That argument made sense before $100 an hour FO’s.

yes, we cost more due to benefits. That being said Mesa operates to make money. You’re telling me we can afford to pay Mesa’s profit margin, all their admin/overhead bloat, and $100 an hour for an FO but we couldn’t pay a United FO $100 an hour to fly a 175?

 

The reason these regional rates aren't meaningful is that they are short term until they shut down. Their business model isn't sustainable with attrition where it is. These rates are literally to entice people to stay until the last day.

 

Air Wisconsin literally just inked a 5 year deal with similar FO rates (adjusted for number of seats).

management loves that people are buying into this nonsense. There is zero evidence for it. The AA wholly owned’s would owe AA nothing if they couldn’t complete the flights. Skywest, Mesa, and Republic are on multiple CBA’s and no one has elected to not renew instead of pay their pilots more.

 

They could've inked a 10 year deal....it doesn't mean they'll continue to operate under the contract. BK, ceasing of operations, acquisition, concessionary contract, etc... are looming.

 

Bless your soul you really are first grading airline management expertise. The sole reason for regionals is to split up the legacy seniority lists. They’ll pay regional pilots, damn I used to say $200 an hour before bringing anything in the house, before combining lists. Well here they are paying $200 an hour to regional pilots before allowing main line seniority lists the ability to fly regional type operations. Legacies prop regional operators up. It’ll always be cheaper to outsource, $200 an hour at a regional is proof of that. Legacy pay and second tier national airline pay in category will be equal; that’s the new normal. In the very near future, the only reason to go to a legacy will be to fly wide bodies.

 

Why on earth would they ink a deal at those rates when they’ll lose money on it?

my point is not “Air Wisconsin is a great place to go” or “Air wisconsin signed a deal that will still be tenable in a year”

its “if even air wisconsin can sign a profitable CPA at those rates today we are grossly underpaid”.

A new deal shows these aren’t “rates just to stay in business long enough to shut down without a contractual penalty” like is being batted around by pilots here with Stockholm syndrome.

 

Do a little research on how many aircraft AW can actually staff and not what’s in their CPA.

Or perhaps any regional. How many AC does Mesa have in storage? GoJet? CommutAir?

 

Not really relevant when we’re talking about what pay rates pilots can get and the company still make money.

The regionals are dying but they aren’t going to pay people at a loss to work a new CPA. I can maybe see an argument that it’s cheaper to lose money on pay rates than breach of contract but that clearly isn’t the case when you’re inking a new deal.

 

The regionals aren't going to exist in 2 years or will be a few big names that will be drastically smaller. A new agreement with AAL sounds great but it will close bases and force even more attrition. You can't put out this fire. A 40 airplane airline that isn't going to be around long term isn't consequential to United pilots.

I think you are in denial of the dire situation at the regionals. The big 3 couldn't hire more if they tried and have been at max capacity for a year or more. The pilot shortage is real and small operators can't train to FAA standards without sim instructors, examiners, and check airman that are all being gobbled up. A 500 pilot seniority list can and will be wiped out in the current hiring environment. The next domino to fall that might help our negotiations here at United is a smaller major airline (spirit/frontier/jetblue/alaska) offering big numbers to keep the airline staffed and to keep a lid on attrition.

 

I guess you don’t believe your own union?

https://simpleflying.com/nearly-8k-n...the-last-year/