Is This The End Of SkyRegional?

[DHC-1 Jockey]

https://chorusaviation.com/chorus-aviat ... _BPtrWyYts

“The Jazz fleet is up-gauging to larger regional jet aircraft and replacing smaller turboprop fleet sooner than contemplated in the previous fleet plan. Bringing the Embraer 175 aircraft into the Jazz Covered Aircraft fleet makes Jazz the exclusive Air Canada Express operator of 70+ seat aircraft until 2025 and is a demonstration of our cost competitiveness and strong relationship with Air Canada.”

[2112]

It looks that way doesn't it, Hoping for the best for the SKV flight crews but I don't think this will end well for them with so many Jazz pilots already laid-off.

[TrustinThrust]

Sky Regional ending operations effective March 31, 2021. Pilots are expected to be transferred to Jazz, pending agreement from Jazz and ALPA.

[straight2thepoint]

Yes, the ballgame is over. We got the email from Russ this morning:

"Dear Colleagues,

As you may know, two weeks ago, Air Canada reported an operating loss of nearly $3.8 billion for 2020, the largest loss in its history. Moreover, over the last year, it has announced successive workforce reductions, route cancellations, station closures and aircraft disposals in order to survive the enormity of the COVID-19 pandemic, in the face of the various travel restrictions imposed by governments, thus far without any sector-specific support. I know that this situation has worried all of us and this is why I am talking with you today.

Sadly, we have some bad news to share.

Despite a fruitful and mutually beneficial 10-year relationship, Air Canada has advised us that they have made the difficult decision to terminate our Capacity Purchase Agreement as of March 31 and after that, I expect the transfer of our 25 Embraer aircraft by Air Canada to Jazz.

I’ve agonized about how to communicate this devastating news to you as we understand how unsettling this announcement is, and I will give you a few moments to absorb it.

The situation Air Canada and the rest of the Canadian aviation industry finds itself in is unprecedented. As the pandemic, and heightened travel restrictions continue to wreak havoc on our industry, Air Canada must dramatically reduce costs into the future, and as a result, it will not require two Tier II regional carriers for at least the next five years. While this is extremely upsetting for us, we understand the decision.

The decision, of course, means that we will be forced to shut down our operations and we plan to do so in an orderly fashion. Our last flight will return on March 30. After that, I expect the transfer of our aircraft to Jazz will require some support from us during the re-delivery process and I know that our team will act with the dedication and professionalism that has made our airline so exceptional.

All of our pilots, including those on layoff, will be transferred to Jazz and will be governed by the terms of Jazz’s collective agreement, subject to agreement between Jazz and ALPA. Jazz has also indicated that they will ensure that our flight attendants receive an interview when hiring resumes; however, I expect that a large number of you, along with the rest of us, will lose our jobs. We do have indications however that there may be a few individual positions that may become available at Jazz after April 1.

We will follow up with you as soon as possible to provide guidance about next steps. I know you will have many questions.

I, like most of you, never thought that we would see this day. However, the pandemic has decimated passenger traffic, resulted in massive cash burn for Air Canada and while many changes have already been made by them and us, it is evident that more is needed. Air Canada has been very clear that this decision was only driven by the impact of COVID-19 and certainly not by anything that we have done.

Over the entire decade, our service has been outstanding, our safety record has been impeccable, our cost management has been excellent, and we have gone beyond what has been asked of us. We are agile and flexible, acting efficiently and capably to the changing demands of our client - and Air Canada fully acknowledges that.

We are the North American leader for Embraer dispatch reliability of the E-175, in addition to having created a number of firsts in the industry - the first in North America to be certified to use the IPad for cockpit use and the first to adopt onboard lithium-ion battery incident kits for extinguishing onboard fires caused by batteries. We are also an airline that takes sustainability seriously and recently upgraded our systems to FMS Gold which has resulted in significantly reducing our carbon footprint.

We also created over 800 jobs and the outstanding record of Sky Regional is a reflection of the excellence of our organization and the dedication and loyalty of every one of you. For that I am extremely proud, as I am of each of you and of what we built together. I have enjoyed the past decade more than I can express, working with you, and I cannot convey enough how much I will miss you.

