ShortField
No one of consequence
Gloom and doom talk. There are no furloughs here. And AS is also making money hand over fist. Panic has started with the lease returns which is what people are referring to as “shrinkage.” We returned 1 Bus this year and will return 2 in 2020. The bulk of the Bus lease returns are from 2021-2024. An educated guess says we will return to an all Boeing fleet but because the MAX is still grounded, they haven’t made an announcement. But the MAX will fly in 2020 and AS will make a large aircraft order.
There is a big shift in flying, more mainline out of SEA on Bus and intra California more on QX/SKY. News articles saying Bus to MKE and MSO plus the frequency increases as well in various cities (like PIT). For pilots though the question is what does that mean for SF/LA Airbus bases? Will they open a SEA Bus base? That would be costly with numerous Boeing guys bidding Airbus.
The question of a SEA bus base is a curious one. At one point they’d said we need 40 departures a day to justify a base. Last I heard the bus is over 50 a day from SEA now and still crickets about opening a base. I understand it’s a costly endeavor but I wonder what else is holding them back.