Mainline Pilot Manning

[bigbusdrvr]

:down: pilots dont care they will layoff all their young .they will work200 hrs a month to keep their pay intact.

Hey brain surgeon,

Pilots can not work 200 hrs a month!!

 

[PITbull]

At today’s MEC meeting Bid Closing Committee Chairman Bruce Beighlie addressed the MEC. Beigle told a MEC member that if the pilot groups authorizes an increase in the pay cap to 95 hours per month, with the planned increase aircraft utilization and maintaining the current fleet size (the Transformation Plan will increase the fleet size to 320 jets), the company would require a minimum of 3,000 line pilot positions.

As of today, US Airways has 3,076 line pilot positions and there will be approximately 50-75 positions eliminated (not furloughs) due to attrition (LOA, retirement, medical, etc) before the end of the year.

Regards,

USA320Pilot

USA320,


That's just not true. It is not by attrition that these will occur. You do have an attrition rate, however, you will have more than 100 pilots furloughed this year in addtion to the attrit. rate.

F/as will have a massive furlough....so how can it be you can keep the pilots with only 75, and f/a furlough will be in the 4 digit range? We too have an attitrition rate that is high. If these concessions go through, every group will experience furloughs..

Stop with the BS.

 

[PITbull]

Jim:

I'm tellin ya there will be a large furlough if we agree to fly over 95. Whether that is good or bad is arguable but there is no way to not put more guys on the beach if we increase our productivity by 10% or more. They cannot fly the current number of jets more hours quickly enough to make a difference.

I am all for being more productive. And maybe we need to get the pilot head count lower. Do you know the ratio of pilots to aircraft at JetBlue and AirTran? If you can come up with that number you will see that what I am saying will come to pass. Because that is exactly what the number here at U will be.

Unless they put more mainline jets into operation, we will layoff more pilots when we start flying to 95+. IMHO.

mr

Mrplanes,

You are correct!

 

[USA320Pilot]

At today's MEC meeting when specifically asked if there were going to be pilot furloughs, Bruce Lakefield said "there could be, but that depends on you guys" and then he looked at the Negotiating Committee.

Lakefield implied that if the pilots agreed to a LCC type contract, there would be no pilot furloughs.

After talking to MEC members, in my opinion, the new agreement will include another "no furlough clause due to productivity changes" similar in scope to the supplemental restructuring agreement and per the new Term Sheet.

In addition, Lakefield told the pilots he is meeting with the Airbus' senior vice president of North American sales tomorrow to discuss how Airbus can help US Airways and to discuss new A320 family aircraft deliveries in 2005 and beyond. He specifically said he would like to "firm up" delivery positions.

Regards,

USA320Pilot

 

[bigbusdrvr]

USA320,


That's just not true. It is not by attrition that these will occur. You do have an attrition rate, however, you will have more than 100 pilots furloughed this year in addtion to the attrit. rate.

F/as will have a massive furlough....so how can it be you can keep the pilots with only 75, and f/a furlough will be in the 4 digit range? We too have an attitrition rate that is high. If these concessions go through, every group will experience furloughs..

Stop with the BS.

Now pitbull,

you know as well as I do that the company gave the F/a's a target number to attain in concessions. If you are not greedy and will work less hours then no furlough's....simple, no?

It just comes down to how greedy are the senior F/a's.......

 

[U 737 PILOT]

.... " After talking to MEC members, in my opinion, the new agreement will inlcude another no furlough clause due to productivity increases similar to the supplemental restructuring agreement and per the new Term Sheet. "
.... That'll be worth NADA just like the other No Furlough Clauses !!!!!!!!!!!

 

[PITbull]

Now pitbull,

you know as well as I do that the company gave the F/a's a target number to attain in concessions. If you are not greedy and will work less hours then no furlough's....simple, no?

It just comes down to how greedy are the senior F/a's.......

Bigbusdrvr,

Your hitten the looney juice....

The agreements will call for all crews to work approx. 99.5 hours, as you well know, the lines will be built as "high time" lines.

Again, you and your "twin" need to stop wit hthe BS.

 

[BoeingBoy]

This may be the wrong thread for this, but let's look at some rough numbers.....

The Q&A posted elsewhere has management saying that the implemention of the transformation plan will lower CASM by 2.1 cents by 2006-2007. That 1-1/2 years from now.

Rough calculations show that increasing a/c utilization 15% is worth about 1 cent in CASM. That's with no contract changes and using recalled crews to staff the extra flying.

Someone with a better memory can correct me, but aren't we paying about $50 million a year for gates in PIT? If my memory is correct, getting rid of the 30 gates on month-to-month leases will net about 0.3 cents a seat mile.

That's about a 1.3 cent reduction so far - again without changing a single contract. And it can be in place in a few months. Only about 0.8 cents to go to reach the same goal.

Now let's add in enough new Airbus a/c to add another 10% to ASM's (40 planes to bring the fleet count to 320). Won't get as big a reduction as before since the base number of ASM's has already grown, so let's say another 0.5 cents. Now we're up to a 1.8 cent reduction in CASM, and haven't changed a contract yet.

Heck, we're only 0.3 cents short of the goal. Since the $800 million per year in concessions equals about 1.6 cents CASM at current mainline ASM's, we can cut those concessions by 80%, from $800 million to $160 million.

