Midwest Airlines Future....

n57flyguy

n57flyguy

Well-Known Member
Midwest Airlines to ground 717s in November - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

Midwest Airlines of Oak Creek will permanently ground its Boeing 717 jets on Nov. 3, leaving the remaining Midwest pilots and flight crews without jobs.
“While there will still be airplanes flying with ‘Midwest’ written on them, there will no longer be any of the pilots who truly provided ‘the best care in the air’ operating them,” said Anthony Freitas, chairman of the Midwest Airlines unit of the Air Line Pilots Association.
“All of the original Midwest flight crews are being outsourced in the final phase of dismantling our airline.”
The remaining Boeing 717 aircraft will be returned to the manufacturer on Nov. 3 and all of the remaining Midwest pilots will no longer fly any Midwest aircraft, according to the union.
“Midwest’s new owner hopes that if they keep the same paint scheme and cookies, no one will notice that the crews who helped build our airline’s well-deserved reputation for award-winning customer service are gone,” Freitas said.
The move to lower-cost pilots will be “devastating” to Midwest pilots and their families, he said.
Midwest is replacing its nine remaining Boeing 717 aircraft with Embraer 190 aircraft. Last October, Midwest entered into an agreement with Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Holdings to replace Midwest's Boeing 717s with Embraer aircraft flown by pilots employed by Republic subsidiary Republic Airlines.
Midwest Airlines, which is now owned by Republic Airways (NASDAQ: RJET), filed an updated mass layoff notice with the state on Sept. 25 indicating that 68 pilots and 52 flight attendants would be furloughed in November as a result of the grounding of the 717 planes.
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Great Job! :clap:




(Do I even need it?)
http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2009/09/28/daily50.html?ana=from_rss<!-- / message -->
 
n57flyguy said:
Great Job! :clap:




(Do I even need it?)
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As opposed to "Midwest Airlines shut down today, blaming the economy, fuel prices, and expensive leases on a dead aircraft."

100 points if you can tell us why they are furloughing those pilots and it's not just because BB feels like it.
 
falconvalley said:
100 points if you can tell us why they are furloughing those pilots and it's not just because BB feels like it.
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Because they found a way to use cheaper labor and accomplish the same level of lift (but probably not service).

Can I trade my 100 points in for some long term career protection?

I thought not.
 
falconvalley said:
As opposed to "Midwest Airlines shut down today, blaming the economy, fuel prices, and expensive leases on a dead aircraft."
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That would be 1000x better and here is why?

Everyone at Midwest is out of a job either way, and it could have gone down one of two ways.

1) RAH moves in with mainline planes at RJ pay and RJ jobs = Less Mainline Jobs.

2) Midwest goes away and Southwest and/or Airtran move in with mainline jobs and mainline pay.

So which one better?
 
falconvalley said:
As opposed to "Midwest Airlines shut down today, blaming the economy, fuel prices, and expensive leases on a dead aircraft."
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It is shutting down. That blue zombie lurking around the D Concourse is not Midwest. If the leases were so expensive, well, it looks like South of the Border Airlines is able to pay Boeing what it wanted for them. The loss of the lease was a result of a low-ball, TH-Seabury move that back fired. As for a dead aircraft, well, that's par for the course (Dork-J), but AirTran is still running with them.
 
Sorry to hear it. I use to work my schedule in ATL so I would get off at 0630 on the last day. I would then catch a Midwest Express flight to MCI- with breakfast, no less. They were a great airline.
 
In hindsight that AirTran deal could have been the best option for Midwest. I know Citrus wanted more 717s in the past, but I'm not sure if that still holds true. Either way, I feel awful for what happened to Midwest, and I assume the employees (and also those in Milwaukee who supported the "Keep Midwest My Midwest" campaign are quite angry with the management.
 
Wait so the YX pilots are going to be out on the street rather than being integrated into RAH? What the Foxtrot?!
 
I believe pilot representatives from RAH, Mokulele, Midwest, Frontier, and Lynx are going to be meeting within a week, regarding integration. The furlough of the Midwest pilots is a result of different factors, from financial troubles with aircraft leases to certificate issues. I assure you, if there was a cheap way to get those folks flying, RAH would. They sure do love cheap. The problem is that those pilots fly for "Midwest Airlines" on that particular certificate. With the only aircraft remaining operational on that certificate going back to Boeing, those pilots have nothing to fly. Technically, for those pilots to keep flying, they would currently have to go through a complete training program on one of RAH's other certificates. For that to happen they need to be integrated or hired. The process of integration has already started and you can thank your previous government officials for making it this way. It's a long, difficult process. If it's so much better for the employees that Midwest just go away, they can just ignore the process an go elsewhere. However, there is opportunity for most everybody to stay. The pay issue isn't make or break deal for the company to survive. It's about the economy and business decisions. RAH started as a small commuter airline. We are working on getting our pay to equal how the airline has evolved. I assure you the process of getting the pay to evolve will go a lot faster than the process of the airline evolving. Then again, I'm a glass is half full kind of guy. :)

BobDDuck said:
Because they found a way to use cheaper labor and accomplish the same level of lift (but probably not service).

