Pinnacle
 

Local news article about Pinnacle moving to MSP....I highlight the parts that made me laugh.




Pinnacle Airlines finds a new owner and a new headquarters | StarTribune.com

Spring has a special, more than symbolic meaning for Pinnacle Airlines this year.
Later this month the regional carrier will emerge from a painful bankruptcy as a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, a legacy carrier that is among the largest in the world.
And in May, Memphis-based Pinnacle will become Minnesota-based Pinnacle as it relocates its headquarters to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
To date, the most evidence of Pinnacle’s move to MSP has been a pair of job fairs held last month to find headquarters employees as well as additional flight attendants. More recruiting events are expected later this month.




“The numbers are still fluid but we expect to have about 250 positions in Minneapolis. Some new, some of whom are transfers,” said Pinnacle spokesman Joe Williams.
Pinnacle is also hiring mechanics and technicians for its new operation.
Pinnacle’s new headquarters will be in a structure known as “Building C Tower” at 34th Avenue and Interstate 494.
Besides administrative functions such as accounting, finance and human resources, the headquarters also will house Pinnacle’s flight operations center, which handles aircraft and crew scheduling.
The relocation of Pinnacle from Memphis to Minneapolis made fiscal sense, said Delta spokeswoman Kristin Baur.
“As they went through bankruptcy, Pinnacle went through an evaluation of its most cost-effective options, and Minneapolis was the most cost effective,” Baur said. “Memphis and Minnesota both made very strong cases for themselves, but in the end it was ultimately an economic decision.”
Forgivable loan
Minnesota, through the Department of Employment and Economic Development, will provide $550,000 to Pinnacle in the form of a forgivable loan if the carrier creates 200 new full-time jobs in the state.
“Have you seen all the job postings on the Internet?” asked Dan Boivin, chairman of the Metropolitan Airports Commission. “This is good for us.”
Boivin said he hopes that Pinnacle’s move to Minneapolis will result in additional service out of MSP for outstate Minnesota cities where scheduled service has been reduced or eliminated.
Pinnacle has 5,000 employees systemwide, including 1,100 in Minnesota, before the headquarters announcement. Its fleet includes 140 CRJ-200 jets that seat 50 passengers and 41 CRJ-900 jets with a 76-seat capacity and a separate first-class area. Pinnacle serves 124 cities.
According to bankruptcy proceedings, Pinnacle’s fleet will eventually consist of 81 CRJ-900s with the smaller CRJ-200s being phased out over the next two to three years.
Pinnacle is one of seven regional carriers that are part of the Delta Connection system. They provide service on 50- to 76-seat jets on routes to and from Delta’s hub cities. After it emerges from bankruptcy, Pinnacle will be the only connections carrier owned by Delta.
Minneapolis-based Compass Airlines also is part of Delta Connection, as are Atlanta-based ExpressJet and St. George, Utah-based SkyWest.
Last year, Delta closed the only regional carrier it owned at the time, Cincinnati-based Comair Airlines, because its aging fleet of 50-seat aircraft was too expensive to fly and maintain.
“Pinnacle is different from Comair,” said veteran airline analyst Helane Becker of Cowen Securities. “Comair employees were much less willing to adjust pay scales and productivity issues.”
A sense of relief
Indeed, unions at Pinnacle agreed to deep pay cuts during bankruptcy in order to keep the airline flying.
As Pinnacle prepares to emerge from bankruptcy later this month, there seems to be a sense of relief among workers and optimism that the carrier will be a long-term survivor.
“With the move to Minneapolis, and when we exit from bankruptcy, we will be a re-energized airline,” said Terry French, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA unit at Pinnacle.
“The new management team has good ideas how to pull it together and make it profitable, French said. “Going through bankruptcy was very stressful but it positions us to be more competitive.”
The management team includes CEO John Spanjers, the former CEO of Eagan-based Mesaba Airlines before it was acquired by Pinnacle in 2010, and Minneapolis resident Curt Berchtold, who is the airline’s senior vice president and chief financial officer. *Berchtold previously was CFO at *Silver Airways in Fort Lauderdale, Fla
Spanjers said earlier this year that “Pinnacle will be well-positioned to emerge from bankruptcy with a viable business plan that provides meaningful opportunities for our employees.’’
Analyst Becker said Pinnacle gives Delta more flexibility with its Delta Connection operation.
“Delta wants more than one choice with regional airlines, and Pinnacle provides that,” Becker said. “I think Pinnacle employees feel a lot better about Delta owning them with its deep pockets. It was either that or unemployment.”

