BenTover

MOP,

I get that you and others are fans of SK. I agree he has been aggressive. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel when the airlines are printing money with record load factors. How do you reconcile his appearance to rapidly grow mainline on one hand, but on the other he wants a lot of RJs? In his words he “needs to get the pilots to buy in.” How would you guys feel about him if he rolled out 300 shiny new 76,90,110 seat RJs for the regionals?

MasterOfPuppets

i would vote no.

you can’t blame the guy for doing exactly what a CEO should do. We as a pilot group are the ones who ha e to approve it. If there was a scope give in this TA I would have been a hard NO. I’ll take a furlough over giving my job away permanently.

Sniper66

if he brings the A plan back what will you do ? Will you Ben Tover like before ?

BenTover

I agree, a scope give would be a further degradation to our profession. I wasn’t really talking in terms of this agreement. More along the lines of people saying SK is the best and he knows what he is doing. Well, the guy wants a ton of RJs and doesn’t want you in the left seat. SK says I’ll buy a bunch of wide bodies but it’s gonna cost you a ton of RJs at the regionals. The old “we can’t buy and fly both the 400’s and RJs so you choose” dilemma from 23 yrs ago.

Those who elevate him to Messiah can’t have it both ways. “They manage we fly” keeps it a lot simpler. Have a good weekend.

BenTover

Care to splain that one?

Aquaticus

You don't have to fawn over SK to appreciate that he is trying to compete. We are a huge company and turning the ship takes incremental change. Saying the American pilots didn't like him is scapegoating for an entire dysfunctional leadership team. If you were Doug Parker you wouldn't want a competent replacement right down the hall. He has been CEO for 20 years now with three dui's and a highly leveraged airline. Remember the PAR Capital and Altitude hedge fund from Boston that almost had 6 board of directors seats and wanted to close IAD and LAX? If we didn't get Kirby when we did that probably would have gained more traction. The woman behind that brilliant plan left about 6 months after Kirby came on board and I don't think that was a coincidence. I am all for being skeptical of management but I am hopeful that this guy can run an airline and benefit us in the long term.

MasterOfPuppets

well said. This is Kirbys dream he’s not in it to fail.

BenTover

It is good he’s trying to compete. I sat in an LEC meeting with a visiting APA official speaking. It was eye opening. Yes, Boston was not into running an airline. But, they do promote the word “Variabilize” and it’s the new airline buzzword. Your last sentence perfectly sums it up.

My concern is people willing to open the contract to help out and the issues we might face in the future.

Sniper66

who let the bigger RJs to save their pension ? And of course the pension was gone
answer : UAL MEC Master Chairman ( save the seniors )

How senior are you ?

Nucflash

Which LEC meeting was that?