It’s hard to find the words to adequately describe the tragedy of what has taken place. It’s so painful, especially given the growth trajectory we were on just one year ago. It is through no fault of any of you and the exceptional work you have continued to do in the most challenging of circumstances.

I sincerely hope that despite the devastation of the pandemic and the current situation, the future will bring each of you much success and happiness, in good health. Often in nature after disasters have brought much destruction, new green shoots surface, and opportunities re-appear. Let’s all look to the future with as much optimism we can muster at this time.

I wish each of you the very best and thank you for everything."

[notwhoyouthinkIam]

SkyService had it's run. It's quite unfortunate, but Air Canada has a track record of using and dumping in order to undercut the wages that they'd have to pay their pilots otherwise.

Don't get me wrong... Air Canada is not the only ones doing this. WestJet has transferred WJA flights to Swoop. It's the exact same airplane (different paint, +13 seats), but they pay significantly less to the pilots and flight attendants.

I wish all who are affected the best of luck and I hope that this predatory practice ends with COVID.

[BTD]

SkyService had it's run. It's quite unfortunate, but Air Canada has a track record of using and dumping in order to undercut the wages that they'd have to pay their pilots otherwise.

Don't get me wrong... Air Canada is not the only ones doing this. WestJet has transferred WJA flights to Swoop. It's the exact same airplane (different paint, +13 seats), but they pay significantly less to the pilots and flight attendants.

I wish all who are affected the best of luck and I hope that this predatory practice ends with COVID.

Is it the case that the pilot pay and work conditions will be worse at Jazz compared to sky regional. I thought Jazz had better WAWCON?

[mbav8r]

SkyService had it's run. It's quite unfortunate, but Air Canada has a track record of using and dumping in order to undercut the wages that they'd have to pay their pilots otherwise.

Don't get me wrong... Air Canada is not the only ones doing this. WestJet has transferred WJA flights to Swoop. It's the exact same airplane (different paint, +13 seats), but they pay significantly less to the pilots and flight attendants.

I wish all who are affected the best of luck and I hope that this predatory practice ends with COVID.

Is it the case that the pilot pay and work conditions will be worse at Jazz compared to sky regional. I thought Jazz had better WAWCON?

Yes and no, the first few years FO is slightly better at SR but the Captain pay at Jazz is better and tops out much higher, also our contract is significantly better in many other ways. I don’t have the SR contract to compare but this is my understanding.

[rudder]

Yes and no, the first few years FO is slightly better at SR but the Captain pay at Jazz is better and tops out much higher, also our contract is significantly better in many other ways. I don’t have the SR contract to compare but this is my understanding.

Other than first 5 years of FO pay scale, the difference is night and day.

Once active at Jazz, the Skyregional pilots will have the benefit of a mature pilot collective agreement, experienced and comprehensive representation, corporate and operational infrastructure from a company more than five times its size, and working for a company with a history and culture that has developed over nine decades.

It may be bumpy to start, but they will enjoy the ride until they move to AC if that is their ultimate objective.

[flying4dollars]

*sigh* I can only imagine how difficult that letter would have been to read for any SR pilot Hoping the transition goes smoothly and everyone furloughed or laid off finds themselves in a seat soon! Jazz is a great company. Wish you guys all the best!

[confusedalot]

SkyService had it's run. It's quite unfortunate, but Air Canada has a track record of using and dumping in order to undercut the wages that they'd have to pay their pilots otherwise.

Don't get me wrong... Air Canada is not the only ones doing this. WestJet has transferred WJA flights to Swoop. It's the exact same airplane (different paint, +13 seats), but they pay significantly less to the pilots and flight attendants.

I wish all who are affected the best of luck and I hope that this predatory practice ends with COVID.

Is it the case that the pilot pay and work conditions will be worse at Jazz compared to sky regional. I thought Jazz had better WAWCON?

Yes and no, the first few years FO is slightly better at SR but the Captain pay at Jazz is better and tops out much higher, also our contract is significantly better in many other ways. I don’t have the SR contract to compare but this is my understanding.

