winglet

Update:

Judge Glenn of the New York Bankruptcy Court has signed an order vacating the Case Management and Scheduling Order (Feb. 23, 2010)... "in light of the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia and the oral request of the Debtor made at a hearing on May 24, 2010".

This allows all parties to put aside some of the DAL/MAG litigation questions and continue with the bulk of the bankruptcy proceedings, namely the rejection of leases and abandonment of more aircraft (ERJ 145's) and the development of a Plan of Reorganization (POR) sans DAL. Although MAG would have preferred some sort of settlement in its DAL litigation, the direction the reorganization will go is a little less muddy.

winglet

winglet

With all the talk of bankruptcy possibilities including liquidation, mergers, acquisitions, buyouts, etc., some are forgetting MAG ALPA's industry leading recognition section of thier contract.

This section was what the MAG ALPA pilots paid so dearly for in 2003 (and many other pilot groups may wish they had in the coming years).

It states that "all present and future flying of any form performed in and for the service of the Company shall be performed by pilots on the Mesa Air Group Pilot System Seniority List".

This includes without limitation, any merged company or companies, or any assignee, purchaser, or transferee of the Company.

It prevents the company from creating or acquiring an “alter ego” to avoid the terms and conditions of the Agreement.

It includes the Protective Provisions specified by the Civil Aeronautics Board in the Allegheny-Mohawk merger.

In the case of an acquision or consolidation with another company, it requires a negotiated fence agreement and/or implementation of a seniority integration process, including no furloughs during the process.

To sum it up no MAG pilot will be "kicked to the curb" or "stapled" unless an outright Chapter 7 liquidation is performed. Whereupon MAG ALPA pilots will rapidly deploy around the world, infiltrate all the worlds airlines, and set to work secretly rebuilding the empire .

winglet

seafeye

Like you said if the company goes bust, this doesn't do any Mesa pilot any good.
This clause was good for J.O. for not creating a Go Jets airline. But how did freedom get by it?

winglet

seafeye,

This section of the MAG ALPA collective bargaining agreement was directly in response to the creation of the alter-ego Freedom Airlines. This was the contract that recaptured the alter-ego Freedom Airlines within ALPA and integrated the CCAir pilots from off the street (An act that was performed for the good of the whole and not the individual). This was also at a time when your brothers and sisters at MAG were sending part of their paycheck to Comair's strike fund (You know, the pilots giving ALPA Freedom pilots the finger and denying jumpseats in Cincinnati?).

MAG pilots always believed they could make improvements on the next contract but just when the opportunity rolled around again MAG rapidly lost 700 pilots due to attrition and hired a thousand more 300 hour pilots who were just "happy to be here".

MAG ALPA pilots successfully stopped a GoJet style alter-ego attempt although they paid dearly for it in compensation and quality of life. If only TranStates could have had this section things may have been different in their arena.

If MAG is liquidated, if nothing else, please get a copy of the contract and adopt the first section in your collective bargaining agreement.

Don't worry about MAG pilots. They are some of the best, toughest, and hardest working pilots this side of the Mississippi. They are the ALPA cage-fighters and can take anything any airline management can throw at them. MAG pilots will not only survive but thrive wherever they may land.

winglet

mking84

which direction? are you thinking they will move into ch 7?

junglejethokie

Freedom A got by it cause it wasn't in the contract yet....That is why Mesa pilots were under a substandard CBA for so long, to include that scope language in that contract. They paid dearly to regain that scope and end the internal whipsaw. That is why they had a horrible contract, not to undercut everyone but to prevent a GoJets/TSA type situation. Once that was done the original Freedom along with all of it's flying was brought back under Mesa and ALPA. The current Freedom is(was) just another certificate with all the pilots on the same single list as Mesa, all under ALPA.

winglet

mking84,

It's a numbers game now. The Creditor's Committee will crunch numbers and determine if MAG is "viable". It will come down to debt vs. potential revenue. MAG will have to prove that an all CRJ-700/900 fleet with contracts through 2012(18) can provide more profits than liquidation.

The ultimate decision will come down to the mathematical prowess of nameless accountants in some unknown location. These will be the people that will determine the future of MAG.

The biggest Achilles' Heel is MAG's management. This collection of bungling "bridge-burners" will have to go away in order to make MAG desirable for any future partnership or purchase. Hopefully, a wealthy and competent airline management sees the potential value in a ready-made, reorganized airline company with an all 70+seat aircraft fleet.

winglet

seafeye

TSA does have a "no alter ego" clause in the contract. But HK decided it was best to ignore that part. ALPA threw in the towel on that one and actually went after trying to get GoJets business. Before that Hulas decided to hire street captains. I guess he was trying to say he didn't think his F/O's were up to the job. Costing them each tens of thousands.
Anyway, Mesa will be a leader airline if they can keep the doors open as a 700/900 operator. But J.O. would have to leave. Same with TSA, H.K. needs to go back to India.

ak2az

Mesa to fly for Delta through Aug. 31
May 26, 2010



Delta has reached an agreement with Mesa Air to keeping flying commuter flights through August, thus avoiding a shutdown of Delta-related operations country wide, said The Wall Street Journal.
According to papers filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, Mesa reached a deal that will allow for an “orderly wind-down” of its Delta Connection operations during the next several months, the article said.
Under the deal, which was approved by the court on Monday, Mesa would continue to operate regional connecting flights for Delta until Aug. 31.
The deal also allows Delta time to make alternative arrangements for maintaining its flight schedule while giving Mesa a "window" to determine how to restructure its business.
Without the proposed agreement, Mesa said in court that it would “face the untenable choice of either immediately ceasing to fly, which would leave passengers who have booked flights stranded," or risk flying "under the Delta flag" without the guarantee that it would be paid.
Mesa's contract with Delta provides 18% of the Phoenix company's revenue, according to the article.
Meanwhile, during the next few months, Mesa said it would assess whether it should keep aircraft leases and service contracts related to its work with Delta and use the time to retrain pilots and staff for assignments with other partner airlines.

MarineGrunt

So ALL Mesa DL flying will be done or is it Freedom only???