SWA changes in the works..

[MLBWINGBORN]

A few things going on that may be of interest..

The vacancy bids came out and we were down by 11 captains..
Shortly after the news of new airplane numbers being announced they started calling Lance Captains and asking if they wouldnt mind working as a Captain in Dec and Jan..They would have more than likely been working as a FO..

For some reason we are now worried about having enough Captains..

Those of us that have an interest in getting to BWI there will now be at least 16 FO slots open in Jan..Rumor has it as going much higher..

Funny thing about waves at the beach at night...
You can be completely in the dark but you can always hear the big one coming...

I think I hear one coming now...

 

[Slug]

Clarification

Troth,

When you say the bid came out down 11 Captains, what do you mean? There were 11 too few capts or they cut 11 capts? I get the drift by your next line I was just curious.


On another note......since the news came out I've had buds calling me and telling me not too much longer now. One of these fellas gave me some clearer numbers regarding hiring. He had the DAL CP ride jump with them the other day and this is what came out. Current staffing per plane is about 11.5 crews per plane right now.......Desired staffing is 11.1........I haven't run the numbers to verify, but SWA plans to hire to fill the planes, but at a slightly lesser rate to bring the crew per plane number down slightly. With the gain in airplanes and retirements the net gain of pilots for '03 is about 140-160 right now according to the CP. He did the usual caveat that SWA is poised to grow rapidly (400 new hires) if the economy comes about. HQ sees that happening in late '03 and hiring may accelerate during the summer to take advantage.

Remember, this is now third hand, but it kinda jived with what we've been hearing. I'm gonna run the numbers and see what I come up with later.

Patiently waiting




Slug

 

[HOUMAN]

Slug,
I know it is all speculation, but I am trying to work the math here.
SWA will have 16 more airplanes than it has right now (5 this quarter, and 11 more next year (17 total - 6 200's)). So lets say total airplanes will be 386 by the end of 2003. At 11.1 per airplane, SWA will need around 4285 pilots to man the fleet.
Do you or anyone else know how many pilots SWA has on its senority list right now??

 

[HOUMAN]

More speculation.....

I dug up from an old post a number of 4092 on the swa senority list as of 6 aug 2002. In order to man the planes at 11.5, swa would currently need 4255 pilots (assuming 370 planes). Something doesn't jive. Now 4092 does work out to around 11.1 though....

So if swa was planning on keeping the 11.1 ratio and there will be 386 planes at the end of 2003; they will need to bring on 193 for expansion (386*11.1 = 4285 - 4092 = 193) and an additional 65 for retirements. That gives us a total of around 250ish.

I guess the two big questions are.... 1. what is the actual number of pilots on the senority list and 2. does swa plan on holding a 11.1 ratio ???

 

[vx9.tc]

4106 on the list as of 10/26/2002. Not sure how Mil Leave and Medical guys factor into the pilot to aircraft ratio, but I'll let you guys run the statistical possibilities. Glad to see the hiring future here beginning to brighten again. It's a great job so hurry up.

 

[StarrBuck]

Houman,

I think that the numbers not adding up could be due to the fact that not every pilot on the seniority list is counted as a "line pilot" for the purposes of that 11.1 planes per crew thing.. There are probably alot of training department types, managment types, and guys older than 60 who are still doing something for SWA.. That makes the math much harder to figure out because there is no way to figure that out?.. Just a thought!

S.B.

 

[HOUMAN]

S.B.
Thanks. So would that mean the number vx9.tc quoted of 4106 is actually "Fat"? (i.e.... not all of the 4106 are just line swine).

H.

 

[LiveFreeorDie]

Don't forget Heisenburg

When calculating pilot crew ratios. Don't forget to account for the Heisenburg uncertainty principle which states "If you aren't certain what you are measuring, go ask the principle." But Heisenburg was a notorious bed wetter. So just multiply your figure by 3 because it is a prime number. Then post something larger than the pool factor distribution ration of 361. That way everyone will be happy when reading your post.

Cheers

 

[SWA/FO]

That last post was good...

No instructors are on the seniority list and no pilots over 60 (unless the copy your looking at has not been updated)

 

[madjack]

TWIMC,

Heard an interesting comment the other day from a pilot who just got back from Dallas..."the schoolhouse" is putting out that there will be two new hire classes in JAN02. This may be old news but just thought I would pass it along.

madjack