How soon b4 pinnacle files for ch-7. Aren't they suppose to run out of money soon?

 

I don't mean to troll but it seems evident that this will happen and has been the plan all along, in a matter of weeks Delta is set to announce how they will reshape their regional feed and your company said the 50 seaters was the way of the future for your company when they filled for CH11 on April fools day. Shortly after Delta passes a TA that will park an amount of 50 seaters over the next 2 years that closely resembles that of your fleet. Then your company tries to increase concessions that are impossible to comprehend. Once again airline managers show how much respect they have for us as Pilots. I wish you guys at Pinnacle the best of luck but it seems Delta is behind this and they have no desire for you guys to continue flying for them.

 

Delta will give Pinnacle more money to survive. I can see a wind down but not a Chapter 7. If Pinnacle go Chapter 7 there will be 180+ airplanes parked all over the place. Plus it doesn't make sense for Delta to give Pinnacle millions in April to last til now just to shut them down with out any type of wind down. Look how long it took for Comair to go away, they didn't do that overnight.

 

I don't think 9E is going Ch7 and here's why:

Delta did not "give" Pinnacle millions in April. Delta is providing DIP financing to pcl which is designed to help pcl get through the bankruptcy process with sufficient cash on hand to pay for the airline’s daily operations.

Its not a gift if you expect something in return, in this case DAL will expect cheaper contracts and more favorable numbers on exit from 9E.

Take that one step further and you can see that once 9E exits with a cheap-o contract the cost pressure exerted on all other DCI carriers will be increased tremendously, and there you have the reason why 9E will emerge from bk intact.

 

Pinnacle strikes deal with Delta to delay reorganization - Memphis Business Journal[]

 

This is good from a labor standpoint, that at least the judge didn't immediately screw you guys. It's incredibly bad in all other ways.

I am very sad to see that regional pilots have been made a 'commodity' and that experience is not valued in any way.

The 'best' case (for survival anyway) is that the company and union can reach an agreement or fix the three items they got dinged on and resubmit a proposal which the court said would almost certainly be approved. Only then MIGHT Delta continue to finance them. That would still have to happen for a period of time. Delta stated that they had no interest in providing additional financing to Pinnacle unless the labor costs were brought down. Even the concessions, if they are reached, might not satisfy Delta in this respect.

The 'second best' would be a controlled wind down. I don't think it would take as long as Comair or anything close to it. Months, maybe.

Then, Chapter 7. As someone earlier mentioned, that would leave planes and routes in disarray and is pretty unlikely as a means of initial dissoulution, but overall not impossible.

In my opinion, it looks like this is it for 9E. Their lack of liquidity was described by the judge as 'severe' and 'acute'. Delta is all they've got. According to the opinion, Delta included several clauses in their DIP agreement with Pinnacle that would immediately cancel the responsibilities of Delta and cause all money to be immediately due back to them. One of these clauses is that Pinnacle must have more than 25 million in liquid assets on the last day of each month. Considering that, as well as the various performance metrics imposed by the ASAs that will be infinitely harder to meet as the airline continues to lose staff and morale (low before and non-existent now), it's clear that Delta has a strangle-hold on Pinnacle. There are quite a few landmines for 9E to step on if Delta doesn't get their way.

I am proud of you guys for holding on and not taking their final offer. It was clearly over and above what they need to survive. Hopefully you will be able to work out something that at least allows some reflection of your hard work and dedication. Good luck.

 

If the worst case scenario happens, I'd be curious to know how many guys would even go back to flying-or at least for the airlines.

Of course timelines might change things a little bit.

 

We could always be broken up and sold to other airlines. That looks very likely at this point.

 

I would think Delta would rather just sign new ASA's with other airlines using the same (9e) airplanes. So other airlines can hire the pinnacle pilots at year one pay, thus lowering the costs.

 

Could this be why ExpressJet(L-ASA) is hiring like mad?