Long Awaited Good News

Things are finally coming around for the new job. The original start date was in December. The next one was January. Well it looks like mid-February, but things are becoming much more firm.
The aircraft flew to Canada to get a brand new paint job last week. CRJ's usually take 10-15 working days to paint, so I would imagine February 15th at the absolute latest.

My first flight for the new job will be a ferry from Canada to the Middle East with the other Captains and First Officers. A ten thousand mile flight in a CRJ should be pretty interesting and I'm looking forward to it. What a way to start, right?

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I can't stress enough how grateful I feel to have this opportunity with such dismal economic conditions world wide. The news today alone highlighted over 62,000 layoffs from major employers nationwide. Caterpillar, Texas Instruments, Microsoft, Google, Citi, Wyeth (due to Pfizer acquisition), Halliburton, Schlumberger, Home Depot, Sprint/Nextel, United Airlines and Clear Channel (Cheap Channel) Communications are just a tip of the iceberg.

There's a double edged sword to being a furloughed pilot in a down economy: currency and qualification. To remain qualified in an aircraft that a pilot is type rated in, he/she must have recurrent ground and simulator training along with a check ride every 12 months. Most contract jobs require pilots to be current and qualified in type to be eligible for employment. Many of my coworkers will lose currency next month and qualification by summer.

For many furloughed pilots, right to recall is at least a light at the end of a long tunnel. In the case of ever shrinking Comair, with 300 on the street currently and rumors of another displacement/furlough next month, our group has been told not to expect a call back. For guys that have less than 2,500 flight hours, this could potentially spell the end of their flying careers. When hiring does resume in the US, many who had to sit on the sidelines for 1-3 years will not have the hours necessary to qualify for a premium job. And a large number of them will not be able to afford going to another regional airline for first year pay, which is just awful.

Comair's only hope, which really isn't hope at all, in the near future is the court case between Mesa Air Group's Freedom Airlines and Delta Connection. Delta canceled Freedom's contract for 50 seat lift using Embraer 145 aircraft in March 2008. Mesa filed a lawsuit against Delta and a temporary injunction was granted. Freedom began flying Delta routes again late last summer. The day in court is supposedly sometime around the 30th of January.

First of all, it's hard to call another airline's loss "hope" for your airline. Nobody wants to take someone's job. Second, my guess (that and four quarters will get you $1.00) is that Mesa/Freedom and Delta reach a financial settlement and Delta will simply not re-assign the flying. Freedom pilots will lose and other DCI carriers, Comair included, will not receive anything. What is my reasoning? Mesa Air Group is in a bit of cash trouble due to a settled lawsuit with Hawaiian Airlines, major losses at Go! (Mesa's Hawaiian subsidiary), a share price below 20 cents, major upcoming debt payments and the looming threat of losing Delta lift.

I don't want to see any more pilots, no matter where they are employed, lose their job.

A Little Cryptic

Finally. A day with some good news! The image below will explain a lot to a few and very little to most. Does that make any sense?
More soon...

How Lough Will They Go?

Last Monday, Comair furloughed another 92 of my brothers. That makes the grand total, as of this very moment, 298 pilots furloughed - roughly 21 percent of the pilot group. There are rumors of more displacements/furloughs in the months ahead. This greatly decreases the odds of receiving a recall notice in 2009-2010.

The latest displacement, puts the most junior Captain as a November, 2000 hire. Wow. 8 years to hold a junior reserve captain seat, at JFK no less. I don't know the exact date, but I'm guessing to be a line holding CRJ-200 captain at Comair, he/she would have been hired some time in 1996-97. 12 years to be a line holder at a regional airline?

The question is: If I were to get a recall notice, would it be wise to accept? As the company drastically continues to shrink, I would think the answer is clear.

Comair has a great group of people, from the pilot group to ramp agents to overworked back office support staff. None of them deserve what has been wrought and what may be still be looming.

More Shell Game Fallout & A White Elephant Is Born

Yesterday, 80 more pilots took a solid kick in the tenders. Most likely due to their net loss of 10 aircraft in the Great CRJ-900 Switcheroo of 2008-9, ASA will be furloughing for the first time in it's proud history.

Like I mentioned in the previous post, being "awarded" 10 CRJ-900's wasn't exactly great news for ASA. Delta is doing everything it can to get out of the 50 seat regional jet market and we should expect more reductions to come in 2009.

I'm truly sorry to see more pilots hitting the street. When recalls actually start happening industry wide, I wonder how many will actually accept?

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CVG: White Elephant?

As of January 1st, Delta closed terminal 3's Concourse C and moved all regional flights to Concourses A & B. Opened in 1993, the groundbreaking Concourse C has 48 gates and was the largest terminal ever constructed specifically for regional aircraft. The initial reasoning was to streamline the product and allow the utilization of jet bridges for more passengers. A large number of flights from both A & B will require passengers to ingress/egress via ramps to/from terminal level, in addition to RJ stairs versus convenient ground level Concourse C. Also, at times they will still be using a wing of Concourse C for boarding, requiring buses. However, no services (including restrooms) will be avaiable. Does that sound like seamless product?

With the increased passenger traffic in A&B from the loss of C, Cincinnati-Northen Kentucky airport will appear to be busy. In addition, the previous two evening pushes/banks have been combined in to one, to complement Cincinnati and Detroit's traffic patterns. Looks can be deceiving. With Comair alone having lost over 20% it's flying from CVG, passenger traffic at CVG has been drastically decreased and will probably see even fewer flights over the course of 2009-10.

The systematic dismantling of Delta's CVG hub has begun. Like St. Louis and Pittsburgh, CVG has reached "white elephant" status.

Has anyone seen the Travelocity commercial where the couple are just checking in and every time the husband tries to speak, a jackhammer interrupts him? I think the commercial sums up my feelings about the US airline business, at least until the economy turns around. Every time I think I've figured something out, the jackhammer of change interrupts and things change. I love the part at the end where he says in the perfect sarcastic tone, "It's gonna be great...it's gonna be a big week."



Well, it's gonna be great...it's gonna be a big year.