Flagship_dxer
Penske Material
These are some interesting and pretty exciting times to be at AA. US Airways dispatch will be coming down to the IOC in DFW sometime over the next 18-24 months. A new dispatch system from Jeppesen has been in the works for a while and seems like to eventually in the future replace the old native Sabre. Some say it will come soon and others still say it will never come.
The integration is causing a lot of shuffling around on the management side. Lots of new managers and new faces mixed in with the old guard. Manuals are starting to be consolidated and some terminology is starting to be refined to fit both carriers.
The US and AA dispatch unions are not on the same page merger wise. Both have two different agendas. It really is anyone's guess how it will end. There are two completely different groups with polar opposite ways of doing things. About the only thing similar is the same native Sabre product for dispatching.
Currently, there are just shy of two dozen trainees on the floor. Mostly from Eagle and other internal. The Eagle dispatchers from the first class are doing very well and several are set to upgrade from trainee to dispatcher fairly soon. The possibly not so good news for externals is that numerous Eagle dispatchers that have never really considered AA over the past fifteen to twenty years are now considering AA again due to the uncertainty surrounding the future at Eagle. With Eagle dispatchers doing very well getting signed off at AA, it will probably mean Eagle dispatchers will probably comprise a lot of the new hires at legacy AA for a while. There are roughly 75 dispatchers at Eagle and I would not be surprised to see 40 or more put in for AA next time and possibly a higher number if it looks like Eagle flying will be discontinued.
AA has a severe lack of OJT trainers. Many trainers that are willing to train have been doing so for nearly two years straight. Many are getting burnt out on training. The low amount of extra pay for training does not help very much. With retirements and growth occurring, a new hiring class is a possibility probably towards the end of the year or next year.
The biggest question mark is who will lead AA dispatch going forward in the merged group. The newly announced managing director of dispatch and operations management is an ex-NWA crew scheduling manager and dispatcher. It is not clear if he will lead AA dispatch or be just an overseer of all the different layers of management in the IOC. Rumors still say there could be two dispatch managers.
With US OCC coming down, there will likely be some re-arranging of things in the IOC. Eagle will be moving to a location in Irving. There was talk of doing a total re-do of the IOC to accommodate all groups but speculation has it now that load control and crew scheduling will takeover the Eagle SOC and US dispatch will move into the IOC with desks being re-arrange to accommodate US dispatch, AA dispatch and MOC.
The integration is causing a lot of shuffling around on the management side. Lots of new managers and new faces mixed in with the old guard. Manuals are starting to be consolidated and some terminology is starting to be refined to fit both carriers.
The US and AA dispatch unions are not on the same page merger wise. Both have two different agendas. It really is anyone's guess how it will end. There are two completely different groups with polar opposite ways of doing things. About the only thing similar is the same native Sabre product for dispatching.
Currently, there are just shy of two dozen trainees on the floor. Mostly from Eagle and other internal. The Eagle dispatchers from the first class are doing very well and several are set to upgrade from trainee to dispatcher fairly soon. The possibly not so good news for externals is that numerous Eagle dispatchers that have never really considered AA over the past fifteen to twenty years are now considering AA again due to the uncertainty surrounding the future at Eagle. With Eagle dispatchers doing very well getting signed off at AA, it will probably mean Eagle dispatchers will probably comprise a lot of the new hires at legacy AA for a while. There are roughly 75 dispatchers at Eagle and I would not be surprised to see 40 or more put in for AA next time and possibly a higher number if it looks like Eagle flying will be discontinued.
AA has a severe lack of OJT trainers. Many trainers that are willing to train have been doing so for nearly two years straight. Many are getting burnt out on training. The low amount of extra pay for training does not help very much. With retirements and growth occurring, a new hiring class is a possibility probably towards the end of the year or next year.
The biggest question mark is who will lead AA dispatch going forward in the merged group. The newly announced managing director of dispatch and operations management is an ex-NWA crew scheduling manager and dispatcher. It is not clear if he will lead AA dispatch or be just an overseer of all the different layers of management in the IOC. Rumors still say there could be two dispatch managers.
With US OCC coming down, there will likely be some re-arranging of things in the IOC. Eagle will be moving to a location in Irving. There was talk of doing a total re-do of the IOC to accommodate all groups but speculation has it now that load control and crew scheduling will takeover the Eagle SOC and US dispatch will move into the IOC with desks being re-arrange to accommodate US dispatch, AA dispatch and MOC.