Good for jazz, bad for skyregional. Putting emotions aside, quite perplexed at the air canada business decision, overall cost to run the operation will go up it seems to me. The whole idea of having more than one service provider is nothing new, the americans and europeans have been doing it for years. All the eggs are in one basket so to speak. Never mind the huge retraining costs.

[rudder]

Good for jazz, bad for skyregional. Putting emotions aside, quite perplexed at the air canada business decision, overall cost to run the operation will go up it seems to me. The whole idea of having more than one service provider is nothing new, the americans and europeans have been doing it for years. All the eggs are in one basket so to speak. Never mind the huge retraining costs.

AC had a CPA with CHR to 2035 with known costs. AC just negotiated those costs DOWN!

As compared to Jazz, Skyregional ran a very small operation. It could not even sustain its own dispatch dept. AC provided significant administrative, facilities, and financial support as Skyregional was really just an entity to hold an Operating Certificate to be used for a small portion of the Express portfolio.

This outcome was inevitable once CHR extended the AC CPA in 2019 from 2025 to 2035 with a minimum fleet guarantee of 80 large regional aircraft.

As part of this transaction, AC got CHR to abandon all previously committed revenue from 19 D8 aircraft.

This is a good deal for AC. I am not sure that AC has any meaningful concern about the fate of the Skyregional staff. The entire enterprise employed 800 staff. AC has 20,000 staff on layoff.

[confusedalot]

Good for jazz, bad for skyregional. Putting emotions aside, quite perplexed at the air canada business decision, overall cost to run the operation will go up it seems to me. The whole idea of having more than one service provider is nothing new, the americans and europeans have been doing it for years. All the eggs are in one basket so to speak. Never mind the huge retraining costs.

AC had a CPA with CHR to 2035 with known costs. AC just negotiated those costs DOWN!

As compared to Jazz, Skyregional ran a very small operation. It could not even sustain its own dispatch dept. AC provided significant administrative, facilities, and financial support as Skyregional was really just an entity to hold an Operating Certificate to be used for a small portion of the Express portfolio.

This outcome was inevitable once CHR extended the AC CPA in 2019 from 2025 to 2035 with a minimum fleet guarantee of 80 large regional aircraft.

As part of this transaction, AC got CHR to abandon all previously committed revenue from 19 D8 aircraft.

This is a good deal for AC. I am not sure that AC has any meaningful concern about the fate of the Skyregional staff. The entire enterprise employed 800 staff. AC has 20,000 staff on layoff.

I have no idea what a chr means. so that means I am not a shark.

what is chr. even a limited intelligence person like me can guess that something is not quite right. hey, i'm just a fish in the sea. but i have seen the sea.

[throwaway123]

CHR is Chorus Aviation. AKA, Jazz.

[mbav8r]

Good for jazz, bad for skyregional. Putting emotions aside, quite perplexed at the air canada business decision, overall cost to run the operation will go up it seems to me. The whole idea of having more than one service provider is nothing new, the americans and europeans have been doing it for years. All the eggs are in one basket so to speak. Never mind the huge retraining costs.

AC had a CPA with CHR to 2035 with known costs. AC just negotiated those costs DOWN!

As compared to Jazz, Skyregional ran a very small operation. It could not even sustain its own dispatch dept. AC provided significant administrative, facilities, and financial support as Skyregional was really just an entity to hold an Operating Certificate to be used for a small portion of the Express portfolio.

This outcome was inevitable once CHR extended the AC CPA in 2019 from 2025 to 2035 with a minimum fleet guarantee of 80 large regional aircraft.

As part of this transaction, AC got CHR to abandon all previously committed revenue from 19 D8 aircraft.

This is a good deal for AC. I am not sure that AC has any meaningful concern about the fate of the Skyregional staff. The entire enterprise employed 800 staff. AC has 20,000 staff on layoff.

I have no idea what a chr means. so that means I am not a shark.

what is chr. even a limited intelligence person like me can guess that something is not quite right. hey, i'm just a fish in the sea. but i have seen the sea.

Umm What? Are you drunk typing? For what it’s worth, CHR is the trading symbol for Chorus Aviation LP, the holding company that owns Jazz.

