Will Piedmont receive AEs E-175s

[john john]

http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2014/09/pilot-union-president-at-envoy-air-expects-piedmont-pilots-to-get-bigger-jets.html/#more-24647



Recently, ALPA pilots at Piedmont Airlines ratified a new agreement with 77 percent of the pilots voting in favor. Their new agreement is similar to the deal ratified by the PSA pilots last year and includes the cost structure the company demanded from us in return for aircraft and flow through to AA.
A video was released by ALPA National last week that drives home the message that the industry has a “pay shortage, not a pilot shortage”. You can view it here, and I encourage us all to watch it. The MEC believes it does not make sense to advocate and support an agreement that validates poor compensation by locking in an agreement for 10 years with no method of improving it.
What does this mean for us? AAG has indicated that PDT’s new agreement provides another avenue to operate the EMB 175s within the wholly owned family at a lower compensation model. We fully expect an announcement that AAG will commit those 175’s to Piedmont. Coupled with the announced movement of our CRJs to PSA, it’s easy to form a clear picture of AAG’s plans for our carrier. We haven’t been notified of displacements or downgrades as of yet, but we will advise you when we have.

 

[dash8roa]

I think the only Piedmont maintenance base that can accommodate the E-175 is ROA. The hangers at SBY and MDT are too small.
I heard it was Envoy's parked Embraer ERJ-140's that might come to Piedmont. Just what I heard.

 

[nycbusdriver]

I think the only Piedmont maintenance base that can accommodate the E-175 is ROA. The hangers at SBY and MDT are too small.
I heard it was Envoy's parked Embraer ERJ-140's that might come to Piedmont. Just what I heard.

 
Aren't ERJ-140s 50-seaters?  The carriers learned long ago that 50-seat jets are not economical.  I doubt AA will resurrect them.

 

[700UW]

And werent they ditched in bankruptcy?

 

[FWAAA]

I think the only Piedmont maintenance base that can accommodate the E-175 is ROA. The hangers at SBY and MDT are too small.
I heard it was Envoy's parked Embraer ERJ-140's that might come to Piedmont. Just what I heard.

I would bet money that the Eagle ERJ140s will not replace the Dash 8s.   Once parked, they're permanently parked.
 

Aren't ERJ-140s 50-seaters?  The carriers learned long ago that 50-seat jets are not economical.  I doubt AA will resurrect them.

No, the 145s are the 50-seaters.   The 140s are 44-seaters, or "Scopebusters," as the APA called them.   They're the same fuselage as the 50-seat 145s, but AA got Embraer to modify them slightly and install only 44 seats with the hope of evading the limit on 50-seat RJs years ago.   Just one more thing old AA did to piss off the APA.
 
On the uneconomical part - you are, of course, correct.   They ain't coming back.
 

And werent they ditched in bankruptcy?

Sure they were, but they haven't yet been turned into beer cans - they're sitting in the desert with nothing to do, so if new AA wanted them, they're available for cheap.    But I really doubt that they'll ever fly for new AA in any capacity.   The economy of 44 seats is even worse than 50 seats on a fuel-hungry RJ.    
 
Eagle's old ERJ135s, with just 37 seats, are also sitting in formation in the desert.   

 

[nevergiveup]

What's sad is that ALPA allows this undercutting to happen with pilot groups in the same union. The weakest of all unions yesterday, as well as today.

 

[dash8roa]

 
Aren't ERJ-140s 50-seaters?  The carriers learned long ago that 50-seat jets are not economical.  I doubt AA will resurrect them.

I believe the ERJ-140's have 44 seats and the ERJ-145 seats 50. The ERJ-135 seats 37 but I think these are all gone.
 
Sorry for the redundant post, I missed FWAAA's post. 

 

[FWAAA]

What's sad is that ALPA allows this undercutting to happen with pilot groups in the same union. The weakest of all unions yesterday, as well as today.

That's the part I find to be truly stunning.    ALPA is no more a "union" than the former USAPA.   Just organizations that collect dues and go through the motions, pretending to be unions.   
 
Envoy (fka Eagle, MQ) pilots agreed to concessions in Ch 11 just like every other employee of AMR.   Parker and Kirby then demand even more concessions from them in the summer of 2013 or else they'll get no more big RJs and they'll be ComAir'd.   
 
Meanwhile, over at Republic, pilots rejected a contract that contained raises, not concessions.   But the spineless PSA and Piedmont pilots trip over one another to ratify even more concessions so they can get new large RJs.   It's not equivalent to being a scab, but only a low-life would undercut their colleagues (who belong to the same pretend union, for Chrissakes).   
 
All the while,  Parker improves the mainline US pilots to the tune of $265 million a year, retro to mid-February, 2013, just so he can get the deal closed.   This week, another $193 million annual improvement for the combined FAs.  And APA hasn't even begun negotiating its new combined CBA.   Parker is willing to throw around hundreds of millions of dollars to the mainline flight crews yet gladly whipsaws his wholly-owned regional pilots, knowing how little self-respect some of those regional pilots possess.  And true to form, the spineless deliver for their boy, Parker.    

 

[Kev3188]

Can't disagree with any of that, FWAAA, but  I'm just curious; Are any unions whose actions you do approve of? Honest question, BTW.
 
Sorry for the thread drift.

 

[cynic]

Piedmont pilots got guaranteed flow to US/AA and no concessions until the jets start arriving on the property. Considering that and the fact that half of the Dashes are going to be parked by the end of 2017, it's hard to fault them for voting for it. Even the concessions are fairly minimal and would only impact a handful of pilots on the property, especially once the flow starts. 

 

[FWAAA]

Can't disagree with any of that, FWAAA, but  I'm just curious; Are any unions whose actions you do approve of? Honest question, BTW.

Valid question.   In the airline world, I don't disapprove of AMFA or the independent mainline pilot unions (APA or SWAPA).   I may not agree with every decision of those unions, but I don't view those unions like I do the ones I've aleady disparaged (ALPA, USAPA, most industrial unions, etc).   

 

[flyin2low]

ALPA is an association. Each member airline has its own Union. ALPA is not a union, it's an association of many unions. Get it?

 

[nycbusdriver]

ALPA is an association. Each member airline has its own Union. ALPA is not a union, it's an association of many unions. Get it?

 
Well, not quite.  Every one of those airlines has it's pilots' work contract signed by the ALPA National President, not only it's own union MEC Chair.  ALPA is the named bargaining agent, not the individual MECs.