PA18
Senior
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2004
- Messages
- 398
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- 9
What is going on with the E-190? Is management considering selling the E-190? Are there negotiations going on about the fleet count? Is there possible relief by USAPA for some carrots?
Here's what's going on with the B737 Replacement:
New E-190's are going to be delivered even while management starts furloughing the pilots flying the aircraft that are already in service.
Pilots bumped off of the B737 and A320 to the E-190 on the latest East pilot bid will have to start training in mid-August (i.e., the height of vacation and thunderstorm season) to be in place by October 1, thus under-staffing the Group II fleet. And all the B767 and A330 pilots that are being cut are going to need to be trained to be in their new seats by October 1, or those airplanes will be over-staffed during the fall pull-down.
The overworked Training Dept. will not possibly be able to train all of these people for what amounts to a hurry-up-and-furlough, short-sighted bid. Especially on the E-190, where already trained pilots will be leaving (through furlough, and pilots just resigning to go elsewhere before they get furloughed), while new airplanes are being delivered.
And those airplanes also need professionals to staff the cabins. There will probably be flight attendants leaving in herds, too, thinking "How soon will this place be out of business anyway, and do I want to spend Christmas Eve with my family, or trying to weasel two bucks out of an irate for a Coke?"
The TV satellite trucks are already rolling to an airport near you, to get a good spot to record the Annual US Airways Christmas Meltdown.
This year's could be the granddaddy of them all...