Can I trade my 100 points in for some long term career protection?

I thought not.
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I would spend it on not making the same mistakes your predecessors. IMO, that's the best you can do thanks to them.

Gonzo said:
That would be 1000x better and here is why?

Everyone at Midwest is out of a job either way, and it could have gone down one of two ways.

1) RAH moves in with mainline planes at RJ pay and RJ jobs = Less Mainline Jobs.

2) Midwest goes away and Southwest and/or Airtran move in with mainline jobs and mainline pay.

So which one better?
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I say the glass is half full. Pilots didn't cause the bad economy or short sighted business decisions. Midwest pilots DID attain their payscale. Their company didn't set out in the early 80's to hire a bunch of pilots, pay them their current rate and eventually replace them with cheaper labor. This is a product of the current times. So, I must ask, is it really our fault that this is possible? If you had known that getting your pilot's license would lead to something like this, would you still have done it? I'm not sure if I would have not knowing what happens after this, but I still see opportunity. Southwest is suddenly the King of what the better alternative is in replacing dying companies? How about we shoot for even better than that? I say this "lower pay" option is all just smoke and mirrors to management that they'll be successful at keeping it that way.

deadstick said:
It is shutting down. That blue zombie lurking around the D Concourse is not Midwest. If the leases were so expensive, well, it looks like South of the Border Airlines is able to pay Boeing what it wanted for them. The loss of the lease was a result of a low-ball, TH-Seabury move that back fired. As for a dead aircraft, well, that's par for the course (Dork-J), but AirTran is still running with them.
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AirTran flies 86 of them. 86 Midwest was down to 9. They can wither away and we can have the option of AirTran and Southwest or RAH comes in and tries to save a struggling airline. I'm a true fan of Midwest, but I'm accepting that the original airline is gone. I don't however, say that since AirTran wasn't successful and RAH was that we should say f it and drop the remaining Midwest employees. There are still some working. What about them? Hind sight is 20-20. In the mean time, the Midwest pilots can hang on for the integration or they can apply elsewhere if they wish. We're trying to get them onboard asap. We don't have much more than a futon and some paper plates, but we're working on getting a coffee table and beer sign. No seriously, we're working on it. This was just dropped in our lap.
 
falconvalley said:
We're trying to get them onboard asap. We don't have much more than a futon and some paper plates, but we're working on getting a coffee table and beer sign. No seriously, we're working on it. This was just dropped in our lap.
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The YX MEC is reporting that the IBT is NOT doing anything to move this along. In the mean time, aircraft continue to be parked, and pilots continue to be furloughed. By the time anything is finalized, there might be a handful of pilots left to be integrated.
 
deadstick said:
The YX MEC is reporting that the IBT is NOT doing anything to move this along. In the mean time, aircraft continue to be parked, and pilots continue to be furloughed. By the time anything is finalized, there might be a handful of pilots left to be integrated.
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Easy dude, that is not true. The part about IBT doing nothing that is. IBT is following both the RLA and the RAH pilot contract. The deal is all pilots WILL be integrated, including the Frontier pilots, in the order of precedence. What is true is that RAH wasn't in any hurry to acklowledge that they had obtained more than 50% of Mokulele. By order of precedence, those pilots would be integrated first. However, before the union could get any type of acknowledgement (don't know if they have as of yet), the Midwest deal dropped and the Frontier deal started. This, you could say, caused RAH MEC to reconsider the strategy. IMO, it would have been potentially even more damaging to careers if things had moved along without pause. I don't care much for IBT, but this is all we have right now. What concerns me is making sure ALL of the RAH pilots are aware of the situation so they can vote accordingly. There are still RAH pilots that don't know there are pilots on furlough!! Can you say huh??
 
It's so dark you need a miner's hat to see anything.

Maybe the RAH IBT is waiting until every Midwest pilot is furloughed and their airline is shut down that way even the arbitrator will agree they have "zero career expectations" and should accept a staple.
 
This is what happens when you're about to go out of business and somebody else buys you. The buyer can do whatever he wants to with you and he has every right to, its his money. Move along....
 
falconvalley said:
As opposed to "Midwest Airlines shut down today, blaming the economy, fuel prices, and expensive leases on a dead aircraft."

100 points if you can tell us why they are furloughing those pilots and it's not just because BB feels like it.
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Yeah, opposed to, I think it's a sad state of affairs what is happening to that airline and the pilots.

BobDDuck said it, cheaper labor to replace their flying.

I don't know whats going on up there at MKE all I know is it sucks and good people are getting screwed. Such is the state right now.
 
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