Jim

 

[USA320Pilot]

BoeingBoy:

Your analysis is interesting, but much of the savings you listed need work rule changes to support the ASM and new aircraft growth.

I believe the plan will work and will permit US Airways to truly be the first network carrier to adjust to the new economic reality, but all labor groups must participate for the plan to succeed.

Respectfully,

USA320Pilot

 

[BoeingBoy]

Well,

According to company data submitted to the BTS, the incremental cost of flying the existing fleet more is roughly half our current CASM, including paying for the crews (front & back). While the exact incremental cost would depend on several factors (stage length of extra flying, which fleet types increase utilization how much, etc), adding 15% more mainline ASM's at half the current cost reduces overall CASM about 1 cent.

I'll admit that my recollection of the annual lease costs at PIT may be wrong, and have no idea how many gates the company will want to retain as PIT is transitioned to a focus city. However, using the figures I cited, the number I came up with is right.

Finally, there is no work rule that prevents the company from increasing a/c utilization and adding new aircraft. What the pay cap does is prevent them from doing that with existing staffing. I know you choose to not believe it, but the difference in ultimate CASM between doing the extra flying with current crews or recalling people to do it is pretty negligible. You can analyze the company's data submitted to the BTS if you'd like confirmation.

Jim

 

[ClueByFour]

I believe the plan will work and will permit US Airways to truly be the first network carrier to adjust to the new economic reality, but all labor groups must participate for the plan to succeed.

You feel any better about it than you did about the post-Chapter-11 plan?

If so, why?

 

[BoeingBoy]

Clue,

I know you're not talking to me, but no I don't.

Jim

 

[BoeingBoy]

Oh, and why......

Too little too late. A 2.1 cent reduction in CASM by 2006-2007 will put us in the bottom half of legacy carriers, not competitive with the LCC's. And that's just looking at mainline. Add in all the higher unit cost RJ's coming and our system CASM will be even higher still - probably in the upper half of the legacy carriers.

Jim

 

[USA320Pilot]

Clue:

USA320Pilot said: "I believe the plan will work and will permit US Airways to truly be the first network carrier to adjust to the new economic reality, but all labor groups must participate for the plan to succeed."

Clue asked: You feel any better about it than you did about the post-Chapter-11 plan? If so, why?

USA320Pilot comments: Clue, I do not have the time to go into detail and I have a number of serious health issues to deal with in regard to my son that is taking up most of my non-flying time. However, I like what I see in Lakefield, I believe Bruce Ashby is a capable operations and employee relations leader, we are seeing some positive corporate culture changes in the Flight Department, and I believe the new business plan can be successful with labor participation.

Unlike other CEO's Lakefield has empathy and he is sincere. I also like the fact he is honest and a fellow Naval Officer. Trust is key and probably the most important factor in succssfully restructuring the company, to meet the relentless LCC pressure, which is no longer a threat but now a stark reality.

Regards,

USA320Pilot

 

[javaboy]

At today's MEC meeting when specifically asked if there were going to be pilot furloughs, Bruce Lakefield said "there could be, but that depends on you guys" and then he looked at the Negotiating Committee.

Lakefield implied that if the pilots agreed to a LCC type contract, there would be no pilot furloughs................


Regards,

USA320Pilot

Carrot and the Stick , yet again, No furloughs if pilots playball, just like 1989, 1992, 1994,1998, 2001,2003

tell me Mr. Lakefield why should I believe you, what makes this NO FURLOUGH promise different than the last 3 we have had (note please direct your answer to the 1800+ pilots on the street)

now tell me what we will be getting for 295 milliion dollar investment? (fair question to a money manager i think) for about that same amount more than 35% of the company was handed over to the RSA. while for 5 times that amount the employees received approx 17%.

Instead of the Carrot and the Stick approach, why not build some TRUST.
1. revalue the remaining options.
2. instant vesting of remaining options
(bear in mind we (pilots) had thousands of options going into BK)
3.honor your contracts the same way you honor management contracts (we are still paying mr gangwal, and mr. siegel pensions for their fabulous work (read here seniority measured in MONTHS) in setting up the fiscal future here and in the same breath the company took away pensions of 30 year employees?
4. actions speak louder than words. Do a few things right now that are 0 cost for the pilot group that they have been waiting for for years (see the list presented to you)


the layoffs are not up to labor, if it is up to labor then the entire Mgmt team should step aside and let the union run the company as they are fullfilling your collective job descriptions (now since that is never going to happen) might i sugguest that the present managment team try something new, like RUNNING THE COMPANY. yeah go figure, if you could show a clear concise 1, 3 and 5 year BUSINESS Plan other than (we need to cut costs, yeah but how are you going to fill the seats, we need to cut costs, yeah but how are you going market the new usairways Low Cost Carrier, we need to lower costs, yeah but what about new destinations, we need to cut ccosts, yeah but utiliization of aircraft could go up which would lower costs with 0 employee loss pay or head count, we need to cut costs. OH i see you dont understand top line revenue generation capability in the airline market?

please bear in mind this is not meant to be a direct attack on the person of mr lakefield, but rather managment techniques of the last 5 CEOs and Their teams (yes the buck does stop with you, yes it is your responsiblity, thats what being CEO means......Leadership)


so tell ya what, show a fleet plan in excess of 279 planes, show the financing, show the intended use, and then my guess is you will see the group more than happy to offer contractually things that might surprise even the longest tenured mgmt employee.