There is some buzz floating around the pilot group that the company has an announcement around Sept 15th. Could be good. Could be bad. Could be complete BS too. That date could come and go without so much as a peep. But, it is worthy of mentioning just in case there is some merit to it.
During the month of August the company announced 58 furloughs and soon cancelled 29 of them. The bad news, is that 29 are still on furlough which were preceded by 45 (a total number on furlough of 74). However, it appears that some are resigning at a steady pace. I am not sure where they are going. Some might be deciding to pull out altogether. Perhaps in time I will do the same, but that isn’t the plan for now. The union just issued a note stating that they expect a slow but steady rate of resignations to continue which will potentially mitigate the furlough numbers even more.
Looking ahead, even if there is no news at all in September or ever, I am still on the chopping block for a furlough. However, as of this time, I have some 55 active pilots beneath me. The word on the street is that when the company furloughs for the loss of the American airplanes, it will be approximately 80 pilots. So, assuming that another 10 pilots resign between now and the next round of furloughs, I will be about 15 to 20 slots from receiving a call back. Will I want to come back? Unknown at this time. But, I like standing on a hill surrounded by intact bridges, so it is still good news.
There is a chance that I could survive the furlough all together. However, it will be by a gnat’s ass, and could result in a long stint on reserve, which could result in my resignaton as well. If the company had growth potential, then it would be worth sticking it out on reserve. But this place has proven it has no interest in growing, but rather focusing on what is profitable NOW. By the time this company begins hiring, I could jump on with a much better company (i.e. Republic or Skywest) and be happier in the long run.
Should there be an announcement, I’ll pass it along.