Finny
Well-Known Member
To be fair, ATL is now our largest base by far...
Endeavor interview
- Thread starter Bamaaviator
- Start date
To be fair, ATL is now our largest base by far...
Cherokee_Cruiser
Bronteroc
Thats now. Talking about base closures before.
Can’t believe pilots are speaking up for regional airline basing. If you’ve been in the industry long enough, then you’ve seen regional bases come and go. As do mainline partners and regional carriers themselves.
sorrygottarunway
Well-Known Member
I like to say NYC is a safe base... but didn't Virgin America close their NYC base before the acquisition?
Cherokee_Cruiser
Bronteroc
No. The base officially opened Dec 2013 with 50 crews (100 total) and with time expanded to about 57 crew /115 pilots including base CP. LaGuardia flying started 2014 and we were flying out of all three EWR/JFK/LGA.
The merger announcement was Apr 2016. Under Alaska we lost all of LaGuardia, first to RJ170s and then closed out right as Alaska leased out LGA and DCA slots to SWA. Then in May 2018 they announced they would close NYC as a pilot base effective Aug 31, 2018. It stayed as a virtual base another 6 months before shutting down for good March 1, 2019.
It was all Alaska. They wanted to move Boeings to longer transcons and Airbuses re-deploy to west coast to do up/downs and midcons. Virgin had done well with the NYC base and liked the presence of east coast/anchored pilots.
Autothrust Blue
”…trusting ze process…”
What's the optimum stage length for each fleet type?
Cherokee_Cruiser
Bronteroc
For Alaska, they hate the 319/320 and say it’s the least fuel efficient plane they have. They’re all about seat capacity on a plane. The future order is going to be between MAX 9/10 and maybe 321NEO if we go dual fleet. They don’t like that the A319-320 give them 119-150 seats. So we’ve redeployed that fleet mostly up/down the west coast and some midcons. The Airbus stage length if I had to guess these days is probably 850-980nm.
By removing IFE systems, they have bumped up weights on our A320s that were max takeoff 169.8 and raised 1,000kg higher (the 171k) Buses. These have no problems doing winter transcons from Boston/NY to the west coast.
There is no future for the 319/320. Those will be returned as leases expire and the ~10-13 we own will be sold. If we go dual fleet, the only Airbus that stays would be the 321NEO.
CoffeeIcePapers
Well-Hung Member
I wouldn't make a major move for a regional. I probably wouldn't do it for a major, either. There's lots of super senior Delta people commuting from DFW when they closed that base down in the early 2000s.
mastermags
Well-Known Member *giggity*
Regional bases close all the time. Not as much as majors.
I’d take my chances moving to a base at a major (except NY or CA). Commuting ruins the job and really kills your earnings and QOL. If a base does close, then move again (like the rest of the world has to do, for usually much lower paying jobs) or commute for a while like you were considering doing anyway.
I’d take my chances moving to a base at a major (except NY or CA). Commuting ruins the job and really kills your earnings and QOL. If a base does close, then move again (like the rest of the world has to do, for usually much lower paying jobs) or commute for a while like you were considering doing anyway.
Autothrust Blue
”…trusting ze process…”
We'll "never" have a California base, but if it does happen, I'm there in a heartbeat. But this is good advice. Driving to work is fantastic.