Mda News?

[FlyOnWall]

Any new information on MDA? I know that there have been two classes already and have heard that there mosly likely won't be another until possibly May. Any ideas about future bases and how long it will be to get through the furlough list? Just a few random questions.

Thanks

 

[flyin2low]

You must be next! Everyone else has already passed it up.

 

[delldude]

Any new information on MDA? I know that there have been two classes already and have heard that there mosly likely won't be another until possibly May. Any ideas about future bases and how long it will be to get through the furlough list? Just a few random questions.

Thanks

ask this guy.

 

[Light Years]

FlyOnWall

No definitive news, but rumour has it that there will not be another class in March, but there may be a "small" one in April. They expect to go through the furlough list quickly, even as far as hiring off the street in July. Thirty six planes and 400 F/As this year, same next year. There will be another base aside from PIT, but its not known when or where (PHL seems to be tossed around a lot, but that could just be wishful thinking on the part of the F/As).

Not sure when they are sending out interest letters, you'd think it would be easier to send them all out now, and make up a seniority list in advance. Keep looking here, and if you have access to thehub, both the Inflight section and MidAtlantic section also have news.

 

[FlyOnWall]

Not sure when they are sending out interest letters, you'd think it would be easier to send them all out now, and make up a seniority list in advance.

When have we ever known CCY to do things the easy way. We'll just have to wait and see. Seems as though there is much they're keeping to themselves. I'm sure even those that have already trained only know half of the story. Oh well...

Anxiously waiting...

 

[ITRADE]

36 planes Thats quite a few. My understanding is that there are already 4 on the property.

I would venture to guess that DCA might see some - if not a base. There were a good number of routes that went from jet to turboprop or from jet to RJ. The bigger RJ might help out a bit.

I had a friend in sales go up to PHL to see it. She was very impressed with it and was very excited by its prospects.

Best of luck to all.

 

[Light Years]

Since it's alot more tied to mainline than previously expected, lets hope they keep the bases in the same cities as the mainline ones. I really hope they dont make it even more difficult for people and decide they'd like a base in Albany or Harrisburg or some such nonsense.

 

[ITRADE]

Since it's alot more tied to mainline than previously expected, lets hope they keep the bases in the same cities as the mainline ones. I really hope they dont make it even more difficult for people and decide they'd like a base in Albany or Harrisburg or some such nonsense.

Agreed. Life would probably be easier with co-located operations.

Although, I think it would have been better to toss in 6 or 8 F class seats. That would have drawn folks away from AA, NW, and DL.

 

[SoldWholeSale]

You can bet your savings on PHL being an MAA base. Sims and training will go to CLT by fall. There are in fact four aircraft on property. Four or five additional aircraft will be brought into service every month (as long as GECAS allows it) until the end of the year. This of coarse is subject to change due to ALPA voting tomorrow on scope changes.

Best of luck to all....

 

[Light Years]

I agree- the F seats and US Airways branding would have been US doing something right for once.

Here's hoping that all the EJets stay at US. If they contract them out, I suspect they'll be hiring off the street for thier next class. Why bother coming back if they are only ever going to have a handful of planes and zero growth? Alot of F/As are wating to see what happens.

 

[ITRADE]

According to Embraer's website, you could to a dual class EMB-170 with 70 seats (6F and 60Y). US's current config - from the seatmaps on itn.net are for 18 rows of 4 across seating = 72 seats. Why not do 15 rows of Y class (60 seats) and 3 row of F class (9 seats) = 69. That certainly would do well by the FFs.

 

[Light Years]

I think the company really actually believes there wont be a perception problem with this aircraft. They've got the cheap labor, the seperate division, the scope... then they go and present it to the public negatively, its the US Airways way.

Heres an opportunity to fly a mainline comfort aircraft (in fact, superior in many ways) to longer haul destinations (MCO, IAH, MCI, and if they wanted, much further west) while maintaining an Express carriers cost structure. They have basically replaced the core of the US Airways business (737 short haul flying) with a newer, younger, prettier, cheaper model.

They could have maintained and attracted the traveler they so deperatley want, the business traveler/frequent flyer, by offering a premium cabin and mainline product into smaller communities while offering the entire Star Alliance program. This is what USAir/ways did for years- flew mainline into cities others couldnt or wouldnt- now they have the opportunity to do it without the mainline costs.

They are most likely branding it as Express as they hope and expect to contract these aircraft out to affiliates. A sadder likelihood is that they want to beat the employees down and kill any pride they have in whats left of their airline, their co-workers, and thier careers.

The flight attendants have been informed that they will be disciplined if they are caught wearing thier wings insatead of the Express wings they are recieving. Since MidAtlantic is an "Express carrier", they cannot wear thier mainline wings as the customer might be confused (but calling a B1900 and an E170 Express but an F100 and 737 Airways shouldnt cause any? )

Because, you know, Express flight attendants are known for thier consistency and professional appearance- we wouldnt want those dirty mainliners to screw up the seamless consistency by wearing wings that dont have Express written on them in tiny letters <_< . I know it doesnt sound like a big deal, but a crewmembers wings are important to them. The MAA flight attendants worked hard for those wings and have sure as hell earned them by now.

And since I cant think of any other Express flight attendants that are required to be qualified on the A319, A320, A321, A330, B737, B757, and B767, why cant the MAA F/As wear thier wings?

These are the types of things that management either doesnt understand, or even scarier, understands well....

 

[DCD]

I had the opportunity to see the erj-170 in phl yesterday and was impressed. The cabin is roomy and the pax seats have plenty of knee room for someone 6 foot plus, and they seamed to be at least as wide as on the little Bus fleet. The flight deck and avionics at first glance seam to go the next step beyond that on the Airbuses.

 

[Flying Titan]

Agreed. Life would probably be easier with co-located operations.

Although, I think it would have been better to toss in 6 or 8 F class seats. That would have drawn folks away from AA, NW, and DL.

I believe that was the original plan, but it turns out that if they did that coach seating would have had a 28-29" pitch from what I understand. That's pretty tight. From what I understand, the current one-class configuration is more like the former shuttle configuration, which I always thought was pretty comfortable.

 

[phllax]

DCA will definately see them, as they received permssion to use them as commuterslots and not mainline slots.