Originally Posted by SkyWestPilot1

I talked to Chip in DEN the other day for the "road show" and he said that right now, they have "buyers remorse" over the XJ purchase, but hope that things will improve.

Originally Posted by drrhythm2

Who is "Chip?"

If he isn't the CEO, CFO, or a board member, I don't think his opinion matters for much.

Originally Posted by SkyWestPilot1

I'm not really sure why we're fighting... I've been riding in the js for the past several months on XJ. The guys (and gals) have been AWESOME. We are all in the same boat. We're just individual employees. We're all the same. We don't, and can't control what the company that we work for does, Individualy. That being said, cost does matter. I ran into a xj fo several months ago in ORD and we got to talking about the future. He asked how things were at Skywest and I said not to bad, although the company WE work for is losing money for the first time in I don't know how long. He said, and I quote, "don't worry about it, we lost money at XJ for years before we were broke, it'll be fine" I didn't really know what to say. Now, I'm sure he doesn't speak for everyone at XJ, I hope. But that mentality is a death sentence. No matter how much SKW, Inc has in the bank it WILL be gone if we don't control costs. I promise you that the airline with the lowest costs will see the growth, union or not. That is the ONE way we can control our future. Guys, do what you want over there, but remeber Skywest INC is in the this to make a profit. I talked to Chip in DEN the other day for the "road show" and he said that right now, they have "buyers remorse" over the XJ purchase, but hope that things will improve. Good luck to us all, to get onto the next step! Good night

Originally Posted by blastoff

When did you guys buy Mesaba (XJ) ?

Originally Posted by drrhythm2

Who is "Chip?"

If he isn't the CEO, CFO, or a board member, I don't think his opinion matters for much. Again, our value wasn't in immediate profitability. Any executive with half a brain that knows how to read a balance sheet and a cash flow statement wouldn't have expected to short term profit from buying xjet. Did you read the article I posted last time? The long term value is in our contracts and economies of scale. When does Skywest report first quarter financials? Let's see what those say.

FYI, Xjet has been on a cost-cutting program for several years now, with noticeable results. We've been getting leaner, just look at the trends. Now, if the ASA half can just somehow work a decent contract from Delta in the next few years, we'll be in business.

If you have not read the news, it looks like Pinnacle just filed for Chapter 11, and were saved by a loan from Delta. The only reason I can think of for Delta to do this is to keep another competitor in the arena, and specifically one that (should they emerge successfully) will have used the bankruptcy process to become artificially more competitive, and thus have a cheap airline to threaten their other carriers with. We'll see what happens.

Originally Posted by MatchPoint

A quick glance at XJT’s 10K’s shows that XJT hasn’t turned a profit since 2006 and regardless of how you spin XJT’s 2008 contract it was your Mgmt. team that agreed to the terms in an effort to stand alone. Jerry and friends saw an investment opportunity and CAL schooled the two parties. In the end SkyWest is paying for it, literally. Besides XJT’s slide began a long time ago in 2005 when CAL pulled 69 jets and ExpressJet attempted branded operations. I admit it was a bold attempt and ExpressJet’s branded operations had a good model and product but many reason lead to its downfall.

As for your crap pay comments, I love how those who don't understand business go straight to an extreme. This business model will not support the average pilot making $200K/yr., but will support a sold wage for a subcontractor not $20K on 25 days of work. Just remember you're a subcontractor providing fee that mainline want's for the cheapest price. If you can't provide it they will give the flying to someone else who's cheaper (GoJet). Don’t believe me? Go just ask for 20% pay raises and see what happens.

Originally Posted by Paid2fly

Have any pilot group "ask for an across the board 20% raise" and "see what happens"!

Originally Posted by Wingtips

They did, it was call the 90s, and they actually got it. When airlines start turning multi-billion dollar a year profits, which is AFTER paying for a ton of new metal, well yes, we get to ask for 20%+. Then when things turn, so do the requests....