2020 Pilot Thread

Why does the airline continue to fly A330 jets PHL-SJU with loads of 15 to 20 passengers? It’s a disaster burning that much fuel, paying the highest rates for landing fees and crew costs. Is there a plan to again bankrupt the airline and break contracts, pensions and leases? Or is it just complete incompetence?
I think we have a winner!
 
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Meanwhile, over at Frontier, management published this letter. They make some interesting points.
 

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Flying empty airplanes might be cheaper than having a bunch of pilots stop being current...
 
Three takeoffs and landings in 90 days is all it takes. International pilots go non current routinely if the fly the FB slot as junior man.
I don't get it. AA needs to drastically trim it's schedule to once a week service even on trans cons. Just pay the crews and fix the jets while they sit and the money is coming in. Flying only compounds the losses.There has to be a better plan than flying 5-10 passengers a leg.
 
Parker and his core “team” of career grifters will be angling for the government bailout to be structured with the necessary loopholes for them to come out smelling like roses.

Meanwhile, he will happily back preconditions that reduce labor costs while assuring his deadweight GSW paper pushers and Crew News yahoos that the drastic cuts were simply unavoidable.

Look for "retention pay" for the executive suite experts.
 
Flying empty airplanes might be cheaper than having a bunch of pilots stop being current...

Three takeoffs and landings in 90 days is all it takes. International pilots go non current routinely if the fly the FB slot as junior man.
I don't get it. AA needs to drastically trim it's schedule to once a week service even on trans cons. Just pay the crews and fix the jets while they sit and the money is coming in. Flying only compounds the losses.There has to be a better plan than flying 5-10 passengers a leg.

We're used to these clueless "observations" from eolesen. He's a classic cubicle dweller turned "consultant" whose knowledge of flight ops is a mile wide and an eight of an inch deep. We've all heard these blowhards seated near us when we nonrev. They love informing the captive audience in their row about what's happening up front. Always pure nonsense and always good for a laugh.

eolesen adds value as a web poster as well. Can be counted on to spew the company line about concessions, stock buybacks and the like. His favorite pilot is undoubtedly Chip Munn.
 
Chip Munn? Nah, never really cared for him or US Airways for that matter. Y'all should have gone under back in 2003.

Feel free to point out where I've been wrong. Until then, the only blowhard is you.
 
Feel free to point out where I've been wrong. Until then, the only blowhard is you.

For starters, Black Swan popped your balloon of aviation knowledge on this very thread.

Btw, the three landings every 90 days can even be done in the sim. So keeping pilots current doesn't require flying hundreds of empty airplanes around as you so astutely fantasized.
 
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For starters, Black Swan popped your balloon of aviation knowledge on this very thread.

Btw, the three landings every 90 days can even be done in the sim. So keeping pilots current doesn't require flying hundreds of empty airplanes around as you so astutely fantasized.

Sure, if you can figure out how to get people to/from the schoolhouse, which is a bit more difficult if you've grounded your airline.

The unions helped fight for the no-layoff clauses in the grant legislation, so if you're going to get paid your guarantee regardless, is it really worth complaining that you're actually being asked to work?

Personally, I'd much rather see airplanes on the ground rather than having crews being exposed to people too stupid to stay home. But the decision has been made to keep flying albeit fewer frequencies than we had two weeks ago.

There's also cargo being moved, even if passengers aren't. At my airline, I'm hearing the domestic cargo sales guys are having a field day because long-haul trucking isn't able to handle all the demand there is right now, and with nobody in the cabin, accommodating extra volume isn't an issue.

If the cargo revenue is enough to offset the cost of the fuel (and fuel is dirt cheap right now), perhaps the airline might not be losing as much as you think by continuing to fly.
 
Sure, if you can figure out how to get people to/from the schoolhouse, which is a bit more difficult if you've grounded your airline.

The discussion on this thread was not about grounding the airline. It was about multiple flights still being operated on city pairs with 2, 3, or 4 passengers. In any case, your point about grounding the airline is absurd. There is no need to keep everyone current if the airline is grounded. In fact, crew currency would be the least of our worries if this came to pass.

I'll save you the embarrassment of responding with another one of your circular arguments. Even if crew members go non-current, they can easily be re-qualed with a quick visit to the schoolhouse as long as the lapsed qualification doesn't exceed a year. Fyi, this could all be waived by the FAA if needed, as they have already done with recurrent training and medical requirements.

Thank you for a window into the cubicle and conference room world of circle jerk time wasting. Though it does look like a fun way to kill time. And the neighbors are no doubt impressed when you throw terms around like "wind shear training" and "maintenance C-checks," as if you had any idea what you're talking about.
 
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