USA320Pilot
Veteran
- May 18, 2003
- 8,175
- 1,539
Today US Airways and its employees are facing difficult choices and it appears ALPA is now poised to join the Dispatchers and FCTI’s in obtaining new CBA’s.
What everybody needs to recognize is that the world has changed. Revenue is depressed due to LCC expansion and Internet booking. Costs are on the rise with excessive government taxation, dramatic increases in security costs, and skyrocketing fuel prices with oil now at about $50 a barrel.
It appears that many employees are looking for somebody else to blame since the LCC’s with it's younger/junior work force without seniority pay increases, lower wage rates, maintenance holidays, and superior pricing power incrementally took away US Airway’s ticket premiums and high yield customers.
However, let's give credit where credit is due because management is continuing to transform the airline, day by day. The airline has changed the way it operates, increased its ASMs, shifted hub flying, implemented meaningful fuel conservation programs, advertises more, has added RJ feed to grow mainline flying, executed a Caribbean and European growth strategy, joined the Star alliance, joined forces with United with code sharing, created the GoCaribbean network, the airline is about to launch a new website, the company consolidated flight crew training, provided improved IT systems with Kiosks and boarding pass readers, implemented GoFares responding to customer demands, and dramatically thinned out management ranks, etc., with no credit to the management group by many disgruntled employees.
Everyone wants immediate change to occur, until it affects them and then they do not want the change.
Now with the airline back in bankruptcy, largely due to the union’s unwillingness to voluntarily participate in the new business plan, the company is being forced by the creditors to change and change rapidly or the carrier will go out of business as soon as this winter.
Unfortunately, there is no magic pill here, but hard work for those that want this airline to be successful in today’s rapidly changing environment. For those living in the past that remain in denial, I believe you must realize that there is no other way and either we need to get onboard with the Transformation Plan, or elect to leave the company. Nobody is holding a gun to anybody’s head demanding a person work at US Airways and the contract changes have nothing to do with breaking the will of anyone. The company is simply doing what is necessary to “survive†in today’s challenging marketplace by matching employee contracts to the new competition, the LCCs.
Respectfully,
USA320Pilot
What everybody needs to recognize is that the world has changed. Revenue is depressed due to LCC expansion and Internet booking. Costs are on the rise with excessive government taxation, dramatic increases in security costs, and skyrocketing fuel prices with oil now at about $50 a barrel.
It appears that many employees are looking for somebody else to blame since the LCC’s with it's younger/junior work force without seniority pay increases, lower wage rates, maintenance holidays, and superior pricing power incrementally took away US Airway’s ticket premiums and high yield customers.
However, let's give credit where credit is due because management is continuing to transform the airline, day by day. The airline has changed the way it operates, increased its ASMs, shifted hub flying, implemented meaningful fuel conservation programs, advertises more, has added RJ feed to grow mainline flying, executed a Caribbean and European growth strategy, joined the Star alliance, joined forces with United with code sharing, created the GoCaribbean network, the airline is about to launch a new website, the company consolidated flight crew training, provided improved IT systems with Kiosks and boarding pass readers, implemented GoFares responding to customer demands, and dramatically thinned out management ranks, etc., with no credit to the management group by many disgruntled employees.
Everyone wants immediate change to occur, until it affects them and then they do not want the change.
Now with the airline back in bankruptcy, largely due to the union’s unwillingness to voluntarily participate in the new business plan, the company is being forced by the creditors to change and change rapidly or the carrier will go out of business as soon as this winter.
Unfortunately, there is no magic pill here, but hard work for those that want this airline to be successful in today’s rapidly changing environment. For those living in the past that remain in denial, I believe you must realize that there is no other way and either we need to get onboard with the Transformation Plan, or elect to leave the company. Nobody is holding a gun to anybody’s head demanding a person work at US Airways and the contract changes have nothing to do with breaking the will of anyone. The company is simply doing what is necessary to “survive†in today’s challenging marketplace by matching employee contracts to the new competition, the LCCs.
Respectfully,
USA320Pilot
