I love this job, but this
industry just sucks right now.
A little background. As I’ve mentioned before, United Airlines
gives us about 85% of our flying, paying us on what we call a fee-per-departure
basis. Whether we carry 1 passenger or
50, United pays us a fixed fee for every flight we operate under the United
Express banner which is how we make our money as an airline. United makes their money by selling tickets
for our flights. A nice relationship
which actually guarantees ACA a profit under the terms of our current contract.
Unfortunately, since United
is bankrupt, ACA is having a hard time securing financing for future deliveries
of Canadair Regional Jets that we operate for United. We were supposed to receive 3 jets a month, but recently we have
had to suspend deliveries because nobody believes United will be around long
enough to keep our CRJs flying, and therefore won’t finance our leases. This means ACA is now a no-growth airline,
and since we have been hiring for growth, we now have a few too many pilots.
As a result, ACA has
announced the furlough of 87 pilots to take place in April and May. These could be short-term or long-term
depending really on what happens with United Airlines. We face considerable difficulties because of
factors like rising fuel prices, the war in Iraq, and competition from other
United Express carriers.
I am thankfully unaffected
by these furloughs. Well, not really
unaffected, since this puts me very near the bottom of the seniority list and
my chances of getting off reserve are now all but shot for the foreseeable
future. However, I still have a job and
as of now the company expects no more furloughs unless United completely shuts
down, which is a possibility but not likely.
I have dodged a bullet for the time being, having just enough seniority
to protect me from these furloughs. But
I am really having a hard time remembering what is was like to have job
security all those years ago at Jeppesen.
To be able to go to work every day not having to wonder if you will have
a job tomorrow – what a thought.
In any case, I’m still in
good spirits and hopeful that things will turn around in this industry before I
turn 60. The nice thing is I still have
Continental Express in my back pocket.
They are recalling roughly 80 pilots in April and May (ironically the
exact same months we’re furloughing 87 of ours). Recalls are expected to continue later in the year and the way I
see it is if United does go out of business, Continental will probably pick up
some of the slack and grow into the Denver hub which will necessitate
accelerated recalls and get me my job back quicker. It’s kinda funny - I guess I’ll just bounce back and forth
between ACA and COEX for a while until things stabilize. Either way I still get to fly a jet. Having the COEX option adds a GREAT deal of
peace of mind that many of my friends here at ACA unfortunately do not
have. So if I am eventually furloughed
at ACA, I think it will be a short time until I am recalled to COEX and being
furloughed during the spring and summer months isn’t such a bad thing. I need to catch up on my hiking.
Still, I would much prefer
to stay at ACA – it’s a good company and an easy commute to Chicago from Las
Vegas with 19 flights a day. I am less
than six months away from a major pay increase here and getting off
“probation”. Plus, I really enjoy the
CRJ and I would not look forward to having to retrain on the Embraer RJ. But, you take what you can get these days.
Enough doom and gloom. March was a great flying month for me. I enjoyed my trips and flew nearly 80 hours
which is almost unheard of for a reserve pilot. April looks to be a decent month since with the furloughs we’ll
have fewer reserve pilots to split up the flying and I probably will not spend
much time sitting in the crashpad. Saw
many beautiful sunrises and sunsets and did quite a bit of night flying. I enjoy stargazing – I’m learning the
constellations and find a great deal of peace looking up into the stars at
night.
New personal milestones –
shattered my ground speed record of 611 knots or 703 MPH with a 150-knot
tailwind. That’s fast! I’ve talked to guys who have been here for
years who have never reached that speed.
On just this last trip I flew at a new high altitude of 37,000
feet. Also set a different kind of
speed record – Mach 0.85 – that’s 85% of the speed of sound and the maximum
airspeed for the CRJ. High and fast is
what it’s all about!
Please join with me in sending
all your positive thoughts and prayers to our troops in Iraq.