A great read. Analyst gives insult to injury.

i found this part humorous.....

"The relocation of Pinnacle from Memphis to Minneapolis made fiscal sense"

Just heard 16 pilots resigned this week. Rumours are flying like mad around the training center. Possible 700's and keeping 56 200's, and even talked of hiring and upgrades. Of course they could all be to try and bring morale up so people stop leaving so fast.

Hiring in fall is what we were told in recurrent in MSP. From ALPA and Company personnel.

Wait, what? :rolleyes:

Sounds good, but I won't believe it until they are online.

What kind of crazy would you have to be to go work for Pinnacle right now?

What kind of crazy does one need to be to get into the industry in the first

huuuuurrrr dat

They just need to cut my bribe che....err...longevity bonus check in an expeditious fashion.

I keep hearing about 700s... Does that mean the carrier flying them wasn't meeting performance goals? Gotta see it to believe it.

If it happens the line will be out the door and around the corner.

Pinnacle will offer a signing bonus I'm sure if they hire.
If you build it (false hope), they will come.

My question is, even though Pinnacles contract is awful, GoJets is still cheaper and has a much more junior seniority list. Why would Delta want to shift flying from GoJet to Pinnacle? I know Pinnacle guys have had it rough the last year and want to find a sign of hope

Because they have complete control over Pinnacles performance.

Guess they don't care about late departures in DTW then. It has only gotten worse with DGS.

Delta has come in and has begun taking over all essential business functions and integrating them into Delta (at a minimal cost to DL). Delta managers are replacing most of the 9E people. Delta has basically achieved a C-scale wage pilot group, and because most essential functions are actually going to be done by Delta, the overhead will be very low and overall probably cheaper than any stand-alone regional that has its own overhead to pay for.

I heard about 700s from 2003-2007. And the E170, E190, and of course, a TPA base!

Exactly. All they have to do is say "Preferential Interview with Delta!" and maybe a $1,000 to $5,000 bonus and people will be there.

Latest rumors outta MSP. Company does have a bid in for an RFP for 32 CRJ-700s. Who knows if Pinnacle actually wins the bid or not. Hiring by fall rumor is predicated on no new A/C coming aside from ones already guaranteed so IF 700s came to 9E hiring would start sooner. As for attracting people, union rumor is hope the bridge agreement attracts folks as a bonus would not be offered. Supposedly it was tried before at 9E and quickly shot down. That was before my time there so I do not know if that's true or not. Rumors aside...just watching the crap show for all regionals right now!

Is it part of the bridge agreement that new hires would get the interview with Delta? Or is it only for pilots on the seniority list at the time of ratification

And would they have to upgrade to CA first then wait for their seniority number to come up? IIRC, that was in the bridge agreement as well. You either had to be a CA or have been one at one time.

If that's the case, then you might have a better shot of getting on at Delta faster from outside the "preferential interview" agreement.

Enjoying your San Juan overnight Kellwolf!? Lucky b***ard! Another problem with the bridge agreement and 9E reared it's ugly head recently too. It seems DL recruiters will not even look at a 9Eer trying to get in outside the bridge agreement. Some 9E pilots introduced themselves to the recruiters at the WIA conference and were quickly given the cold shoulder trying to get in with DL off the street "you have a bridge agreement, why are you even bothering talking to us" is the quote going around from said conference. So the unofficial stance is then I guess, if you work for 9E your only hope for DL is the bridge agreement. I hoping someday blue will be my lucky color if that's the case. ;-)

As a wholly owned, why even bother with a RFP? Daddy Delta is running the show now and can make Pinnacle's bid whatever they want/need.

What's stopping delta from cutting we hires bonus checks directly. How would the union fight that?

