ORD isn’t good right now…Cold and rainy all day.

What’s the DOH of the DTW FO plug? Just want to gauge how long it may take to get there as a new hire.

Out of training got it this recent award.

Hey well that’s good to hear at least. Any educated guesses what will happen with DTW in the coming year or so in light of the JB deal?

no such thing. no one knows anything and would be talking out of their 🍩

I really hate it when people talk out of their sprinkle covered chocolate donuts!

I think most of us in DTW/ORD/DFW are hoping that JB will let us keep those bases instead of shrink them like spirit is, but who really knows.


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The biggest reason for JB buying NK is so they can expand outside of the east coast. CEO has said several times the importance of this, and we just had an internal conference call where the network planning VP reiterated this. I don’t think any of NK’s bases will disappear any time soon, but could see them expanding significantly.

JB isn't going to move any more assets into the their current route structure. Now, they might consolidate one or two of the Spirit bases? ORD/DTW maybe one remains? DFW/IAH same thing. ACY probably goes away. I hope they don't change one base and we continue to grow from the middle outward and continue major presence in legacy bases of UA, DL, AA. JB's goal was always to compete against them and force them to lower their prices. We'll see what happens.

in the cases of DFW/IAH, ORD/DTW, LAS/LAX they are all separate catchment areas without much cannibalization. Legacies can’t really have major fortress hub operations so close together because of RJ feed, but an O&D focused approach could easily work in bases relatively close together. Like someone else said, look at how we already operate so many bases close together. BOS/JFK/EWR, FLL/MCO

That's a Bingo.

I agree with this. Take DFW and IAH, might as well be in different states because they serve totally different markets, remember, they are 4 hours drive apart. What they do have is a major legacy hub for 2 legacy carriers. JetBlue having a presence in each of those legacy hubs is exactly what the said they want. I have more confidence with JBLU keeping ORD, IAH, DFW and DTW than I do with NK or what F9 would want. You have gates and crews at all of those bases, retreating from them is the opposite of what their stated plans are.

Here's a good read. How they transition the Spirit product/routes into a JB product will be interesting to watch.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/jetbl...4YgU700Q%3D%3D

Great take.

(although he used "synergies" in the first paragraph...which, after the past few months, has become a word that makes me want to toss my cookies)

I know right now there’s probably a lot of moving parts to answering this question, with the downsizing of DFW if a guy is looking at DFW based airlines to go to work at should I still consider Spirt?

No, consider American and Southwest.

Or Envoy

stuffer

Honestly this is a hard question to really answer. NK is shrinking the base, which has always been one of our smaller ones anyway. What happens when B6 takes over is anyones guess, and yes its all just a guess, although some more educated than others. Honestly it appears NK wants to make moves down in IAH, so that may be our future. If you must stay in DFW, try to get on at AA/WN or like Halon said, Envoy. Envoy pay and flow would be hard to pass up right to come to NK, especially with all the uncertainty. Best of luck whichever route you choose.

Spoke to an envoy FO last week. He said their flow is still 6 years and you can’t get hired by AA outside of the flow as an envoy pilot.

If this is true, going to envoy is an insane move and explains why they are offering a 2 year pay bump. The flow will be worthless when/if you flow in half a decade and you can’t get hired on before that, leaving you with DAL and UAL that has already done the majority of their bulk hiring.

NKs plans for DFW are long term not important as it will be JBLU making the call. JBLU will have to make divestments in NE and Florida bases, probably, and they will need to stack 7000 pilots somewhere. DFW and IAH are two of the largest markets in the country and I think have a strong future, as does ORD and DTW.

Goodbye failed ULCC model, hello change.

really you think delta has done a majority of its hiring all ready?

Thank you everyone who replied I appreciate it.

What’s the rumor mill on the future of the Vegas base with JetBlue?

No rumors.

I think it’s looking more like a “bust” than a “blackjack”

seeing as JetBlue caters to a more affluent customers and not so much the trashy “let’s get drunk and blow all our paycheck in Vegas” customer. I say we will eventually shrink Vegas after the merger.

They started hiring tons of people in the early 2010s, well before United and AA.

It will be at least 2025 before a single operating certificate and realistically another year or two beyond that before they really consider closing bases. I think LAS is a good base to keep despite the “hurr durr low yields” stuff

Why are the Florida bases junior?

only bases that are really growing. dont come here for dfw....

Are folks getting DTW out of training?

Jetblue only flies to about 7 cities that don’t touch the ocean.

Vegas and Reno are two of them.

Say what?
Off the top of my head, I got the following, but I’m sure there’s more:
LAS
SLC
RNO
DEN
PHX
ABQ
ORD
MCI
DFW
AUS
PIT
BUF
SYR
IAH
DTW
MSP
RDU
MCO
BNA
SAT


As to the post asking about LAS, I think it stays the same or maybe grows some from the combined current network, and stays a crew base. I think Joanna mentioned that as one of the west coast growth opportunities they are looking at post merger.

Close to 8000 pilots when it’s all said and done with the merger. As mentioned earlier, you can’t just put everyone in NY, FL and BOS. Spirit might be trying to shrink down DTW, ORD and DFW but I bet JBLU will have much different plans with those bases and we will see returned growth.

Agreed. Vegas is a bottomless market and makes a perfect secondary west coast hub for a combined B6/NK.

And it effectively pays 10% over LAX if you are going to live in base since you avoid Californias state income tax.

Somewhere will need to be a large connecting hub. It's hard to picture an airline 90% of the size of southwest without a central connecting hub airport it dominates. While they are important, I don't know if there is room for that at DFW or ORD.

Not many options that aren't already exploited.

ORD will gain gates and growth. But not for another 5 years. Project 2028 now I believe?

DFW just announced that they want to continue Terminal F construction, as well. https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/lo...3-3cf0409edd2d

How do new hires get their bases? Is each class awarded bases in seniority order separately, or are several months of classes grouped together? Also, how often are vacancies?

vacancie run monthly more or less.

each class is seperate

seniority order (age based)