SJU lays off 400

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

The final schedules have not been loaded, but here is the full (I believe full, I might have missed something) A300 schedules for 17DEC08 as of now:

Miami:

Bogotá 2x
Guayaquil 1x
Guatemala City 1x
JFK 3x
Lima 2x
Managua 1x
Panama City 1x
Punta Cana 1x
Port Au Prince 2x
San Jose 3x
Santo Domingo 2x


JFK:

Miami 3x
Port Au Prince 2x
San Juan 3x
Santiago 1x


I have a suspicion they might put more A300s on Central America flights to counter Spirit.

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If the 787 or domestic 777 don't arrive soon, I can see the A-300 being around "almost" as long as NW's DC9's.

We know the passenger loads to C/S America are money makers, but only the A-300's can as they say................"Haul the Freight" !

(Now if AA was to say, get their "paws" on some A-330's/757's in a relatively soon BK/Fire sale, from one of the big six , then that would permit replacing all the 76-2's, and some of the A-300's, which in turn, free's up the 76-3's for JFK/LAX-SFO/and ORD/JFK to europe on some routes.

 

[eolesen]

Bears, at least you're consistent...

If there's a NW/DL merge, I don't see the A330's going away anytime soon, but even if they did, there's no way they'll go for fire-sale prices.

They're owned/mortgaged as opposed to leased, so if anything, the banks holding the paper would be likely to get a better return from a European carrier who would benefit from the weak exchange rates...

 

[FWAAA]

As has been posted before, I doubt that cargo to/from the Caribbean is as plentiful with $4/gal jet fuel as it was at a buck or two, so it may not be as important to fly big cargo carriers until gas falls (if ever). Very valuable, very perishable and very lightweight stuff will still be flown at any price, but cheaper, less perishable and heavy stuff will take a boat instead.

 

[eolesen]

The same can be said for airfreight in general...

Last week, DHL announced they were going to shift their domestic US lift from ABX and Astar, and give the work to rival UPS...

That parks 39 DC9's flown by ABX, 45 aircraft flown by Astar, and takes between 6000 and 8000 jobs with it.

Now, if UPS didn't have the spare capacity already or thought they could sell it for more than they're currently getting, I don't think they'd have signed up for the deal. But they did.

 

[aafsc]

<_< ----- Hey aafsc! That school bus is finally showing up! But instead of exTWAers, it's full of Porto Ricans!

Kind of hard to drive a school bus from SJU to MIA; unless they decide to emulate their Cuban brothers; but why would they do that when they can arrive by non-revving in first class. And who says MIA will be open, maybe they will have to go to JFK. It looks like they will be junior to me but even if they are not I have no problem with it. If some are senior to me that means they were hired by American Airlines before I was and they have the legal right to enter and work in the US without a passport or visa (The US invaded PR and gave/forced US citizenship to/on them). What I would have a problem with is someone who steals my seniority by using their seniority that they had at a dead/failed/liquidated/bankrupt company. If I were you I would be concerned about my own future prospects at AA; along with the rest of your fellow TWAers (who knows maybe one of those Puerto Rican AMTs will bump you or another TWAer out of MCI and onto the street). TWAers are still at or near the bottom of the lists with no protection and limited bumping opportunities and in the case of the F/As no severance pay. Don't you think AA is drooling at the thought of laying off the topped out F/As at the bottom of the list with no severance and laying off ramp, AMTs, etc. with little or no bumping opportunities in the hope that they will just retire? Remember this SJU cut back is just the beginning. But you need not worry about me, I will be just fine but thanks for your concern.

 

[FWAAA]

Only three A300s are expected to leave. There are currently 34 A300s, but the schedule only requires 27. Even when removing 3 A300s, AA can technically run the entire current A300 schedule unchanged. Of course, though, the A300s have reliability problem.

You may be right about only three AB6s leaving, but I suspect that more than three are leaving. Why? Everyone knows that the leases on three of them expire this year and that AA will return those. But the press releases say:

To effect these changes, AMR plans to retire 40-45 mainline aircraft (mostly MD-80s and some Airbus A300s) and 35-40 regional jets. In an effort to significantly reduce costs, American Eagle also will retire its Saab fleet by the end of the year.

