Just to be clear, I was not insinuating that DEN was in any danger of closing. DEN will be viable for a long time, I just don't see TK staying there for the long term.

Or,

Denver will be viable until SWA decides they want to increase their footprint. Willis will capitulate and decrease mainline flying and increase RJ's citing "costs". This will actually result in more pax leaving B for the C terminal which will cause SWA to increase their footprint yet again. Willis will re-up-double-down-capitulate and the whole cycle will continue until UA is in the C concourse and SWA is in the B. At some point in the future there will be a faint United image on the TIMCO maintenance hanger. Think PDT and USAir in BWI and PIT.

As we draw down in DEN there will be fewer options for getting pilots to training. At that time, TK will no longer be viable due to "costs" and UAL will sell the sims and farm out our training. We will be receiving instruction from kids with 500 hours, none of it in transport category airplanes. Or if you're lucky, some guy 66+ who knows what's going on. His PBGC pension of $350/month won't allow him to idle away during his retirement so he'll augment his income in the back of a sim. Ultimately, United will sell the land to the highest bidder. The facility will be bulldozed and a Costco or other big box retailer will be built.

DEN - too far from the oceans for UAL and apparently not worth fighting for.

Meanwhile in ATL, DAL will be busy expanding the Kremlin and buying up additional real estate around the facility.

I hope Sled's right, but we sure bailed in MIA and lost a mess of money in the process...and the big maint facility in IND, etc etc. I hope I'm wrong.

There's your daily dose of pessimism. Think of it as a public service and have a swell day.

That is visionary, Godfather. Except the sale of the training facility... that almost happened in the dark days of bk when UAL was burning the furniture. :D

...and he won't be a happy camper.

I was at TK when Thomann was giving a group from Alteon (Boeing) a tour. I guess the deal fell though. Thomann jumped ship for Alteon soon after. Heady days! :D

I've had the 500 hr guy and the 66+ guy, I'll take the 500 hr guy any day!

A few (myself included) but not too many. Transferring to EWR next month, so looks like it was a good time to go.

Expect a notification soon and I don't think TK is going to be a winner. The winter storms cost us a lot of money so the announcement will get delayed for a while but I see ORD for all training in about 3-5 years.

Disclaimer...nothing changes in the next 6 months and this holds water.

Nothing would surprise me, fbn. But having myself been a commuter to both ORD and DEN, I can tell you there is no comparison. 300+ days of sunshine in DEN makes for an easy commute compared to ugly ORD. Plus, they would be fools to attempt to move that many sims...which probably means they are going to do it. :D

Moving TK to ORD would be a fail.

The PI's aren't going to move from DEN and they aren't going to commute. They'll go back to the line. Also, they aren't going to find enough PI's in ORD and they won't be able to staff the place.

I'm not even sure why it needs to be moved.