Republic Holdings announces details of Frontier Airlines exit strategy — Frontier pilots getting equity stake in company in return for concessions. Judge decides in favor of US Airways over USAPA — could mean an eventual court determination of just what seniority agreement is used. American Airlines and American Eagle had a hellacious April — operationally speaking. And this is just the start of this week’s PlaneBusiness Banter.
Hello everyone from the home of the newly minted NBA World Champion Dallas Mavericks. My condolences if you are a Miami Heat fan. I think your team has some problems. Well, maybe just one.
This week the Association of Travel Marketing Executives met in Boston. Great group. I was honored to speak to them a few years back. In honor of their get-together this week I talk a bit about airlines, marketing, and branding in this week’s issue. As many of you know, I was a marketing and advertising maven long before I went to work on on the financial side.
But we talk about a lot of other things this week too, including a recent court decision involving the woefully dysfunctional pilot group at US Airways. With the federal district court throwing out a motion from USAPA to dismiss the airline’s complaint for declaratory relief, the stage is now set for the court to eventually decide the union’s seniority fight. But it’s going to take a while.
All pilots at the airline should welcome any effort that could bring the union closer to a seniority agreement – no matter which agreement it is. So much time has elapsed now since the US Airways East pilots bolted ALPA over their opposition to the Nicolau seniority award , and so much money has been lost by pilots in both camps as a result — that at this point I don’t think there is any other choice — but to let the courts decide. I can’t see these two groups coming to terms on their own on a seniority agreement.
The situation with the US Airways East pilots is, without question, the most ridiculously unnecessary labor situation I’ve ever seen in this industry. And I’ve seen quite a few union/labor issues in this industry over the last 17 years.
Another horrific week for airline stocks last week. We’ll update you on the latest oil price and jet fuel prices — and we’ll look at last week’s OPEC follies. And why Saudi Arabia has decided to up oil production anyway.
As I said, we talk about other things this week as well — so subscribers, come on in and catch up on the latest. If you are not a subscriber, click here to get more information on subscribing to PlaneBusiness Banter.