As a result of significantly reduced flying, AMR expects to retire 40 to 45 mainline aircraft from American's fleet, the majority of which will consist of MD-80s but will also include some Airbus A300 aircraft. The capacity reductions will also result in the retirement of 35 to 40 regional jets, as well as a number of turbo-prop aircraft from AMR's regional affiliate fleet.

Why say "some" if the number is the already-publicly known three? I'm guessing some>three.

AA owns ten of the AB6s and leases 24 of them, so in addition to the three lease returns, AA could simply park some of the owned planes.

 

[aafsc]

Hey MCI,

Don't get him started again. He has been real quite lately to everyones enjoyment on this board.

The bitter mouth resurfaces.

 

[eolesen]

AA owns ten of the AB6s and leases 24 of them, so in addition to the three lease returns, AA could simply park some of the owned planes.

Yep. Then there's the fact that in the past, AA's done quite a lot of business with a giant purple liveried carrier who also happens to fly the -600R in a freighter config....

 

[AMFAMAN]

You may be right about only three AB6s leaving, but I suspect that more than three are leaving. Why? Everyone knows that the leases on three of them expire this year and that AA will return those. But the press releases say:

Why say "some" if the number is the already-publicly known three? I'm guessing some>three.

AA owns ten of the AB6s and leases 24 of them, so in addition to the three lease returns, AA could simply park some of the owned planes.

For what it's worth, if I recall correctly we were told 8 A-300's leaving the fleet this year at our union meeting last week, along with around 42 MD-80's.

 

[eolesen]

I have a suspicion they might put more A300s on Central America flights to counter Spirit.

I don't think so... NK's ALPA reps sent this out Saturday to their pilots....

May 31, 2008

Greetings fellow Spirit pilots,

At 1744 EDT Friday evening our Vice President of Operations, Jeff Carlson, sent facsimile copies of three certified letters to ALPA President Capt. John Prater. These letters were notices pursuant to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN). Spirit Airlines gave the minimum required legal notice of potential base closings in LGA and SJU, and of a potential reduction in base size in FLL. Capt. Creed, upon hearing of the notices, spoke directly with Ben Baldanza. Ben indicated Spirit would be finalizing decisions concerning these bases in the next week, and merely wanted to have the legal notification in play for that eventuality.

Under the WARN Act the Company is required to provide an accurate number of those employees who could be affected by these types of decisions. Spirit has indicated 242 pilots are exposed to displacement or furlough. We hope their plan includes the growth of other bases but it's hard to imagine the economic benefit of such realignment in these times of cost control.

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

Bears, at least you're consistent...

If there's a NW/DL merge, I don't see the A330's going away anytime soon, but even if they did, there's no way they'll go for fire-sale prices.

They're owned/mortgaged as opposed to leased, so if anything, the banks holding the paper would be likely to get a better return from a European carrier who would benefit from the weak exchange rates...

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And your equally "consistant" as well...E.


I wasn't refering to NW

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

Bears, at least you're consistent...

If there's a NW/DL merge, I don't see the A330's going away anytime soon, but even if they did, there's no way they'll go for fire-sale prices.

They're owned/mortgaged as opposed to leased, so if anything, the banks holding the paper would be likely to get a better return from a European carrier who would benefit from the weak exchange rates...

 

[eolesen]

I wasn't refering to NW

OK -- who else has 330's that you think can be had on the cheap? US Airways?... Unless I missed something, they just left UA standing at the altar again, and need what they have to keep flying to Europe...

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

OK -- who else has 330's that you think can be had on the cheap? US Airways?... Unless I missed something, they just left UA standing at the altar again, and need what they have to keep flying to Europe...

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("Earth..calling eolesen,...................come in.....E " !!) :unsure: :unsure:

LLC ain't gonna need SH!T, if they ..."GO in the CRAPPER"

 

[eolesen]

Perhaps, but the premise still stands -- all of their fleet is encumbered. They own nothing, therefore have nothing to sell at fire-sale pricing.

The 330 is in demand, and there aren't a lot of white-tails at the moment. If US collapses, the mortgage holders or lessors will simply take possession, and fly them to Europe or Asia where they'll be able to get a better return.

Regardless, I doubt AA will order anything without either an extension or a new agreement with the pilots.