More aircraft for PSA and Envoy

chrisreedrules

Master Blaster
PSA has announced today that they will adding an additional 15 CRJ900 Next Gen aircraft beginning in 2019 on through 2020. This will slow the transfer of CRJ700s from Envoy to PSA through 2019 but they claim we will still be taking delivery of those at a reduced pace. Options for an additional 15 are available as well.

Envoy has also announced that they will be adding an additional 15 E175s to their fleet with options for an additional 15 as well.

All of these will come at the expense of parking some of the 50-seat aircraft at PSA and I’m not sure if this will mean parking aircraft at Envoy or if they will just continue transferring some 145s to Piedmont... They have not released any details on this as of yet but the impression I get is that these will be a 1 for 1 type of thing.
 
...so that’s good. Right?

There was an internal discussion that took place back in 2011 (or maybe 2010) about how it was important for ALPA to keep the blended rate in place because we could put much higher 700 and 900 numbers in the contract than the company would be willing to pay outright and that the future was all 700s and 900s anyways so it was helpful.

The interwebz thought differently, but I think it's pretty much proven to be true.
 
Blended rates are great since you don't have to bid on trips based on equipment. Obviously senior people wont make as much money but I have found they tend to bid more -200 trips since they have higher average credit and some better overnights.

Yes, -200s have longer flights on average than the bigger planes at PSA. It should be the other way around but this is an airline where we almost parked planes because of a FA shortage when pilots should have been far harder to obtain. Nothing is normal here. At least positive changes are slowly happening.

249 better be the first plane to go. 9 MELs the last time I saw it...
 
Blended rates are great since you don't have to bid on trips based on equipment. Obviously senior people wont make as much money but I have found they tend to bid more -200 trips since they have higher average credit and some better overnights.

Yes, -200s have longer flights on average than the bigger planes at PSA. It should be the other way around but this is an airline where we almost parked planes because of a FA shortage when pilots should have been far harder to obtain. Nothing is normal here. At least positive changes are slowly happening.

249 better be the first plane to go. 9 MELs the last time I saw it...
I’m pretty sure half the 200s have an inop APU right now. A 200 trip is almost always a guarantee for constant delays so I try and avoid them if I can.
Your flow keeps getting longer.
Mine keeps getting shorter.
 
I wonder how excited you’ll be about new RJs showing up when you do flow
I never said I was excited about this. I wish more of the flying would go back to mainline because that would be better for us all. And this is perhaps seat growth at the regionals, though it is not airframe growth. I think it will end up being a 1 for 1 park of the 200s over the next 3-4 years. I for one will NOT be sad to see the 200s go. They are terrible from a passenger and crew comfort perspective. And being a single type CRJ operator (7/900 only) will be a much better operation for all of us.
 
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I wonder how excited you’ll be about new RJs showing up when you do flow
This is a positive thing. The -200s are starting to go away. Pretty sure the only way they can get more large RJs is to have more planes at mainline as well. The trend is in the right direction.

Also AA just announced they are dropping XJT and TSA so overall there likely will be a lower amount of RJ's flying around. AA is consolidating its regional flying. I really don't think there will be any actual growth in the overall picture.

Hopefully this "pilot shortage" will put the final nail into the regional coffin in 5-10 years.
 
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This is a positive thing. The -200s are starting to go away. Pretty sure the ony way they can get more large RJs is to have more planes at mainline as well. The trend is in the right direction.

Also AA just announced they are dropping XJT and TSA so overall there likely will be a much lower amount of RJ's flying around.

Hopefully this "pilot shortage" will put the final nail into the regional coffin in 5-10 years.

Yes, TSA and XJT will cease their Eagle flying in 2019. But that shouldn’t come as a surprise as both were on very short-term contracts.

XJT 700s going to SKW (and I assume a DFW base may be in their future) and the only surprise to me is that apparently the TSA 145s are headed back to Envoy instead of going to Piedmont. But they came from Envoy so they should rightfully go back there.
 
This is a positive thing. The -200s are starting to go away. Pretty sure the only way they can get more large RJs is to have more planes at mainline as well. The trend is in the right direction.

Also AA just announced they are dropping XJT and TSA so overall there likely will be a lower amount of RJ's flying around. AA is consolidating its regional flying. I really don't think there will be any actual growth in the overall picture.

Hopefully this "pilot shortage" will put the final nail into the regional coffin in 5-10 years.
A positive thing would be if the company didn’t find it necessary to run right up to the scope limit and to replace this flying with E190+ Size aircraft. Status quo, or adding 1 small RJ for 1 larger ac, is not a positive.
 
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