Pinnacle and Mesaba post SLI and Contract

[jynxyjoe]

No more commuting for me either. Time to fly the saabomatic. I knew I would see the saab once during my time here at XJ. At least I got displaced, so no seat lock. You can imagine living 30 mins south of EWR what I eventually wanna end up in.

Ah cool, well when you meet LF (your senior FO) he's a cool guy.

30 min south of EWR? You mean you have to go through Elizabeth and the Goethals (or however you spell it). Enjoy that. I'd ride right on by and find my way to a PATH train if I was you.

BTW: Saab is a good machine, just horribly underpowered and over engineered.

 

[nc1982]

Ah cool, well when you meet LF (your senior FO) he's a cool guy.

30 min south of EWR? You mean you have to go through Elizabeth and the Goethals (or however you spell it). Enjoy that. I'd ride right on by and find my way to a PATH train if I was you.

BTW: Saab is a good machine, just horribly underpowered and over engineered.

Haha, yea. I figure without traffic I can make it up to LGA in about an hour and ten. But when is there never any traffic up there. I'm sure I'll be riding that PATH train quite a bit. It just sucks that there is no direct subway access to LGA from manhattan. I don't wanna lug my overnite bag and flight case on the city bus while riding through Harlem and Queens.

 

[jynxyjoe]

Haha, yea. I figure without traffic I can make it up to LGA in about an hour and ten. But when is there never any traffic up there. I'm sure I'll be riding that PATH train quite a bit. It just sucks that there is no direct subway access to LGA from manhattan. I don't wanna lug my overnite bag and flight case on the city bus while riding through Harlem and Queens.

I used to live in EWR area (coincidentally same town as LF) and the (stupid) PANYNJ had a commuter plan that if you went in a circle from Goethals to Verizano (Verizon Bridge I call it sometimes because I can't spell it) and then when you came back you'd go through southern Manhattan through the Holland (dumps you out close to 95) you could save yourself like 4 bucks a commute, but you had to use it like 15 times a month.

Anyway, buy a gun for the commute if you go through Elizabeth.

 

[nc1982]

I used to live in EWR area (coincidentally same town as LF) and the (stupid) PANYNJ had a commuter plan that if you went in a circle from Goethals to Verizano (Verizon Bridge I call it sometimes because I can't spell it) and then when you came back you'd go through southern Manhattan through the Holland (dumps you out close to 95) you could save yourself like 4 bucks a commute, but you had to use it like 15 times a month.

Anyway, buy a gun for the commute if you go through Elizabeth.

Haha, yea. I'm just hoping when I'm back on reserve in LGA that scheduling won't be calling me giving me the minimum 2 hours to get up there. Maybe I can be senior enough to hold long call reserve. Or maybe I'll get lucky and we get this TA signed, SLI done by the spring time, and I can bid over to EWR and only be LGA based for 6-8 months.

 

[jynxyjoe]

Haha, yea. I'm just hoping when I'm back on reserve in LGA that scheduling won't be calling me giving me the minimum 2 hours to get up there. Maybe I can be senior enough to hold long call reserve. Or maybe I'll get lucky and we get this TA signed, SLI done by the spring time, and I can bid over to EWR and only be LGA based for 6-8 months.

There's a win!

 

[nc1982]

There's a win!

How are the saab instructors up in Minny? I hear most of them are cool guys. There's only 4 of us in initial so I'm guessing it will be pretty laid back and easier for us to ask questions. I hear the oral is a bitch.

 

[SurferLucas]

Prediction is this...ALL SAABs will be phased out in the next 5-7 years (9L is returning airplanes as leases come up, 3 in 2010 and no plans to my knowledge to acquire more). MORE Q-400s will be ordered and anticipate a fleet of upwards of 100 by the end of the decade. Doubtful that Horizon in on the "horizon" (pardon the pun) as a purchase by PNCL Corp. That would be an even more daunting challenge side where integration, corporate culture, cost structure, etc...Not to mention a VERY senior pilot group that is accustomed to relatively high payscales. With MORE Q's purchased by the company, who knows, perhaps Alaska Air Group may outsource some of their lift to PNCL Corp and we become an Alaska Express. On the Jet side of the house, MORE -900s and the -200s are going the way of the dodo bird and will be parked in the desert. HIGH fuel costs will have as much to d o with it as trying to undercut mainline labor costs by putting 90-seat jets on more and more mainline routes...believe it! Final fleet numbers could be as high as 100+ -900s on the Pinnacle certificate. This would require a seniority list of about 2000 pilots, or 1000 LESS than we have today. Consolidation will also be painful for labor, but in 2012 according to some will be a banner year for legacy hiring.

