RJ 900's for PSA-- REJECTED!

[flynomore]

Perhaps mainline could negotiate a 70/90 seat rate that is competitive with other 70/90 seat operators and bring this flying back where it belongs.

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Now you are being funny again. Competitive with whom? and which regional started the underbidding wars anyways? Surely not Allegheny or Piedmont, the originals, not the Dash 8 airline.

At one time Air Whiskey was a good gig.

More professional pilots should read "Flying the Line." If that is too much union kool-aide for you, then try the Mississippi pilot section of Mark Twain's "Life on the Mississippi."

Hard Landing was the work of a hack. It was just an accumulation of newspaper clippings with a splash of Chip Munn's guess what I heard so and so say. A few days back another member here mentioned "Splash of Colors." Also a good read about what can happen to any business that gets drunk on the kool-aide.

I will await your book report, dude.

 

[flycrazy77]

Then I would ask our colleagues at mainline what they plan to do to change the landscape of our company. Give away more scope? Do you think any of us want to be where we are anymore than you did when you were logging time at a regional?

Only through collaboration with one another can we restore dignity to our profession. Selling out on scope is a double edged sword that makes career progession for newhires and recall of furloughs an ever distant prospect.

Perhaps mainline could negotiate a 70/90 seat rate that is competitive with other 70/90 seat operators and bring this flying back where it belongs.

Awesome reply. The above posting should be placed in every US Airways crewroom out there, and every damn forum that we all tend to spew our frustrations. You couldn't have hit the nail on the head more precisely, 'Nebucanezzar'!

 

[Nebucanezzar]

Competitive with whom you ask?

Horizon is a good benchmark.

Which regional started the underbidding process?...hmmmmm...probably Southwest and they are now the highest paid for the 737 type.

Another Junior Man highspeed with an illegal tack on and I might have enough money to purchase the books you speak of...I will look into it.

Thank you

 

[supercruiser]

The Jerry Glass's will be far less formidable without the BK laws and supply/demand on his side.

Jerry Glass IS going to have a tough time steam rolling any labor group both E or W without BK/threat of. That's why ALPA is talking so tough now, no real pressure like before. Be interesting to see when/if the company does apply some pressure, what the reaction is. I would love it if some tentative agreement is voted down by a landslide, particularly in ALPA's case.

 

[Nebucanezzar]

.....

 

[Bluestreak]

Update --- The PSA negotiating committee is set to meet with the company on wednesday for its third straight day of talks. No news of an agreement yet.

Three days of talks is most likely a record for PSA management. They really want these 900s.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Bluestreak,

I take that as good news. Apparently the "take it or leave it" threat was just a negotiating ploy. I guess Glass figured that since the mainline MEC & enough of the pilots fell for it on what became LOA 91 & 93, it was worth another try.

Now the other shoe.....

So far, there has been nothing filed with the BK court indicating that an agreement has been reached with Bombardier over the orders we have on the books. The latest deadline for reaching an agreement is Sept 5, although that can be extended again thru mutual consent.

That doesn't mean something won't be filed tomorrow indicating that an agreement has been reached. Even lack of an agreement doesn't mean that CRJ-900's couldn't come from one of the aircraft leasors, although as of 4/30/06 Bombardier had only a few orders for the -900 from leasors that hadn't already been delivered.

In other words, don't expect to see any CRJ-900's within weeks if some agreement is reached between PSA pilots and the company. It could be that these negotiations are merely a way for the company to fine-tune it's cost figures before deciding whether to reach agreement with Bombardier or reject the orders we already have.

Jim

 

[Bluestreak]

Jim,

Thanks for the input. I don't think anyone at PSA expects to see the 900s (if we get them at all) until late winter or early spring. We are short captains, FOs, FAs, and our training deptartment is cut way back. I am looking forward to seeing our August on time stats. PSA has been the #1 performing express carrier for many months, but I think our staffing crunch is going to catch up with us.

Three days of talks is a the longest our management has ever met with ALPA in the seven years that I have been at PSA. Something is cooking. So much for take it or leave it. There were pre-ballot threats of shutdown or our 700s getting sent to GoJets, and now post "no" vote it's still business as usual and no competing 900 bids.

 

[BoeingBoy]

There were pre-ballot threats of shutdown or our 700s getting sent to GoJets, and now post "no" vote it's still business as usual and no competing 900 bids.

Sorta amazing what effect a little backbone during negotiations can have, isn't it. It's just a shame that such a simple fact is lost on so many supposedly intelligent people.....

 

[ItsJustAJob]

Sorta amazing what effect a little backbone during negotiations can have, isn't it. It's just a shame that such a simple fact is lost on so many supposedly intelligent people.....

Well when all (pilot) recalls are complete, there will be at least 64 people at mainline with a backbone.

 

[Dorf]

Well when all (pilot) recalls are complete, there will be at least 64 people at mainline with a backbone.

Not to mention 99.9% of the MDA pilots with backbones!

 

[BoeingBoy]

And neither (recall or backbone) can happen soon enough, as far as I'm concerned.

Jim

 

[aquagreen73s]

Poking fun at the newhires (mom and dad spending 50K) and making fun of typographical grammer errors is not the best way to instill a cooperative spirit...it does very little to solve the problem.

I wasn't aware that PSA participated in the pay for training...or do they? I don't know. But what I do know is that I've had Mesa kids (and "kids" is not an exaggeration) on the jumpseat who are flying RJ900s with less than 300 hours total time. One had just finished IOEs and his total actual flight was 230. Nothing against those pilots personally, but it's easy to see the true purpose of the pay for training program: replacement pilots to pressure wages. And make no mistake that Parker will pit every group he can against the other to get to the absolute bottom cost. Further complicating the situation is that the union that represents Mesa is also representing mainline and PSA. I don't know how ALPA can justify their dual representation because the conflict of interest is both obvious and undeniable. It's been this conflict which has paralyzed National in doing nothing to stop the race to the bottom.

What needs to be done is that all RJ flying, and I mean all of it, needs to be within LCC itself - no subcontracting. I can care less if it's PSA because that is a wholly owned subsidiary. But the scope language needs to be plain and clear that there will be no subcontracting for any jet flying. This may sound offensive, but I really don't have any desire to engender a cooperative spirit between mainline and any regional - except for PSA.

 

[Crzipilot]

Nope, PSA doesn't do PFT,

Delivery rumored date was 1st qtr 07 for the 900's, prob. March..

And don't forget PDT in the WO idea. I completely agree, brand scope, either at Mainline or the WO's, kick the rest to the curb....

 

[Nebucanezzar]

Aquagreen,

I may have misinterpreted your post. I apologize if I did.

I agree with you...brand scope to bring all of it under the mainline umbrella. I take no offense with you not wanting to engender a cooperative spirit with anybody else but PSA. I thought you were referring to us in your initial post.

Thank you.