Comair/ASA question

gay_pilot18

New Member
I have noticed that both Comair and ASA both have aquired Bombardier CRJ's-700's. But niether of them have purchased the stretched 900 model.

Does anyone know if this might be because of Delta's mainline pilots contracts maybe forbidding Comair & ASA to carry more then 70 passengers?

Or have they maybe just not gotten hip to the new "bird" yet?


Everett
 
What is the classification of a Regional jet. Doesn't that -900 hold 90 people. If it's considered a RJ why isn't a DC-9?
 
The CRJ-900 doesn't hold 90 people. I believe that it carries only 86 people in a one class cabin configuration.
 
I would expect most regionals will eventually get -900's as they get away from their mainline partners eventually competing with their major airline partners putting them out of business so that eventually all pilots will end up topping out at $80,000 a year, then this truly will be the worst industry known to man!

Don't believe me look at skywest, they are getting away from united and thinking about getting 737's!

what a great future we have!
 
Yeah....but look at it this way....you could be driving a combine in Washtucna for the rest of your life...
 
The Delta mainline pilots contract forbids Delta Connection Carriers (DCI) from flying planes with more than 70 seats. Also, DCI is limited to 57 70 seaters.

If DL recovers financially, I expect they will order a new 90-100 seat jet and it will be flown by mainline Delta pilots.

Hopefully, DL will not order the CRJ900. While an ok plane, it is not a competitive product when compared with the EMB 170/190 series.
 
Some Comair news.

Cincinnati Enquirer - 10/04
Pilots, attendants asked to reopen contracts

By James Pilcher
The Cincinnati Enquirer


Erlanger-based regional airline Comair wants its pilot and flight attendant unions to reopen their contracts to negotiate pay cuts, company and union officials have confirmed.

The requests come nearly 21/2 years after the carrier's pilots held an 89-day strike, one of the longest walkouts in recent airline history, which resulted in a contract that made Comair's pilots the highest-paid in the regional-airline industry.

The request comes as officials for the wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines acknowledge Comair is "modestly" profitable. Delta, however, has lost more than $2 billion since the bottom dropped out of the industry after the Sept. 11 attacks, and is expected to announce another big quarterly loss later this month.

Neither Comair's 1,800-member pilot union nor its 950-member flight attendant union has decided whether to hold the talks, representatives from both said. Each membership will listen to Comair's initial pitch and then vote on to whether to open up their contracts.

On Friday, company president and chief executive officer Randy Rademacher wrote the company's employees, saying that Comair needed to reduce its costs to remain competitive

The memo, obtained by the Enquirer, said Comair was hoping to secure several new 70-seat aircraft in the next few months.

Comair will be in competition for those planes with several other airlines in the Delta regional network. The planes also could go to new, lower-cost airlines that could be added to that network.

Comair also is trying to finalize delivery of other jets currently on order but not confirmed for next year and even take some other flights away from less efficient carriers. These possibilities could mean a 50 percent expansion in the airline's capacity, the memo said.

"We are responding to an opportunity that we have to further the growth and opportunity for our future," said Comair spokesman Nick Miller.

"Delta has a number of choices for its regional jet flying and Comair wants to make sure that we are the choice. That would be good for our employees, our company and the region as a whole."

Targets unknown

Delta officials would not comment, referring all questions to Comair.

Miller would not say if the company had set a target amount to be cut in either contract, nor would he set a deadline as to when Comair officials hoped to complete negotiations. But the memo said that the decision on the new planes would be made within a month.

Senior Comair regional jet pilots can earn as much as $100,000 annually if they fly 70-seat regional jets, or $95,000 for 50-seaters. A first-year pilot makes $23,000 annually.

The flight attendants signed a five-year contract in July 2002 that called for raises of 44 to 66 percent over the life of the pact or an average of about eight to 10 percent a year.

A first-year flight attendant now makes just under $19,500 annually, while a senior flight attendant averages just under $45,000 a year.

Comair's branch of the Air Line Pilots Association has scheduled a meeting with its members for Thursday. The union and the company have made strong efforts to heal the wounds opened during the spring 2001 strike.

Delta also has asked its mainline pilots to take a pay cut. They are the highest-paid in the domestic airline industry. But that union rejected the company's request to reopen the contract unless several key points were made, and no new efforts have been forthcoming from Delta management.

The vice chairman of Comair's pilot union, Cory Tennen, a Cincinnati-based regional jet captain, said the company has not made a specific proposal and that the union still has to do its own analysis of the situation before agreeing to talks.

That would include acquiring specific financial data from the company, Tennen said. That requirement was also made by the flight attendants, according to union trustee Ken Barnes of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Union wants details

During the strike, which cost Delta and Comair an estimated $750 million in lost revenue and costs, Comair repeatedly refused to provide such data.

"We are still looking at it and we have to do our own analysis," said Tennen, who led negotiations during the strike. "This time, the money they are or aren't making is a lot more relevant so we need to see that on paper."

Miller said the company was working with the union on the request, but would not provide specifics, only to say that Comair is "modestly" profitable. During the strike, Comair repeatedly said that its financial results were reflected in the overall results released by parent Delta and would not provide specifics.

"This is not about Comair losing money, it's about Delta holding this over their head and saying if they want to continue to grow, they have to cut costs among the workgroups," Barnes said. "But we'll wait and see what the flight attendants want to do."
 
I believe that the ALPA contract with Delta prohibts the -900. I think the limit is 70. Doug might know exacts
 
I think this will be a big union versus managment issue in the 5-10 years. Companies are always looking at ways to cut pay with out having to actually give pay-cuts. I'm just glad the airlines have strong unions.

I wish I could afford to drive a combine in washtucna. Flying is suppose to pay for my farming hobby, I just hope I don't have to get another job to pay for my flying hobby....lol
 
Dayuuuuuuuum I thought you all were ruff on me poor CitationKid so young sooooooo hated.

But hey I got love fer you CitationKid (ina totally non sexual/non statatory kinda way) but as JC's other whippin boi...lol.


Everett
 
Sigh...seems the kidz over at a.net have discovered JC. .How exactly is that person posting anonymously?

And GayBoy, change your sig before I talk one of the mods into changing it to "Brown Eye For The Queer Guy".
 
[ QUOTE ]
What is the classification of a Regional jet.

[/ QUOTE ]The pay the crew is willing to accept.
 
[ QUOTE ]

And GayBoy, change your sig before I talk one of the mods into changing it to "Brown Eye For The Queer Guy".

[/ QUOTE ]

HAHA. LOL.

But, you can't be seious about wanting him to change his sig. are you? SkyguyEd has a pic of a girl in a bikini as his avitar (sp?). No one complains about that.
 
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