Phlintsone

Fellow SWAPA Pilots,

Hot summer. Hot airplanes. Hot topics.

Since the announcement of the 717 deal with Delta, Gary has made several public statements that have raised questions about the Company's intent to comply with provisions in our Collective Bargaining Agreement. As you recall, Side Letter 10 requires that all AirTran pilots be transitioned to Southwest Airlines, and that the AirTran side of the partition cease to exist no later than December 31, 2014. Effective January 1, 2015 all pilots (both Southwest and Airtran) will be working under one contract; the SWAPA contract will be in effect on that date. All provisions of our contract will apply to the entire fleet and pilot group.

As a result of the Company's agreement with Delta to transfer all but 36 717s by the end of 2014, I sent a letter to Gary asking specifically if their intent was to comply with the contract, and the deadline to complete the transition. Gary responded promptly and confirmed to me that the remaining AirTran aircraft would be transitioned after the December 31, 2014 deadline. To be more specific, he stated it was their "present intent and desire to retain the 717s in the AirTran fleet until they are transitioned to Delta, a process that should be completed by the end of 2015."

I believe it is crucial that our contract is honored; all of it including SL 10. While I certainly believe that we may be able to find a mutually agreeable solution to this complex problem, at this time we are not in agreement and the Company has offered no solution regarding their intent to not comply with SL 10. Our contract uses words like "shall" and "will", not "should" for the same reason the Company used those words in areas where they demand compliance. Absent a membership-ratified solution, the Company must comply with our CBA, to include Side Letter 10.

We felt this matter deserved your attention. Know that SWAPA is exercising diligence in addressing this issue. As developments arise, we will keep you updated in a timely manner.
Fly safe,
__________________________________________________ _______

OK, this one is pasted EXACTLY like it was written. I messed up on the last one and did not want to do it again. I sincerely apologize for the prior lack of clarity.

It sure sounds like SC is not happy that some AT folks will keep there CA seats. Am I right or is it something else?

Phred.

MatthewAMEL

SWAPA is also a little freaked out that SWA Management and ALPA have been negotiating directly.

In fact, a SWAPA Rep showed up at the last scheduled talks and SWA asked them to leave before they would continue the meeting.

Looks like SWAPA should've been more concerned about becoming a single bargaining agent than grabbing ATN CA seats.

Rolf

Swapa granted scope relief to 12/31/14. Domestic flying after that day is suppossed to be done by pilots (both seats) on the swapa seniority list and under our cba. I think swapa is just reminding swa that we expect them to comply with the cba.
Cheers,

Rolf

Am I totd material?

Justdoinmyjob

Not with an avatar like that.

USN C9B

Depends on which one you are talking about?

Acronym Definition
TOTD Tip of the Day
TOTD Temple of the Dog
TOTD Typing of the Dead
TOTD Thought of the Day
TOTD Track Of The Day
TOTD Typing of the Dead
TOTD Tail of The Dragon
TOTD Taste of the Danforth
TOTD Tweet of the Day
TOTD Theme of the Day
TOTD Thong of the Day (I'm thinkin this one)


C9

V169

SL-10 also stated that an ATL 717 domicile would be open by 1 Jan 2015. I'm sure that many AT guys bid the 717 in the transition bid to keep driving to work in ATL even though it delayed them getting full SWA pay and benefits until they crossed over the partition. So Steve Chase pushing the company to compy with SL-10 is not a bad thing for the AirTran side.

How many 737-700's can fit into the existing gates in ATL? There's been no word on SWA doing a gate swap in ATL to get rid of the 717 gates that will be pretty much useless to them once the jets are gone so the obvious solution of "just open an ATL 737 base" might not be so obvious at all.

Justdoinmyjob

Who would SW gate swap with? The only other gates not used domestically by Delta are the 2-3 USAir gates on D, and the north T gates used by United, AA, and others. I would expect that the gate space would be reconfigured to accomodate the 737s. There would be a loss of most likely 2-3 gates per concourse.

Of course, SWA could always push the airport authority to complete the long mothballed South Terminal which was supposed to be built over between 09R/27L and 10/28 and then you could have your own terminal all to yourselves.

V169

Or save a bunch of money and let the leases expire on the 717 gates and cut back flights to what can be run out of the 737 gates. It's almost like there's a "non-aggression pact" with Delta as part of the 717 swap. The more this unfolds it seems more like the whole deal was about eliminating a competitor instead of trying to compete in the ATL market.

Justdoinmyjob

You may be on to something. Nobody can really compete with Delta in ATL. Ask an AAI pilot sometime about their "Delta Shadow."

slowplay

Ya think?

As SW can't codeshare with AT inside their own system there are no revenue synergies, just increased costs. But now they get to manage AT yields in MKE, MCO and BWI. Of course the DOJ had no anti-trust concerns with the SW/AT acquisition, it was automaticallly "good for the consumer"...

Here's hoping Kelly and crew get it figured out and can maintain themselves as a rational competitior.