We will be a year into negotiations when they start arriving. They better pay more

 

Did SWA get a different pay scale for flying MAX? I remember talk of them saying that it wasn't in their contract and using that as a negotiation tactic.

 

Nope. But anything with more than 175 seats or that requires a new type rating will re-open the pay rates before going into service.

 

I thought they were avoiding the new type rating with the funky gear mechanism.

 

Not true. We can fly them, with rates TBD after negotiation/arbitration is done and paid retroactively.

 

Southwest wanted to avoid a new type rating because they didn't want to have to spend anymore money training their pilots and then paying them more money. SWAPA said the MAX wasn't in the contract and wouldn't be flown. SWA then came back and said the MAX 8 is really a variant of the 800 and the "MAX" is silent so it is basically the same aircraft (no seriously, that happened...ask SWA guys about "the MAX is silent")...so then SWAPA started a lawsuit...not sure what the status is.

 

I think he was talking about SW.

 

All true about the MAX being silent stuff. Crazy I know

The lawsuit was dropped when we voted in our TA late last year and the new and improved rates included the MAX.

Any aircraft seating more than 175 (which is what our -800s seat now and our MAX 8 will seat) or requiring a different type will require new pay rates.

We have 170 MAX 8s on order and 30 MAX 7s. I believe there are still about 60 more -800s left to be delivered and the company actually has a dedicated team of people who scour the globe for used -700s for us to buy and convert cheaply.

Believe it or not we still have 75 steam gauge -300s around. 30 will be retired after Labor Day and the rest at the end of September, but not before we have to suffer another oppressive summer with them

Then on October 1st the MAX 8s start flying and we'll end the year with 14 of them. The FAA wouldn't let us fly the MAXs with the -300s so thus when the last batch of -300s drop dead the MAXs start flying literally a day or two later.

We don't have any MAX 9s on order and I just can't see us getting any because some of our biggest hub airports have 7,000'ish runways (HOU, DAL & MDW) and the -800 out of MDW is already "interesting" enough.

 

Yeah Vref on a 900 is usually 145ish KIAS for flaps 30. A 900 and MDW wouldn't mix

 

That is correct.