You make a blanket statement that people who have previously flown long haul and say they don’t want to do it here are full of it and will all cave to a higher pay scale.

-People politely refute that.

You ask for reasons why.

-Reasons are politely given.

You childishly flip the conversation to whether the merits of your limited personal experience in international flying qualify you to make your original statement.

It’s not a p*ssing contest, there are people who have come here with cargo, charter, foreign and military experience. I’ve flown with guys with some really interesting backgrounds who have experience flying all over the planet. Almost every single one of them agrees they enjoy the ease of operations flying primarily domestically at NK. We knew what we were getting into coming here, what the company is.

The attitude isn’t about who is better than who, it’s about your asinine assertion that we don’t mean what we say because you have some fantasy idea about long haul ops.

 

All I’ve been trying to say is I bet if Spirit got widebody planes (I don’t think we actually would anytime soon) it would go senior because of the pay...I would be willing to bet money on it.

You are the one that came thumping your chest saying how all the flying we do here is a “cake walk” because you did a double butter fly approach that wasn’t in the FMS. Man turning that heading knob left and right a couple of extra times while doing an instrument procedure is intense bro!

And what was the other thing? Oh yeah, you landed at an airport where instead of landing at height above sea level you had to touchdown at 0. Man that’s a huge number, and it was metric so instead of 0 feet, it was 0 meters. Dang! That’s a game changer!!!

 

You’re conflating things.

The flying here is cake because it is cake, not because of anyone’s previous experience.

It’s not the wear and tear of long haul, and it’s not the 6-8 legs a day of the regionals. If you want to fly a lot, go for it. If you want to do one leg a day, or sit home, also an option. 95% of our flights are 1-3 hours. With the exception of the Vegas trips there is limited back side of the clock. Most of our international flights are dispatched under FAA rules. There are many more reasons why the flying here is easy, I’m not sure why that’s so offensive to you, but I see it as a good thing.

 

You’ve obviously never done true international flying particularly to places outside of Europe or you wouldn’t be having this argument.

The flying “here” is truly a cakewalk in comparison (which is a damn good thing in a way). For me it’s gotten rather boring as it’s just not that mentally stimulating or challenging.

I just have to keep telling myself that boring in aviation isn't necessarily bad.

 

Now I know why when seeing a particular Spirit pilot my body would involuntary begin walking backward and bowing. I’m cancelling my doctors appointments!

 

And I agree too, I think the flying here is easy.

 

What does anything on the last 3 pages have to do with a possible plane order? Serious thread drift...

 

Take it for what it’s worth, but just flew
With a 22 year CA. A close friend of his was also a long time senior CA here until age 65. His friend now works for the FAA. He says we are getting 50 next year. We were already slated for 20 or 21 so that’s an additional 30 airplanes.

He says 10 321s and the rest a mix of NEO and CEO.

Interestingly enough, in some email I believe (within the last few months) they said they are planning an additional 300 upgrades next year on-top of the 48/month they have going now.

Originally I think this hiring/upgrading was supposed to stop (slow down) after Q1 2020, but it appears it’s not going to. This would jive/make sense if we are getting another 30 or so airplanes next year.

The way this guy spoke was very matter of fact. He did not come across at all as someone just BSing.

I know the investors and TC got killed
For running lean, but this hiring and upgrading doesn’t make sense for just next years slated deliveries. I don’t know how something more isn’t coming.

 

Well they really don't have to do anything special if airlines keep going belly up in other parts of the world. Lots of gently used Airbuses going on the used market lately.

 

Now that’s some great intel! You never know. Part of me still hopes for an A220 order to replace the 319s but I understand there are benefits to keeping the commonality....