America West FlightFund (Discontinued Program) - America West to recall 75 furloughed pilots

America West to recall 75 furloughed pilots

America West Airlines said on Thursday that it plans to recall 75 pilots furloughed after the attacks on the United States to support a projected increase in travel demand in the Spring and summer.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/020124/n24180104_1.html

America West Calls Back Remaining Furloughed Pilots

HP today announced it will recall the remaining 59 pilots who were furloughed as a result of the downturn in demand for air travel following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The airline will begin bringing the pilots back starting July 9, 2002, as the airline's capacity is restored to levels it operated before Sept. 11

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020624/nym043_1.html

I'm sure the pilots will be very happy to receive their recall notices. Also, I'm sure those who were the lowest seniority captains on 10SEP will be glad to regain their fourth stripe.

There was an interesting story about a furloughed America West pilot on the Oprah Winfrey Show (http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/tows_2002/tows_past_20020222_g.jhtml) shortly after he was laid off. After the show, he was offered a corporate job in Chicago and moved his family there.

Maybe Oprah's advice wasn't so good?

They should do a follow up. My guess is that if he loves to fly, he comes back.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by iahphx:
Maybe Oprah's advice wasn't so good?

They should do a follow up. My guess is that if he loves to fly, he comes back.</font>

Actually, they did air a follow up (at the end of April). I saw the follow up, not the original story. &lt;I normally don't watch Oprah, but I was in Tucson and my hotel TV set had very limited selection.&gt; He and his family are doing well in Chicago. The former pilot said he has adjusted well to life on the ground, riding the "El" to the office everyday.

It certainly would be hard to set aside the years of low paying entry-level work, $35-50,000 in training costs, hopes & dreams, etc. At the same time, from an economic standpoint, you can't afford to dwell on sunk costs.