Summarization of where our industry stands...

U.S. Regional airline restructuring Part I: Is consolidation inevitable ? or essential? | CAPA - Centre for Aviation

 

US Regional airline restructuring Part 2. Towards an independent regional force; & regulatory change | CAPA - Centre for Aviation

Mixed opinions on what the end result will be....

 

Pretty good article. Anyone who thinks the regional industry will look the same in 5 years is delusional. I just hope the end result is that pay goes up. However, plenty of pilot groups as of late have proven that we will still take concessions, even when we have leverage. If only we had a union that looked out for regionals.

 

The article provided some good information for some regional airlines who were known as commuter airlines a few short years ago. No one is coming to your rescue! May be a good time to start thinking outside of the box.

 

A lot of words to explain what we already know, the regional job doesn't pay enough. They propose doing point to point with regional jets, outside of hubs. Who is going to pay? If it were profitable Southwest or a LCC would be all over it. XJT treid branded point to point, but the oil costs grew too high, and 50 seaters are getting very long in the tooth now.

So the "industry" falls back on the same old argument "regulations are killing us" I read several unsourced quotes in there that sound a lot like the usual suspect--Bedford, talking about 1500 hrs in a Cessna towing banners is OK, but 700 hrs F-18 time isn't. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seriously doubt he's getting any 700 hr F-18 guys as a Navy pilot commitment is 10 yrs. So what is the answer they say: less regulation BUT more subsidy: The industry is seeking relief in the form of more training credit for highly structured college training programmes. “We also need government help in the form of student pilot loan guarantees or grants ". I hate to be so crass, but the simple answer is FUPM.

 

There's always the SurfAir example running in California.

But there aren't enough PC-12 around to rescue the regional industry!

 

SWA already does point to point...with 737s no less. Granted, they are moving away from it, but they still do it and turn a profit. Throw a more efficient/lower capacity airplane (c series or next gen ejet?) on those routes (or other point to point routes) and there could be a market for it. Especially once podunktown loses its airline service as the 50 seaters are parked.

 

Pretty rich coming from the guy running to work for a carrier with bottom of the barrel work rules and pay.

ELOHEL

 

We will see if they would rather burn it down rather than pay us more. I'm guessing burn it down. They just need to bring everything back in house.

 

From Article Part 1:

Regional pilots have voted down other tentative agreements, including the industry-leading agreement forged by Republic last year, which increased average pay between 30% and 50% and set new-hire pay at the top of the regional scale (about USD30,000 annually from USD22,000). SkyWest pilots also rejected a tentative agreement that analysts saw as pivotal to the airline’s future competitiveness and profitability.






So.....Teamsters = CAPA? Learned something new today.