Mesa(Freedom) to invade MCO

[H46Bubba]

[ QUOTE ]
New Delta Connection carrier Freedom Airlines will begin flights in October from Orlando, Fla. Officials from Freedom and its parent company, Mesa Air Group, will visit Orlando this week to determine logistical requirements for the carrier's new service.

Delta will handle ticket counter functions, as well as baggage service and cargo for Freedom at Orlando. Delta Connection carrier Comair will perform gate and ramp duties, and operations.

Delta will announce specific destinations and schedules in August. The Delta Connection carrier plans to add service to new markets from Orlando, and will complement existing DCI flights operated by Comair and Chautauqua Airlines.



[/ QUOTE ]
Just learned on Tuesday that they will be based here at MCO. It will be a Pilot/Inflight/Maintenance base for 9 aircraft.
It's gonna get pretty busy here! It will be their flights on top of proposed Comair and CHQ flights We're suppossed to expand into gate 95. We already have gates 91 and 93. 91 will be in use as soon as their done with roof construction on the terminal. I'm interested to see if their crappy on-time pefromance will change. We'll see.

[Kingairer]

Thats intresting that they are making another connection gate. I figured they would just relocate some of CHQ and Comair flights. I just dont see there being many more cities that arent already served Nonstop from MCO. Maybe more frequency??

[topgun_KC]

Would MCI be a suitable destination for service? Before Delta cut back service, we had nonstop on Delta Shuttle . Now I believe Southwest is the only carrier with nonstop service.

[H46Bubba]

Actually I just learned that we will be operating Freedom flights out of gates 91 thru 97. Comair is going to start hiring more ramp and gate agents to handle the increased workload. Freedom will add an additional 20-30 flights on top of CHQ and Comair flights. WOW, it's going to get busy!

[Doug Taylor]

"Express". Shuttle only does DCA/BOS/LGA.

[Kingairer]

[ QUOTE ]
Actually I just learned that we will be operating Freedom flights out of gates 91 thru 97. Comair is going to start hiring more ramp and gate agents to handle the increased workload. Freedom will add an additional 20-30 flights on top of CHQ and Comair flights. WOW, it's going to get busy!

[/ QUOTE ]

Thats cool. Im going to be very interested to see where they add service too.

[MikeD]

Curiously, since there are already "Freedom A", and "Freedom B" pilots, so far as the Mesa pilot's group lables them; are these guys going to be considered "Freedom C" pilots?

Is this operation "bad Freedom" also? In relation to the previous Freedom operation?

[Wolverine]

Rumor is that the ERJ pilots will be the freedom pilots whether they want to be or not. Dispatchers will be those who volunteer to move over and the open desks will be assigned by JRA. I don't want to have my name anywhere near freedom, whether it's the orginal, the previous, or the current. In the airline world, freedom is freedom is freedom.

CAPT: "Your badge says freedom and you want to ride in my cockpit??"
freedom jumpseater: "But I don't work for that freedom, I work for the other freedom."
CAPT: "Uhhh, ok. Good luck finding a ride home."

[BrianNC]

[ QUOTE ]
Rumor is that the ERJ pilots will be the freedom pilots whether they want to be or not. Dispatchers will be those who volunteer to move over and the open desks will be assigned by JRA. I don't want to have my name anywhere near freedom, whether it's the orginal, the previous, or the current. In the airline world, freedom is freedom is freedom.

CAPT: "Your badge says freedom and you want to ride in my cockpit??"
freedom jumpseater: "But I don't work for that freedom, I work for the other freedom."
CAPT: "Uhhh, ok. Good luck finding a ride home."

[/ QUOTE ]
So...for those of us that have no clue what this is talking about, how about the "freedom" story that is not this freedom but another freedom, and why no one wants to be associated with it.

[Wolverine]

A brief history of Freedom:

Once upon a time, Mesa Air Group (MAG) was made up of Mesa Airlines(YV) and AirMidwest. AirMidwest flew Beech 1900s for US Air and others, Mesa Airlines(YV) flew 50 seat jets for US Air and others. MAG wanted to buy CRJ-700s with 64 seats to fly under America West Express colors.

US Air has a scope clause in their ALPA contract which states that US Air Express carriers cannot have jets with more than 50 seats in their fleet. Because YV flew as US Air Express, the 64 seat jets could not be on the YV operating certificate. So, MAG created Freedom Airlines (F8).

F8 was created to get around the ALPA scope clause and was non-union. The original, non-union F8 pilots were labeled as scabs by ALPA. These are the "Freedom A" pilots.

At some point, F8 became unionized. I believe this is where "Freedom B" pilots come from. US Air lessened their scope clause, and eventually all the F8 pilots and planes were moved to the YV certificate.

Now, MAG has a contract to fly under Delta Connection colors, however Delta has a scope clause stating that their Connection carriers cannot have jets with more than x seats. YV's CRJ900s have 86 seats which is greater than x, so YV cannot fly for Delta Connection. MAG is once again using the F8 certificate and will be moving 30 ERJs onto it so that they can fly for Delta Connection and say they aren't breaking the scope clause because all of F8's planes have 50 seats.

I hope this makes things a little clearer. Feel free to correct any errors.

[wheelsup]

[ QUOTE ]
The original, non-union F8 pilots were labeled as scabs by ALPA. These are the "Freedom A" pilots.


[/ QUOTE ]

This needs to be explained more in detail. I'm not going to attempt to do it, as I don't pretend to know much about the situation back then, but I do work with several "A" listers who get kicked off flights every now and then because their name is on "the list".

I'm in a pickle, because I want to live in central FLA, and word has it that come my interview time I might have a good chance of getting the ERJ at MCO with freedom. I'm not sure I want to risk the rest of my career on living where I want to right now...

~wheelsup