I'm thinking Aviate will join AVOLAR in the annals of history....


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avolar...on_subsidiary)

 

This was months ago before the pandemic. They were also spending money on new uniforms, new paint jobs, WiFi/refurbs on 50 seaters, etc. But none of that is relevant to your argument that they are spending on unnecessary things during a period of time when they need concessions from labor.

 

I think that there might a key point about Aviate that important to understand. One of the main reasons for the Aviate program was to maintain adequate staffing at UAX, not mainline. To do so, the pipeline to mainline was the payoff to the participants. Mainline will always have adequate staffing from people presently working at UAX and others.
UAX is likely to be doing plenty of flying in the near future; therefore, it makes sense for the company to keep Aviate alive and well and to keep producing a steady stream of vetted, compliant, committed pupils for UAX. And if they make it to mainline 5, 6, 10 years down the road, good for them.
This is just a guess, but it makes sense to me.
As a soon-to-be-downgraded UAL CA, I have more things to worry about than the future of Aviate, but I don’t see why it would be a bad thing for UAL to keep it going.

 

Are you suggesting that Aviate is a zero cost operation or that’s critical to the core business?

I’m skeptical of either claim.

 

so......you’re suggesting that making sure UAX is well staffed is actually a good thing for us?

 

Hey “c”aptain, nice of you to overlook your CBA and the soon to be thousands of UAL pilots that will soon to be on the streets as a source of UAX staffing.

 

I have a strong suspicion that come Oct 1 there will be a new supply of pilots to staff UAX that will have priority over off the street hires.

 

So... you’re voting “no” on the furlough fund, then?

 

So Aviate, as far as I know, is the flight school side and also the pool of UAX pilots that have already interviewed at United and are awaiting a class date. What’s the problem with having a pool of a few hundred UAX Pilots who have already interviewed and are waiting for a class date at UAL? It’s going to be several years at this point, but I just don’t see the problem or any cost to the company. These pilots are going to stay where they are right now, because they have that carrot on a stick of a future job at UAL.

 

I am a professional and I would expect to be treated as such. I also am a staunch union supporter and support enforcement of our CBA. I’m not sure what you’re getting at here. I’m not overlooking anything, but perhaps you are implying that Aviate is bad because it decreases opportunities for our furloughed pilots. We have some contractual provisions for that. More importantly, what makes you think that those UAX carriers owe you a job ahead of anyone else? On my last furlough, I didn’t expect UAL or UAX to find me another job. I did what I had to do. Perhaps I’ll have to do that again. I still don’t think that UAL should or shouldn’t terminate Aviate. It’s purely a business decision to them and it is not part of our CBA.