Re: Takin\' the plunge
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Granted, I take anything said over there with a grain of salt since everyone is so bitter and jaded. Personally, I don't think JO is going to let his profits dwindle just b/c an airline goes under. I'm sure he's got some kind of scheme brewing "just in case." It probably won't be long befor jetBlue starts taking in regional partners, but with their EMBs coming on soon, not sure if they will or not. AirTran already has regional partners (was Air Wis, but I think it changed). Mesa is in the process of shifting most of its flying to either America West or United. US Air could potentially be gone by the end of summer depending on what happens in Philly after May.
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Hate to burst your bubble, bro, but we need to clear some things up. You all have too much $$$ riding on this for false info.
(1) Yes the Mesa Lounge is bitter. Ever visited the flightinfo.com boards and seen all the anti-Mesa stuff there? Yeah, we have to deal with that daily. It gets old. Any employee at any company will be "bitter" after a year or two; we're just a bit more emphatic because of the Freedumb thing.
(2) Our CEO can scheme all he wants, but his methods are flawed. He can sell a product cheap but he doesn't offer quality. Airlines notice that. When the spreadsheets at the majors improve, you may see United drop us ... again. When US Airways goes away, we will have to compete with Trans States and Chautauqua to get our aircraft flying for someone else. Chautauqua has the best rep of the three for quality.
(3) jetBlue will not outsource; that will all stay in-house. Look for the same at ATA. It's time to keep the flying at the majors. Very few of us want to retire from a regional. As for Air Tran, they've told Air Whisky goodbye because the 717 can do the flying. No need for an RJ feed.
(4) Mesa is not shifting any flying anywhere. The only movement was the CR7s from HPX to UAX because America West said they didn't want them anymore. No flying has been shifted away from US Airways; it has been added. We currently fly about 60 RJs for U, 35 for HP, and 15 or 20 for UA.
Keep the following very important tidbit in mind. If you attend PACE or MAPD, you'll receive great instruction. You'll know the CRJ systems quite well. However, only Mesa will hire you. With 300 hours max, no other regional will even take your app, and you will have just dumped a ton of cash to be a non-CFI. If you're willing to take that risk, be my guest. It's your credit card bill.
Please don't take offense to this post. It's intentionally a little bit harsh. I don't want to see any of you spend the money on MAPD or PACE without looking at every angle.