How would you feel if you had a CJO with Delta for a class date 3 months from now, but every 1500 hour CFI who started at Endeavor between now and your start date was senior to you. You’d essentially become a direct entry First Officer, never able to catch up on a seniority list. Merging seniority lists would kill hiring outside of said WO.

I’m pretty sure the Endeavor and Delta Unions just did it as a sort of show of solidarity.

 

It’s not those who started at the regional today that would be ahead of you, it’s every pilot on that regional’s list regardless of when they were hired. A legacy could eventually bring rj’s in house and hire off of the street to staff them, but you’ll never see a merger of a regional and legacy airline. The regional unions would balk at a staple because the current legacy pilots would be senior able bid the captain seats, while the legacy wouldn’t accept anything less. It’s just cheaper and less hassle for the legacy to hire off the street and fill the seats at first year pay and benefits.

 

FYI OO doesn’t have a union. OO is the same airline that forced every eligible pilot on their seniority list to upgrade. They did not care about the hundreds of pilots who gave their two weeks notice. They could care less about what the pilot group thinks if they were to sell SkyWest airlines with the ERJ’s and pilots to Delta Airlines. I’m sure they’ve pondered the idea already.

 

I know, also serving multiple contracts would make it even more complicated if OO was involved. The response was to someone using Endeavor and Delta as an example.

 

No it wouldn’t. They’re already currently taking a loss on some contracts because they can’t fly the agreed upon contract due to left seat attrition. There’s a fee to walk away from a contract I’m sure, but Mesa literally just did it. They decided to walk away rather than continue to operate at a loss.

Bottom line you can walk away from any contract. Sure there’s a price, but Mesa just proved to me it’s not that heavy.

I’m a big fan of Delta buying out SkyWest. Bring all the 175’s in house with the seniority list. Utilize their training centers to hire the best CFI’s through 141 flight school programs. They already know how to take a CFI and turn them into an RJ pilot successfully. You’d also wipe out probably 1/3 of the available pilots for hire from AA and UAL.

Let AA and UAL figure out how the hell they’re going to compete with that. The Aviate school would look like a joke if that happens. AA will probably be forced to just merge their WO’s into their mainline seniority list. United’s supposed growth plans and connection flying would be taken to the woodshed overnight.

 

Mesa is doing something “different” but like the WO. Paying FO ca rate at 750 hours. Or if you are already at 1000 paying a 10000.00 upgrade bonus and promising 2 year flow to United. This is in lieu of forced upgrades.

And even though they are just sitting there, somebody is paying parking, maintenance, and insurance on every one of them and lease payments or loans/bonds on many. As well as for sims, gates, and other costs centers that are not being gainfully employed.
And that costs big money.

And the effect is:[/QUOTE]

 

Why would they care about “the hundreds of pilots that gave their notice”?

This is a theory of constraints issue, and FOs who either won’t or can’t upgrade are their limiting factor. One way or another, OO is better off with those FOs gone. Preferably to upgrade, but even them quitting helps relieve the constraint.

 

The theory is there were FOs in there willing to upgrade but wanted to wait for the seniority to hold the base in which they reside. Many would rather fly for an LCC in base than commute to Detroit Reserve.

 

the issue is that you have no idea what FOs will or won’t upgrade. Sure, the lifers never planned on upgrading but those have been flushed by now.

Every FO leaving from now on will hurt your contrasting model as much as any CA. After all, those FOs soaked up “valuable CA time” without giving back as a CA.

the regional model is fu$&@ed until major hiring slows down. There is no good answer for any regional right now.

 

To a point. At some point your fo pool will have too few hours to upgrade.