Just wanted to post in regards to the Horizon thing, and the "Alaska Express". You are correct in the statement that it would be very daunting to take on the senior pilot group at Horizon as well as the completely different culture (just from what I've gathered from the Pinnacle/Mesaba/Colgan pilots on here).

The part about Alaska Air Express part, unless you guys start outfitting the Q400's with HUD for CAT III ops, RNP/WAAS FMS's and etc that go along with Horizon's unique operation...I doubt that will happen. It would take a fair amount to bring the Colgan Q4's up to that standard, plus train the crews for those types of ops. IF (big IF) Alaska does farm out flying, it'll be for thin routes that the Q4 can't cover. If that does indeed happen, it will more than likely be SkyWest with CRJ900's.

There's been lots of talk about Horizon taking over some of the SE Alaska flying and freeing up some of Alaska's planes for new routes, or for load on routes no longer being covered by Horizon (PDX-Bay Area).

 

[sherpa]

Prediction is this...ALL SAABs will be phased out in the next 5-7 years (9L is returning airplanes as leases come up, 3 in 2010 and no plans to my knowledge to acquire more). MORE Q-400s will be ordered and anticipate a fleet of upwards of 100 by the end of the decade. Doubtful that Horizon in on the "horizon" (pardon the pun) as a purchase by PNCL Corp. That would be an even more daunting challenge side where integration, corporate culture, cost structure, etc...Not to mention a VERY senior pilot group that is accustomed to relatively high payscales. With MORE Q's purchased by the company, who knows, perhaps Alaska Air Group may outsource some of their lift to PNCL Corp and we become an Alaska Express. On the Jet side of the house, MORE -900s and the -200s are going the way of the dodo bird and will be parked in the desert. HIGH fuel costs will have as much to d o with it as trying to undercut mainline labor costs by putting 90-seat jets on more and more mainline routes...believe it! Final fleet numbers could be as high as 100+ -900s on the Pinnacle certificate. This would require a seniority list of about 2000 pilots, or 1000 LESS than we have today. Consolidation will also be painful for labor, but in 2012 according to some will be a banner year for legacy hiring.

well with 1/3 of the fleet down for mx today they better get their stuff together or there will be no new orders. This is a regular occurrence btw. The combination of our mx dept. and this high mx airplane is a disaster.

How is the fleet reliability at horizon?

 

[jynxyjoe]

How are the saab instructors up in Minny? I hear most of them are cool guys. There's only 4 of us in initial so I'm guessing it will be pretty laid back and easier for us to ask questions. I hear the oral is a bitch.

Saab instructors are the best. I'll PM you the phone number if you have questions about the rides and orals and stuff.

 

[SurferLucas]

How is the fleet reliability at horizon?

.
I'd say it's in the 95% range...it's not nearly as good as the CRJ700's, which is why it's crazy to get rid of them. The Q400 really needs a good software revision, there are too many quirks with the software and what it can/will throw out as a fault. There have been times in the Q400 that I've said "What is it doing now" (I hear MD-88 guys say that as well).

That being said, there were 3 times at Horizon where we had 1/3 to all of the fleet grounded for something like gear inspections, or a wing nut/bolt surprise AD

 

[The Juice]

well with 1/3 of the fleet down for mx today they better get their stuff together or there will be no new orders. This is a regular occurrence btw. The combination of our mx dept. and this high mx airplane is a disaster.

How is the fleet reliability at horizon?

How does our VP of MX still have a job...oh that's right, he is becoming the new VP of Safety with the reorginization. So how does someone who has a MX department in ruins keep their VP job and gets to move over to a VP of Safety position??

Plus, how ironic is it that a Colgan VP of MX is now the VP is Safety, that is like having the Grand Wizard of the KKK becoming the new president of the NAACP.

 

[Louie1975]

well with 1/3 of the fleet down for mx today they better get their stuff together or there will be no new orders. This is a regular occurrence btw. The combination of our mx dept. and this high mx airplane is a disaster.

How is the fleet reliability at horizon?

Sorry Im home! Whats down? Qs or Saabs?