Ok so if this even happens how would any of it be accomplished by the time these planes start coming?

 

Who knows. That depends on the FAA and how well the company manges things if it happens. But UAL is gonna have to make an announcement on this soon as the aircraft start arriving in January.

 

All of the pilots at my old airline had to do an initial training every time they switched to an airframe they hadn't flown before. The only thing they got out of was 1 week of indoc. Pretty sure you can not 'transition' to an airframe with a different type rating that you have not flown before.

 

Heard a couple of rumors and part speculation on my part. We're hiring like crazy, and there is talk of changes to the training program that sounds very much like Compass.

Think of it this way. Why would Hulas continue to pay for all the duplication involved with two seperate certificates when has has two pilot groups represented by the same union with similiar pay scales and contracts? Everybody knows the 145s are going away eventually as UAL has made it clear the larger RJs are the future. The reason for all these certificates (mainline scope on 50 seaters) is gone.

Gonna be an interesting next couple of months.

I agree with this... a lot of positions are being merged on the TSH level and Compass people are actually heading up the efforts. Crew Planning, Crew Records, Technical Publications, etc.... so this sounds plausible. They are also beefing up dispatch, scheduling, and maintenance positions within the SOC at this time as well. Completely overstaffed for our current operations in MSP.

 

Indoc at TSA is 2 weeks, some places its 3. But either way you're talking about an extra expense. Also if you shut TSA down, it will be gradual, and you are going to have expenses with that in terms of severance and bonuses to get people to stay till the lights go out. By the time you look at all that, it probably is not very cost effective.

 

Most, of not all, of those 145s are flown on a pro rate agreement rather than a capacity purchase agreement. That flying is extremely cheap for United since TSA and United share the risks. It's so cheap, United will most likely keep those planes around for a while. I see no reason why United would give TSA 175s in exhange for parking 145s.

 

The thing that people are forgetting is that many other airlines believe they are getting these airplanes and are being told they have a good shot at it. Why in the world would an airlines that does not have this type add it first and then merge with a sister company who already operates them?

 

Forget about the 175s for a second. You have two sister companies which have comparable cost in terms of crews and mechanics and the pilots are both represented by the same union. However you are paying for a support infrastructure for two certificates when you could move to one certificate and eliminate half of those jobs. Unless you have worked in the SOC or on the support side, it is hard to understand the amount of support positions required for each certificate. The reductions in management positions alone would result in a huge cost savings. So the answer to your question is simply cost. The reason you have multiple certificates was mainly due to Continental and American scope that would not allow large (over 50 seat) RJs on a certificate. Now that those scope clauses are no more you will see consolidation of certificates across the board to save money. The only reason I don't think Gojet will be in the mix is their pilot costs are the lowest in the industry, and I don't think the savings in support positions would be enough to justify the increase in pilot cost with a consolidation.

Its spreadsheet economics. If I can spend a little on the consolidation, and get rid of a bunch of people that I don't need to pay for, then it will happen. Its all about the bottom line at the end.

The 175s would not be the primary driver in a consolidation of certificates. The savings by eliminating positions would be the primary reason.

I'm not saying I have any "inside" information, but when you look at the history of this industry, companies have always moved to consolidate and eliminate excess staffing (cost) when possible.

 

According to United we have both. Not sure how many of each. Mainlines have moved to get rid of Pro Rate Flying (with the exception of EAS routes) because it is more profitable for them to go with CPAs. That is why 95% of UAL's agreements are CPAs.

Not sure but I think UAL pays for all our gas. That is a big reason to get rid of the 145s. Fuel isn't cheap any more.

But you could be right, UAL may decide to keep them for a while. Will be interesting to see what happens over the next couple of months.

 

Like I stated earlier, it's already happening. Many functions that were once performed by Compass and TSH are now being handled by one entity, TSH. Some Compass people are moving up to holdings to handle the same positions, and some are not. They are definitely working to reduce costs as much as possible. Crew Records, Technical Publications, Crew Planning, etc are all being centralized between the two airlines. GoJet remains its own entity as far as they are concerned at this point.