Yes new hire classes in the same email that mentions the word furlough and reduction of force. Makes so much sense. This place is run by monkeys at least the other airline CEO’s have been honest


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The also mentioned any reduction of force would first be mitigated by the voluntary leaves and early retirement packages.

We have 50 people scheduled to retire in the next 5 years, I don't think anyone younger than 60 wil take an early out, so that is not going to have any impact. The VLOA is unpaid, so the only ones taking that are going to be the bottom of the list just to avoid furlough and keep benefits.

I’d like to see tiered options in line with what AA has offered - those seem a lot more likely to be accepted by a useful number of pilots than straight unpaid LOAs & early retirements (which, as previously mentioned, don’t really apply here). Not sure how realistic that is, but heck I’d be willing...

AA has an option for early retirement at 50hr/month pay at 62, but only 30 pilots would be eligible if that was offered here. Their VLOA pays 50hr/month, so that is a lot more attractive.

what are these tiered options at AA you speak of?

1. Unpaid LOA up to 12mo, retaining seniority & all benefits.

2. Paid (55hr) LOA of 1, 3, or 6mo, retaining seniority & all benefits.

3. Paid (50hr) Permanent LOA for ages 62+, retaining all benefits.

The reason AA offers paid leave is because of their diverse fleet. They have parked all the wide bodies, so all their senior people are now without work. If they want to furlough, they would have to retrain many people. We don't have to do anything but re-qualify some people for the right seat if we furlough.

This is so on point. The downside of having a limited fleet is that it makes it very easy to just shed a bunch of FOs give one to Sim to your captains to make them FOs and continue along. That’s why most likely Southwest and spirit would not offer any type of stay at home pay.

Its also that single fleet type that will help SWA and Spirit survive this, by not having massive training costs in displacements.

I can’t imagine people taking the VLOA with no credit. When they don’t get enough takers, I’d imagine they would have to strike a deal for paid VLOA; its the easiest way to shed near term
costs, without the costs of furlough.