fosters

awac told classes in jan of last year they were running classes thru that time next year and they were expecting to hire another 300 pilots. They hired ~60 more, until march.

FYI. These things change. If XJT truly loses 69 planes you can bet they won't still be hiring. They'll be doing the opposite...

smoke

ok that's awac not xjt, don't forget they had to buy there flying and is xjt losing there airplanes NOOOO!!

fosters

Lemme guess, you were one of those in high school that thought that history classes were meaningless, aren't you?

The point of my post wasn't that XJT = AWAC, it was that things change. TSA hired people, put them thru classes, and then furloughed them after having done 3 trips. And if history is any indication, things WILL change at XJT.

When you say AWAC had to "buy" their flying do you realize the company has made almost $500 million in a year, since the deal went down? This had less to do with placing their jets vs. making money, it has an opportunity for the 6 owners to make a considerable amount of money for themselves. You gotta admit, it was pretty slick how they told UAL to go **** and then placed their planes with US Air and secured a seat on the board. Food for thought: the AWAC contract is STILL (even after concessions) superior to the XJT contract...which the XJT contract was based upon.

As far as XJT losing their planes, I don't believe ANYONE short of the board of directors at XJT know what is going to happen with the planes, and I'm not even convinced they know what's going on. I'm happy you are proud of your employer, just don't get TOO excited that your company is "the best". UAL was "the best" at one point, now look where they are.

P.S. I've quoted what you said so it is now in the anals of airlinepilotforums.net history.

smoke

oh no please don't quote me

fosters

wait a few months (when xjt furloughes), then you can eat crow...

smoke

will do! it's been fun ****ing you off

David Watts

[QUOTE=fosters;60785] Food for thought: the AWAC contract is STILL (even after concessions) superior to the XJT contract...which the XJT contract was based upon.

I assure you that AWACs contract is not better then Express'. From the pay to the work rules and it wasn't even before your concessions.

If you guys are making so much money then why did you have to take concessions anyway and why haven't you got that money back?

Also it isn't cool to brag about other pilots potentially loosing flying.

U-I pilot

Guys, arguing over regionals is like monkeys fighting over a banana. Doesn't matter at all. No one knows the future, though we all want to know whats gonna happen. Having been a furloughee from TSA it was quite surprising to us how fast things changed, but at XJT, the management has time and time again specifically said that they do not hire with any intention to furlough, it doesnt make good business sense.

I interviewed at both XJT and AWAC. Both are quality companies with good contracts and pilot groups but are in very different positions in terms of size and future. Ride the wave, watch and see. No one knows what will happen.

fosters

Well, you'll (hopefully) see what our old contract was like come october, when the arbitrator lets us know what has been implemented. It could be nothing, it could be all of it, we have to wait and see. I'm not holding out hope, but do wish it will return. I never worked under it (concessions were in 2003) but viewing just the old payrates FO's are bumped up around $5/hr and CA's around $10/hr, plus other work rule advances (like 3.5 trip rig vs. 4).

The company made all this money after concessions, the pilot group voted in concessions with the promise of an 11-year UAL contract. When it didn't happen, the company purchased 26% of US Air and placed their 70 RJ's with them. They received over 8,000,000 stock options @ $15/share and have progessively sold off that stock (latest was around 3 million shares @ $50/share). The pilot group sued the company to get the old contract back and it's now in arbitration.

Bragging about losing flying??? When did this happen. I never "bragged". Point me to where I bragged about XJT losing flying. I have 5 friends there, one is a CA, the others are FO's, whom are ex-coworkers. I'd never wish ill-will on them.

The point of my first post was take what the company says with a grain of salt. Just because they say classes will be run another 4-6 months doesn't mean it'll happen...(but what do I know, it'll NEVER happen to Express Jet).

freezingflyboy

Comparing XJT with AWAC is apples to oranges. They are not even in the same league. XJT is an indepentant airline that flies coast to coast, all over Mexico and a good number of places in Canada. For all intents and purposes, AWAC is a niche carrier that is a subsidiary of US Airways. Losing 69 airplanes at XJT (assuming they were just gone and didn't find other work) isn't as significant as it would be at other regionals. What would AWAC look like if they lost 69 airplanes instead of XJT? Or TSA/GooJet? Or Mesaba? Or CHQ? Or PSA? Or Horizon? Or Colgan?