Great Lakes to rise from the ashes?

[ScorpioStinger]

Maybe there is a pilot shortage after all.

Great Lakes is an Airline on a level below the regional airline industry, yet is paying FO's at or above regional JET airline wages.... WOW!

 

[Hiboglossi]

Anyone at greatlakes or very recently flew for them ????

I've never flown for them but I know two people who both started working there about a year ago and both recently quit, despite the 15-month contract they were required to sign. From what they told me it sounded like they couldn't get out fast enough. One of them left for SkyWest and the other one left to be a pipeline CFI for Envoy.

When he was initially hired, the guy who left for Envoy said he intended to remain at Great Lakes for at least a few years, and probably wouldn't leave until he was hired at a major airline. But less than a year later he left, even though he didn't have enough hours to get hired at a pure-121 regional, so he has to be a pipeline instructor teaching Chinese students instead. The fact that it was bad enough there for him to leave for instructing (which he was hoping to avoid altogether by going to Great Mistakes in the first place) should be very telling.

 

[Richman]

Back in the day, Lakes was a very reasonable solution for many pilots.

Time marches on, and CPI has most definitely not been applied.

Richman

 

[hook_dupin]

The GLUX annual report just came out last week (just in time for the end of the 1st quarter)!

In short, GLUX lost $7.4M in 2014, they have $12M in the bank, and they have a $25M note due in 2017.

Load factors are the highest ever at a whopping 45%. If GLUX could actually figure out how to get an efficient load factor, they might actually make money. Until then, I don't know how they survive beyond 2017.

 

[gotWXdagain]

The GLUX annual report just came out last week (just in time for the end of the 1st quarter)!

In short, GLUX lost $7.4M in 2014, they have $12M in the bank, and they have a $25M note due in 2017.

Load factors are the highest ever at a whopping 45%. If GLUX could actually figure out how to get an efficient load factor, they might actually make money. Until then, I don't know how they survive beyond 2017.

They'll survive because if I'm a banker I will keep giving them refi's so they keep paying me interest until the day my great great grandkids's kids die.

 

[ChasenSFO]

The GLUX annual report just came out last week (just in time for the end of the 1st quarter)!

In short, GLUX lost $7.4M in 2014, they have $12M in the bank, and they have a $25M note due in 2017.

Load factors are the highest ever at a whopping 45%. If GLUX could actually figure out how to get an efficient load factor, they might actually make money. Until then, I don't know how they survive beyond 2017.

Is that because the load factors are now based on 9 seats instead of 19 on most(or is it all?) of the B1900 fleet?

 

[FloridaLarry]

ChasenSFO asks:

Is that because the load factors are now based on 9 seats instead of 19 on most(or is it all?) of the B1900 fleet?

When they take ten seats out, the available number of seats goes down to 9, and this drastically lowers the Available Seat Miles. Revenue Seats divided by ASM equals Load Factor.

I'm no mathematician, but 45% of nine is still lower than 38% of 19.

The annual report that Hook quoted does show some bright lights of continued slight improvements, this just isn't one of them.

Long term: they keep buying time with loans, an aging fleet from airframe manufacturers whose interest is in current (and more recent) models, and little spare capital. Nearly all the Mighty Beech Fleet is down to 9 seats, and there's a warehouse someplace with lots of rump-sprung blue leather seats. Might check Craig's List if you want one.

They say their outlook won't improve significantly until such time as they can get enough pilots to rebuild 19 Pax services and resume cities they've dropped. A lot of whom have found other answers, with the ones whose service might grow being increasingly attractive to other carriers with surplus CRJ-200s that either are profitable with fares and EAS, or at least +/- break-even for now.

When the current loan is due, they'll extend it, find a new lender, or land inverted.

 

[hook_dupin]

They'll survive because if I'm a banker I will keep giving them refi's so they keep paying me interest until the day my great great grandkids's kids die.

The problem is that the value of the airframes guarantees that debt. Eventually, the value of the airframes limits the amount of debt GLUX can carry.

 

[🦈💜]

It's extremely low. Comparison with another job that pays less is non sequitur.

Horizon first-year FO pay is about the same, and you'd get a multitude of benefits that I'm betting Lakes doesn't do. And Horizon first year pay is complete crap.


But hey, Lakes raised their pay. Therefore, somewhere in Hell...

Somewhere in hell, a glacier was calving...? ;

-Fox