DATE: December 20, 2016
As most of you know by now, we announced last week that our 6 Embraer 170 aircraft would return to Delta Air Lines beginning in February of 2017, at a rate of two per month. I want to reiterate what Rick Leach and Bob Gleason relayed in their joint memo last week and in last week’s call—this reduction is not due to performance. Delta simply needed 170 lift on the East Coast, and the majority of our operation is on the West Coast. Delta has made it clear all along that we are going to be their West Coast (LAX) Delta Connection operator, and they prefer us not to use the Embraer 170 in that theater.
Now that the decision has been made, we have to take a look inward to see what effects this reduction will have on Compass going forward. There will obviously be a reduction in the number of hours we are scheduled to operate the Delta Connection brand. We currently operate up to approximately 13,000 hours per month for Delta. After all 6 aircraft are removed, that number could be reduced by approximately 1,000 to 1,500 hours.
Compass typically determines its crew staffing model based upon the number of hours scheduled/projected to be flown each month. Today we are very well staffed with pilots, and if we were to continue with our current staffing model, we’d be approximately 120+ pilots “heavy” by April 2017 (including projected attrition). Obviously we cannot justify having 100+ pilots more than needed, so we are adjusting our staffing model accordingly.
Let me start by saying that there are NO plans to furlough any pilots. Instead, we will reduce the number of new hire classes and the number of upgrades planned for 2017. December new hire classes will begin as scheduled, the last one being Class #02-17, which starts on Thursday, December 22nd. As far as upgrades go, we will honor the award for Class 2-17C, which begins in January 2017. We will keep a close eye on our attrition levels, to determine when new hire classes should be added and when upgrades should resume. As Rick and Bob mentioned, we are actively seeking new flying to use the extra crews we will have in the coming months. We will adjust hiring and upgrade classes to support any success we may have in achieving additional flying. As we search for additional flying, we will also look for creative ways to utilize our pilots in the months ahead.
Because we will have a temporary surplus of pilots, we will allow a limited number of Personal Leaves to those wishing to take a little extra time off. This will start in January 2017 and continue through May 2017. All requests for Personal Leaves will be handled in accordance with CBA Chapter 13 (A). The number of pilots able to take leave will be based upon our projected “needs of service.” You may contact any member of FLTOPS Management for additional information.
In closing, it is very important that you understand our performance was not behind the return of the 170s to Delta. You have worked very hard this year, and I am extremely proud of our FLTOPS performance numbers. While we do have some room for improvement in First Flight D0, D0 in general, and Arrival-14, the folks at Delta, as well as our COO and President, have seen the improvement you’ve made in our overall performance numbers this year.
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I'm glad they're keeping us new hires around for the time being. I wish we hadn't lost the planes but I'm happy to have a job. (if there's anything wrong with sharing company memos please PM me and I'll remove it.)
