August 10, 2000 Hotline

  August 10,
2000

Family Awareness News

Membership Bowling Event

AWA Simulators

Consult section 4G of the contract if
you are affected. If you have already flown a PT and are required to return to complete
the V1 cut or other rudder-related maneuver because the simulator was decertified, we
expect that you will be paid 4:17 for any additional period you have to fly. If you hear
otherwise from the company, call our Grievance chairman.

Analyze This

Let me enlighten Mr. Boyd and other
memory-challenged members of the financial establishment. In April, two other analysts,
Dave Sterman and Susan D’Onofrio, praised AWA for it’s strong plans to fix its
operating problems. They said new scheduling and revenue management systems were going to
reap a $15 million boost. They said Gil Mook’s arrival was paying off with improved
on time arrivals. They said that a one percent improvement in completion rate would
increase net profit by $20 million. They said there would be 10% revenue growth and more
business travelers. They were wrong. They said a winter storm, fuel prices, and a computer
glitch caused a temporary earnings drop. They missed the point.

Two years ago, AWA received a severe
fine from the FAA for its sloppy maintenance. Last month, grim faced Feds left here again
and the news was so bad they wouldn’t make public comment. That’s a shoe now
whistling downward with a 90-day ETA. Why no comment from FAA? Ask your friendly
government officials.

I invite Mr. Boyd and other analysts to
call or drop by some time so I can give them more fun-filled facts of life at AWA. We can
see if the 3.5% cut in flights is the cure or not.

One more thing. “Employee
unrest” is not causing these problems. We’re not United Airlines; we don’t
have their contract or their situation. Our pilots and other front-line employees are some
of the hardest working, most over stressed people in the industry, and they do their
dead-level best every day. Employees are the salvation of this company, not the problem.

That’s it for this week. The next
hotline update will be on Thursday, August 17. Thanks for listening.

  • Family Awareness News
  • Membership Bowling Event
  • Merger Fund
    Payments

  • AWA Simulators
  • Analyze This
    MEC Hotline

  Good evening, this is MEC Chairman Roger Cox
with the hotline message for Thursday, August 10th. Tonight’s topics are:


Look for the August issue of Family Awareness News in your home mailbox within
the next week or so. The issue includes an article written by new committee chairman Tim
Walters, which explains the committee’s new neighborhood leaders program. I think
this issue is extremely informational, and I encourage all of our pilots and their spouses
to take the time to read it.

I would like to remind all of you that the Membership Committee will have a free “End
of Summer Family Bowling Night” on Tuesday, August 22 at the Kyrene Bowling Lanes.
It’s all for a good cause – to promote solidarity and unity in our pilot group. The
address is 6625 West Chandler Blvd. Just remember, you must RSVP to Sandi at the MEC
office by August 15th. You can call Sandi at 602-306-1208.
Merger Fund Payments
Several pilots have called the MEC office complaining of improper billing for the Merger
Fund assessment. The MEC office is directing these callers to Ms. Cozann Sikes, Membership
supervisor in Herndon, VA. Please call Ms. Sikes at 1-800-871-0899 ext. 4157. She will be
extremely helpful in resolving any issues that you may have with regard to the Merger Fund
assessment. If you are not satisfied with the information received from Ms. Sikes, please
feel free to contact Captain Mike Calabrese, MEC secretary-treasurer, at the MEC office.

Earlier this week, the FAA shut down two of our 737-200 simulators because the company
failed to modify them to meet the rudder hard-over requirements. How long ago was it that
these simulators were supposed to have been modified? The FAA finally got fed up with
getting the blow-off from America West. Of course the pilot group is caught in the middle
and our training is disrupted.


At least two industry analysts, Mike Boyd and Holly Hegman, have praised America West
management this week for their “bold initiative” in addressing our operations
failures. Boyd was particularly impressed, and was quite creative in manufacturing
rationalizations for America West’s sorry act. Thunderstorms. Air Traffic Control.
Jane Garvey. Employee unrest. How do you like that? He makes our employees sound like one
of those awful acts of nature that plague honest God-fearing shareholders and managements.