Morning radio talk show in Milwaukee today took calls from Midwest flight crew members, in discussion of proposed YX layoffs and salary cuts.
A Captain with about 15 years of service with Midwest called to say that he was flying out today with a First Officer, who will be losing his job. The Captain's position is being downgraded to FO. He indicated that he literally will not be able to afford to keep his job, at the proposed demotion and salary cut.
Midwest FA also indicated that though she has always loved her job, she cannot afford to stay, if the proposed salary cuts go through.
These are employees with about 15 years with Midwest, who have been through prior struggles with the airline and remained loyal, dedicated employees.
No matter how dedicated Midwest employees are, they cannot be expected to remain on the job, if their personal financial security will be critically impacted. Working for the company is not a hobby, it is a means of support.
This whole industry is in a huge turmoil. It looks like further consolidation with resulting cutbacks in service will continue. The industry will look substantially different a year from now, than it does today, unless there is some miracle and oil prices plummet.
There is probably as much chance of that happening, as there is Hillary Clinton becoming the next President of the United States.
First, I'd really like to know what they mean by looking at other fleet options and how seriously this is being considered. It doesn't seem to make sense given how terrible the yields and traffic mix are on MKE-West Coast destinations. Also, I'm curious at the terminology used in "direct" flights vs. non-stop. There is a difference and Midwest is certainly aware of that.
I wondered about that too. My first thought was that perhaps NW will come back to MKE-LAX and Midwest will code share, but I didn't want to unnecessarily stir up that hornet's nest if and until it happened!! It does suggest that they are looking at different alternatives, and by not saying simply "other options" but instead say "other FLEET options" that makes one wonder if they are trying to hammer out a deal to lease some longer-range aircraft. Unless it was a long-term lease, however, it would have to be a "wet lease" where aircraft and crew are part of the lease. That's generally not a cheap thing to do. They also say "other fleet options OR continue to serve the west coast markets via Kansas City with Boeing 717's". Again, that suggests that something else is under serious consideration.
And regarding the use of "direct" as opposed to saying "nonstop", it's hard to know if theat was a deliberate choice or simply a careless choice by a PR person who is not as sharply aware of what "direct" denotes.
I suppose I might be over-analyzing the word choice here, but it does suggest that other options to backfill the M80 markets are being looked into.
I also agree that there needs to be a PR campaign of some sort, and soon. I used to receive all sorts of PR type mail or bill inserts from YX all the time, nothing at all recently. It's as if they stopped trying, or maybe they don't have the ability to advertise services they may have to drop at the last minute.
Just received my Midwest MasterCard statement at the office, and guess what was inserted..."Log On and Save!"
New promo code for tickets purchased on-line by July 15, 2008 for travel through September 30, 2008 is LG375; discount is 5%.
Interestingly enough, discount is for specific markets (mostly markets in common with AirTran), including MKE-LAS, MKE-PHX, MKE-LAX, MKE-LGA.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by knope2001
I wondered about that too. My first thought was that perhaps NW will come back to MKE-LAX and Midwest will code share, but I didn't want to unnecessarily stir up that hornet's nest if and until it happened!!.
Let's get through the Delta/NW merger first. Then we'll cross that hornet's nest when we have to.
For many, many, years Pier D @ BWI sat largely vacant. Pier D was the one time hub concourse for good ole Usairways. Fortunately we had Southwest by then so from a customer standpoint USair was barely missed when it pulled out.
It was really bizarre to see all those empty gates. Guess what? USair held on to them (I guess to block competitors) State of Maryland had to buy USair out at a nice sum to get rid of them.
Now the gates are full and all is well. Milwaukee airport and Milwaukee will survive, regardless of the outcome.
It depends on the deal between airline and airport - and often depends on who made the capital improvements. The most frequent clauses allow (or require) tenant to make certain improvements as part of the lease. If tenant leaves prior to expiration, it can hold on (per lease terms) or it can sell back the improvements to the airport. If the airport takes the gates for another use, it has to pay for the improvements.
If airport did all the improvements, then it's a different matter and governed by lease terms.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Global_Hi_Flyer
It depends on the deal between airline and airport - and often depends on who made the capital improvements. The most frequent clauses allow (or require) tenant to make certain improvements as part of the lease. If tenant leaves prior to expiration, it can hold on (per lease terms) or it can sell back the improvements to the airport. If the airport takes the gates for another use, it has to pay for the improvements.
If airport did all the improvements, then it's a different matter and governed by lease terms.
Prior to this I sent an e-mail to the MAA asking if they could do something about the empty gates. Not saying that that had anything to do with it, but the Maryland Aviation Adminstration is an example of good government. They have really fostered an environment of an equal playing field for all competitors.
USA Today has interactive map showing number of seats for commerical carriers' October 2008 flights vs. October 2007. Of course, this does not reflect any unannounced reductions still in the works. It appears that this graphic is updated on a fairly regular basis. Their source is OAG.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FLYNM
I don't think Midwest can operate out of two cities (MKE & MCI) with only 20 planes. Midwest is going to have to dump MCI and focus entirely on MKE.
If anything, MCI will take on added importance to YX as they funnel more traffic through there to the West Coast. YX can fly most of their network with the 717s and CRJs without massive cuts. Frequency reductions here and there plus increased utilization of the planes can cover much of the existing fall schedule.
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Even with better utilizing the planes, MCI to west coast is still long trips with turn arounds. Also, I thought when Midwest got there 25 717's they had options to get 25 more, what happened with that? And how is an airline going to survive long term with dropping 46 % of their fleets. Midwest might make it for a little while longer as just a Milwaukee airline, but it just doesn't seem logical they can try to spread 20 planes over two cities. KC has a larger population base than Milwaukee, but it's up against Southwest which has, what, about 80 flights a day on 737's.
Just received my Midwest MasterCard statement at the office, and guess what was inserted..."Log On and Save!"
New promo code for tickets purchased on-line by July 15, 2008 for travel through September 30, 2008 is LG375; discount is 5%.
Interestingly enough, discount is for specific markets (mostly markets in common with AirTran), including MKE-LAS, MKE-PHX, MKE-LAX, MKE-LGA.
Ha, go figure. I just cancelled that card after years, and this is the first month I don't get a bill. I used to spend $1000s per month on both airfares and travel expenses, so I could fly for free between PHX-MKE. No bill this month, so no bill insert I guess. I'm not investing anything in an airline that is pulling back half the fleet, in the hopes that I'll have somewhere to spend the miles. Hopefully they'll pull out of it, but it doesn't look good right now, and I'm always racking up miles on US and others.
Location: Pleasant Prairie, WI USA DL FO (until 2/04), NW silver '03, NW gold '04+'05 Plat '06 (thanks, Leo!)
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As for other fleet options, Frontier may be selling off some Airbus equipment.
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