Originally Posted by
buckeyefanflyer
Would it be possible for United to operate these aircraft and not United Express.
Sure, but not a chance that the airline would consider paying mainline pilot, FA, fleet and mechanic wages for 76 seaters.
Originally Posted by
n198ua
I don't think UA crew can fly these acft per contract...but not 100% sure
The mainline pilot contract permits these as an exception to their scope clause - there's nothing prohibiting the mainline airline from flying them, except for the high costs of the mainline personnel.
If UA wanted to buy some Beech 1900s and fly them with mainline crews, there's no contractual prohibitions to that lunacy.
Originally Posted by
tom911
I'm sort of curious if this is what the UA pilots actually signed off in their contract--could it be so radical that even they didn't see it coming? In the past those aircraft have been owned/leased by regional partners, but now they'll be owned by UA and "lent" to regional partners under a new arrangement, are the pilots going to be upset, and, if so, do they have anything in the new contract to block it?
Would be interesting to have one of the UA pilots here share their viewpoint with UA owning the aircraft being flown by regional partners and the regional partners just providing a crew. Is that what the pilots agreed to?
Generally, the only thing that mainline pilots care about is limiting the size and number of aircraft that they don't get to fly. Doesn't matter whether the planes are purchased by Republic, Skywest, or any other regional carrier or whether the planes are purchased by UA. Either way, the planes will be crewed, loaded and serviced by lower-wage regional employees.
I suspect that UA will lease these planes to a regional and then UA will sign a capacity purchase agreement by which UA pays per flight, including costs like fuel.
Originally Posted by
WhyPayRent
As noted by others already, the 76 seats is pretty key. There are a few limits in place where only a certain percentage of the fleet can be 76 seats and below and they can't add any to the fleet until a certain date.
yes, UA mainline can't fly these.
No, you have it backwards. Mainline pilots and crews could certainly fly these planes. But that won't happen because these planes are configured to exactly meet the exceptions that the pilots granted the company.
The restriction is that these are the largest planes that UA can subcontract out to regional pilots. Anything larger would HAVE to be flown by mainline pilots. But that doesn't mean that UA is prohibited from flying these as mainline planes.
UA mainline won't fly these, but not because UA mainline
can't fly these. It's because it would be stupid for management to fly planes as mainline planes when they worked so hard to get a contract with the pilots that excuses these planes from the mainline pilot contract.