[confusedalot]

Good for jazz, bad for skyregional. Putting emotions aside, quite perplexed at the air canada business decision, overall cost to run the operation will go up it seems to me. The whole idea of having more than one service provider is nothing new, the americans and europeans have been doing it for years. All the eggs are in one basket so to speak. Never mind the huge retraining costs.

AC had a CPA with CHR to 2035 with known costs. AC just negotiated those costs DOWN!

As compared to Jazz, Skyregional ran a very small operation. It could not even sustain its own dispatch dept. AC provided significant administrative, facilities, and financial support as Skyregional was really just an entity to hold an Operating Certificate to be used for a small portion of the Express portfolio.

This outcome was inevitable once CHR extended the AC CPA in 2019 from 2025 to 2035 with a minimum fleet guarantee of 80 large regional aircraft.

As part of this transaction, AC got CHR to abandon all previously committed revenue from 19 D8 aircraft.

This is a good deal for AC. I am not sure that AC has any meaningful concern about the fate of the Skyregional staff. The entire enterprise employed 800 staff. AC has 20,000 staff on layoff.

Thank you for the insight, got a better picture, unlike the fool below who needs to prove his superiority. That is one thing i no longer miss about this business.

[short bus]

Well, this has taken a strange turn

[800man]

SKV was always an expendable company with a finite lifespan. They are ONLY a staffing company. It was AC planes, AC fuel, and AC dispatch, they are just crewed by people at half the rate. For the operation that they were, they had very little assets. Just the MX really. Easy to set up and tear down.

They existed to do the flying as cheaply as possible, and during their tenure Jazz was forced to sign their ridiculous 10 year CBA.... there was a reason the CPA renewals between Jazz and SKV were staggered so much.

So SKV got a union, many of the E175's are approaching C/Heavy check times (Several million apiece), their costs were increasing, so this was altogether a foregone conclusion, it was just a matter of when.

If this caught Russ out of the blue and he was fighting it tooth and nail, there would be more media about it and at least some kind of lawsuit, frivolous or not, - but it's a very amicable decision, which to me means it was all expected at some time, if not prearranged. I know there was a bit of time left on the current CPA, so I'm guessing he got a little bit of walkin around money.

I bet the E175's will be gradually sold off instead of going down for their expensive Brazilians, and Jazz will have the regional monopoly for the next few years. But in about 3-4 years you WILL see another fresh upstart stepping in, quoting the job cheaper to AC, to repeat the entire whipsaw again. Possibly with 175's, but not owned by AC. More likely RJ's.

[Be10heavy]

SKV was always an expendable company with a finite lifespan. They are ONLY a staffing company. It was AC planes, AC fuel, and AC dispatch, they are just crewed by people at half the rate. For the operation that they were, they had very little assets. Just the MX really. Easy to set up and tear down.

They existed to do the flying as cheaply as possible, and during their tenure Jazz was forced to sign their ridiculous 10 year CBA.... there was a reason the CPA renewals between Jazz and SKV were staggered so much.

So SKV got a union, many of the E175's are approaching C/Heavy check times (Several million apiece), their costs were increasing, so this was altogether a foregone conclusion, it was just a matter of when.

If this caught Russ out of the blue and he was fighting it tooth and nail, there would be more media about it and at least some kind of lawsuit, frivolous or not, - but it's a very amicable decision, which to me means it was all expected at some time, if not prearranged. I know there was a bit of time left on the current CPA, so I'm guessing he got a little bit of walkin around money.

I bet the E175's will be gradually sold off instead of going down for their expensive Brazilians, and Jazz will have the regional monopoly for the next few years. But in about 3-4 years you WILL see another fresh upstart stepping in, quoting the job cheaper to AC, to repeat the entire whipsaw again. Possibly with 175's, but not owned by AC. More likely RJ's.

One could say AC will PIVOT and find the cheapest option like they have in the past and those cockroaches will be back in business

[rudder]

One could say AC will PIVOT and find the cheapest option like they have in the past and those cockroaches will be back in business

If CHR did not write in exclusivity provisions to the revised CPA, at least for the 2021-2025 timeframe, then they only have themselves to blame if AC goes down the multi-vendor CPA path again.

[theflyinghotdog]

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