Good News...More Flight Attendant recalls
- Thread starter jersey777
- Start date
Can't imagine AA furloughing right now because they would have to give up on the mandarin speakers. Remember, they are the ones to be furloughed first! AA wants and need speakers so everyone of the furloughs have been recalled and will have the chance to return!
Read the fine print. The letter is a bit ambiguous on that point. They say if the LAX-PVG route is abandoned that the Mandarin speakers will be furloughed first - not if the furlough is due to cutbacks elsewhere.
MK
The article cited on this site says: "Available seats on American and regional carrier American Eagle will rise 3 percent, down from an earlier plan of 4.3 percent". Not good news, of course, and there is no breakdown as to what cuts will be taken by AA or AE, but it doesn't make furloughs look likely in any case.
MK
The worrisome issue is not necessarily the one point reduction in the planned capacity increase for 2011 that was disclosed yesterday - the real scary issue is the company's next decision if fuel stays north of $3/gal. Will it be to park dozens of MD-80s? Will it be to cancel the planned launch of LAX-PVG?
Frank Szabo
Veteran
How much does fuel cost in Europe? Fuel has been more expensive than over here for as long as I remember, they've had $5/gallon gas for a long time as well yet the sun still rises and sets everyday and the people of Europe pay their bills, live their lives (longer than we do), they fly around on vacation (more than we do), get sick(not as much as we do and they dont go broke because of it).
The spike in oil is an emotional response to the uncertainty cause by uprisings in the mideast. There's no shortage, just an irrational fear that ther might be . Lets see how long it lasts.
eolesen
Veteran
- Jul 23, 2003
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Sure, there is $5 gas & diesel for road use, but that's because of social taxation, some of which goes to support those nifty high speed trains and local mass transit.
Strip out the taxes, and gas/diesel isn't nearly as expensive for non-highway use, and is more in-line with the cost of jet globally.
Once again, Bob ignores the fact that fuel prices have been run up over a six month period, five months before the unrest in Egypt even was an issue.
Oh, that's right. It's winter, heating oil is in demand, and distillate production takes priority over gasoline. That's what drove up prices, right?....
Unlikely. Unfortunately, diesel & jet are also distillates. IIRC, what comes out of the fractioning process is essentially the same product, and the main differences between heating oil and jet are the additives. Maybe I'm wrong, but having driven a diesel for many, many years, I never saw the same price spikes with diesel during the winter months as I did with a gasser.
You may be correct, but the company has not announced (at least publicly) its MD-80 retirement plans for 2011. Anyway, my concern is that dozens more, on top of the number they have already decided to retire, may also be grounded.
The announcements of hundreds of FA recalls from furlough make it sound like the earlier plans did not include too many MD-80 retirements, but I've been wrong before.
In another thread I debunked the notion that the retail price of gasoline and diesel in the high-tax Euripean countries has anything to do with the price of jetA at the airports in Europe. Jet fuel is not subject to the consumer taxes in Europe that plague their retail gasoline and diesel prices.
I agree with eolesen's post. The only thing I'd add is that right now, the price of Brent crude (in the UK) has been about $15/bbl to $20/bbl higher than the price of WTI crude (West Texas). Everything I've seen and read attributes that price delta to the fact that the US gets very little of its oil from the mideast while Europe gets most of its oil from the mideast. So that price spread represents the fear that the Suez Canal might be shut down or that Col Qaddaffy set fire to Libya's oil fields as he leaves power or that social uprisings cut off Iran's oil or that unrest disrupts Saudia Arabia's oil output. Any of those could severely disrupt oil flow to Europe but wouldn't immediately disrupt our oil from Canada, Mexico and Venezuela (our largest sources of foreign oil).
Part of the recent price spike is because of the mideast uncertainty. So what explains the price hikes we've seen since late 2008 and early 2009 when oil bottomed out about $35/bbl? Oil prices have been rising ever since.
As eolesen has posted, the price here has steadliy risen from its late 2008-early 2009 lows. AA's jet fuel bill was much higher in 2010 than in 2009 and so far this year (before any mideast uprisings), the price was still higher than in 2010. Since the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Iran and elsewhere, the price has risen even more.
Besides, my post wasn't intended to provoke argument about WHY jet fuel is becoming much more expensive; my post was to point out that the incompetent executives in Fort Worth could be scared that jet fuel might stay at $3/gal or above for a long enough period to provoke them into doing something rash like parking a bunch of mainline jets. Your confidence that jet fuel prices are not grounded in reality or that those prices will quickly retreat does not persuade me that the management incompetents will follow your advice. Recall a couple years ago when AA grounded 34 widebody planes? That's more widebody planes parked by AA than the entire USAir widebody fleet. My observation is that fuel at $3/gal (or $4/gal) might cause something similar. And your post does not convince me that AA's execs will patiently ride out this storm without parking more planes. Their decision may turn out to be incorrect (you may be right that the price will quickly retreat) but you aren't in charge - Apey and Horton are.
The FA recalls are driven mainly by attrition, and the fact that the 737's replacing the MD80's require four FA's instead of three.
MK
Good info here, thanks and hopefully we wont see any furloughs for a long long time.
Of those in the first batch to receive the recall offer, 127 accepted and 20 declined.
The second batch of recall letters is due to go out the week of March 14.