Eh, Daddy D will threaten you all again and you guys will cave to more concessions... Voila, there's the bonus money...

As long as skywest doesn't get another plane I will take another paycut:D

(I kid for those who are unable to detect sarcasm)

Unfortunately this is true. Recruiter was pretty quick to tell me " you know you have an interview". I questioned him (arnie) about possibly jumping ahead and doing the full interview, his response was basically - your union will notify you of any possible progressions in the bridge agreement...what a joke...

And remember the 9E union fed BS that you didn't have to be a CA to qualify for the Delta preferential interview? And that FOs could do it outside of the Streamlined Selection Program (SSP)? Yeah right! Delta just gave a big resounding NO to that one.

Bottom line, no 9E FO will see a Delta interview until they upgrade at 9E, if and when that happens.

I only know of one guy in that type of job with the name arnie, that would be Captain Arnie Kraby. In 07/08 he was the head of the hiring and the office you went into to be told by him if you were hired or not. Who else was with him at WIA?

Not sure about the other recruiters. Arnie was who I talked to.

You guys voted for it. Now you will work for your current wages until Delta needs you....if you have a degree (couldn't resist). In all serious, this bridge agreement probably burned the bridge for a lot of you.

The only way to get out of that is to work for someone else then apply.

Have there been any furloughs so far? Or did having so many people bail and the slow pace of removal of the 200s take care of staffing levels?

I think there are a few voluntary furloughs, not sure if they were canceled. There are a good handful of guys on long term leave, but the company pulled the plug a few months back. There have been a few days of premium pay and most if not all drops and swaps are denied due to staffing. This summer should be fun.

That whole consessionary LOA was filled with total BS, and 85% of our boys and girls bought into it... Now slowly but surely I keep hearing "hey wait a minute, they didn't say it was gonna be like that".

TWs hair tonic will cure all your career needs...:rolleyes:

The problem is not the things that were already known, for example, payrates. When one votes for that, they knew what they were getting. The problem is for them to get the FOs to pass this. A BIG issue/contention was the Delta SSP interview program. All FOs were surprised and probably ticked off that one has to be a current CA or be a former CA in order to qualify for the SSP interview. However, the union sold this to the FOs by saying something along the lines of "well, FOs, you don't have to go through the SSP, nothing stops you from applying to Delta on your own." And people bought it.

This gentlemen Arnie seems to have put a nail in that supposed "fact."

Any current 9E FO should be livid at what they were fed about the SSP interview program to get this whole TA/deal to pass.

Here it is.........................

Q: To be eligible for the SSP, you must be a Captain, correct? Does that mean F/Os will not be eligible?

A: No! First Officers are eligible to be hired by Delta as part of the monthly hiring commitment (that is, one third of the overall monthly commitment) outside of the SSP, so First Officers directly stand to benefit from the Bridge Agreement and will not have to wait until all Captains have been considered.

All pilots on the seniority list at the time of ratification will be entitled to an interview under the SSP. To be eligible to attend that interview under the SSP, you must be, or have been, a Captain at Pinnacle (or on leave holding a Captain position) at the time of your selection. As Pinnacle Captains move on to Delta, that will create upgrade opportunities for current First Officers to upgrade to Captain and become eligible for the seniority-based SSP.

As noted above, in addition to the hiring that will take place under the SSP, Delta has reserved the right to hire 1/3 of the monthly commitment from Pinnacle outside of seniority order, so current First Officers will be hired without having to wait to be eligible for the SSP.


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You gotta like the No! with an exclamation point. As if, they really wanted to highlight this to the FOs so they would vote yes.

We get it, you left Pinnacle and made a good choice. You can move on now. You don't have to keep coming on here and trying to prove to the rest of the world you made the right decision.

People didn't vote for this because of the bridge, they voted for it because they wanted to keep their jobs. Also, if you re-read the last sentence you just posted, Delta can hire 1/3 of the required Pinnacle pilots outside of the bridge (and these can be FOs). An FO has a much better chance of being hired from Pinnacle than from any other company, how are FO's at any other companies going to get hired at Delta?