Furloughs at Alaska

Cheechako

Well-Known Member
Management met with the pilot association yesterday to talk about the effect of an 11% capacity reduction for 2009. They said this could result in furloughs of up to 165 pilots from Nov to Feb. Right now they are working on early-out retirement incentives as well as some extended leaves of absence.

This is really a convoluted deal because half of those in the furlough range are ANC based. With us being the only ones qualified to fly to Hawaii and the arctic they'll have to displace a bunch of pilots up here and train them all. The training dept is already saturated with MD-80 pilots making the transition.

I'm 129 from the bottom. . . so 36 need to take the out for me to keep my job. I'm a bit concerned, but not too worried. Thanks to the state of Alaska, I've got a check coming late-Sept/early Oct. that could carry me through at least 4 months.. . there's a guy that operates a PC-12 that I know. . wonder if he needs an ANC based pilot. . .

Romans 8:28
 
Best of luck to you. I remember back when you got the job at Alaska and remember how excited you were. Here's hoping you come out unscathed.
 
Sorry, Cheech, but there's no special qualification required to fly the Arctic. Unfortunately, its doubtful there are 36 pilots even qualified for the early out. And if you consider we already have 22 guys over 60 still flying...

Well, you know the rest.

I was hoping that this was just saber rattling from Angle Lake to scare us into taking their contract offer, but it looks like they mean business this time. Keep your fingers crossed, though. The last time they sent out the furlough notices, they extended it month to month and finally cancelled it.

No one was furloughed.

How long was that ETOPS training? 2 days?
 
I think there's a new arctic check-out? Maybe I heard wrong.

Yeah, ETOPS is 1 or 2 days classroom and an enroute flight check (captains only?).

My seniority list shows 42 hitting age 60 this year and another 46 in 2010. Have you heard any details about who will qualify?



. . . . I might be out of a job, but at least the daughter of McCain's running-mate has a crush on my son!
 
I've flown every station in the Arctic and I've never had a "checkout". So much for that "rumor". Sounds like typical "Arctic Eagle" B.S.
 
Don't worry Chris, you'll make it through this. We have our health and our families, what more can we ask for right?
 
My sim partner from US Airways works there now. I hope she's not due to be furloughed. She's been through enough.
 
I called my union rep yesterday. . .

It sounds like the 165 was not a set number, just something to tell ALPA to fulfill the first step for furloughs as outlined in the contract. He seems to think that there will be a good number that will take the retirement, and the leave of absence proposal looks pretty good for someone who's wanted to take some time off for a while to do something else (full medical benies for 6 months, pass priveledges for the duration). He said there have been a few captains call in to say they'll take the early retirement. They'll cut the first round of about 60 Nov. 1, then the next round Dec. 1, then if they need, Feb.1 for the rest. I fall in the Feb crowd. Hopefully they won't get as high as me.
 
It's too bad people are going to end up on the street but I'm glad to hear it probably won't be you.
 
That's rough news. Sorry to hear it. Any idea approximately what hire date range they are thinking for the furloughs?
 
not to hijack the thread, but is that based on how much you make?

is there a website that explains how citizens of alaska get paid?
.

Every year the state pays each citizen a dividend (Permanent Fund Dividend, PFD) from the oil and mineral revenues. It changes from year to year. Last year it was about $1600, this year they're projecting it to be around $2000. The qualification is to have been a resident of the state of Alaska a full calendar year, January to January. It's usually paid out in October, but they're trying to bump that up into Sept this year.

PFD website: https://www.pfd.state.ak.us/

This year Gov. Palin (soon to be VP?) passed an "energy relief" bill giving $1200 to each Alaska resident who qualifies for the PFD. Their reasoning is the higher cost of energy up here, especially for those off the road system who are paying $10+ a gallon for Diesel and heating oil.

So for my family of five the PFD will pay around $10,000 and the energy relief will pay $6000.
 
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