstances it is not that hard to believe that SkyWest with Xjet may be interested in the IAH and EWR flying. SM wouldn't be getting rid of anything he or Delta doesn't want in the first place. Delta's has made it perfectly clear they want to transition to an ALL jet fleet and I am sure even though those aircraft have UCAL colors on them it wouldn’t hurt Delta's feeling's if one of their primary feeder carriers went all Jet. Just a thought...

Except for the guy with a class date at a major, we're all regional lifers.

Some of us just don't know it yet.

You spelled GoJetsss wrong. You're missing the J and the T.

And the E is in the wrong spot. :D

This is along the same lines as John Q. Passenger asking a regional pilot why he doesn't "just" go work for Southwest or Fedex. Hell of a lot easier said than done.