Air Georgian and Air Canada

[Guest]

Regional airline loses 1.5-million passenger contract with Air Canada, but firms deny safety concerns a factor 

Air Georgian has strenuously denied allegations of safety shortcomings by current and former employees, first reported by the National Post

Air Canada has ended its contract with regional carrier Air Georgian and is shifting thousands of flights to another company, but denies that concerns about Georgian’s maintenance and safety practices had anything to do with the change.

The move will not be readily visible to passengers, as all the planes fly under the Air Canada Express banner, but appears to be a significant blow to privately owned Air Georgian.

It has strenuously denied allegations of safety shortcomings by current and former employees — first reported by the National Post — and criticized a Transportation Safety Board report that highlighted systemic problems at the airline.

The firm currently provides 62,000 flights a year for Air Canada, carrying 1.5 million passengers on short-haul trips within this country and the U.S., part of a little-known trend where large, “mainline” airlines contract out regional service.

Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said the transition from Georgian to Jazz Aviation was unrelated to the allegations.

Story Link: https://nationalpost.com/news/regional-airline-loses-1-5m-passenger-contract-with-air-canada-but-denies-safety-concerns-a-factor?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NP_Top_Stories+(National+Post+-+Top+Stories)

[Guest]

Of course this now opens up the question of where the surplus crews will go.

[neverminds]

The pilots are being offered DOH with Jazz. 

[blues deville]

43 minutes ago, neverminds said:

The pilots are being offered DOH with Jazz. 

Not a bad deal. 

[Guest]

44 minutes ago, neverminds said:

The pilots are being offered DOH with Jazz. 

Sound good for them, what about the Cabin Crews etc?

[blues deville]

30 minutes ago, Malcolm said:

Sound good for them, what about the Cabin Crews etc?

I don’t know. Who represents the FA group? The AG pilots were clever to recently join and be represented by ALPA. I’ve been told there will be restrictions on left seat assignments at Jazz but hopefully the DOH merger won’t ruffle too many feathers.

[Tango Foxtrot]

Last week I met a jazz flt that had a few deadheading pilots, and a few comuters.

 The four pilots had over 100 years of experience flying -8s.

I don't really think they could care less.

[blues deville]

1 hour ago, Tango Foxtrot said:

Last week I met a jazz flt that had a few deadheading pilots, and a few comuters.

 The four pilots had over 100 years of experience flying -8s.

I don't really think they could care less.

Makes sense. A 25 year Jazz Captain would have nothing to worry about since AG didn’t exist. However a one year Jazz pilot who didn’t want to work at AG won’t be sending a two year AG pilot who wasn’t hired by Jazz a gift basket any time soon. It’s just one of the fun parts of a merger. 

And perhaps you meant to write “I think they could care less” or “I don’t really think they care”. 

[47north]

It’s not a merger per se. According to the Jazz pilots’s agreement the Georgian pilots will come across with their DOH.

There is a pilot bid this month that will include the positions created by bringing the CRJ200s back to Jazz.  The Georgian pilots that choose to come to Jazz will be able to participate in the bid with their DOH. It doesn’t mean that they will maintain a CRJ position or their status as a captain as it depends on their DOH. Also there is a no layoff clause for Jazz pilots and any Jazz captain that is loses their status will be paid as a captain until they can hold a captain position again. 

With all the hiring at AC and elsewhere, doubtful that this will have lasting effect on any pilot at Jazz.

 

[vanishing point]

As a 30+ year captain at Jazz, I would not say “I don’t care what happens with the AG pilot group”.  Their ability to bid into Jazz positions is a part of the new MOS.  There’s always items in a contract that will be good and some not so good.  We don’t get to cherry-pick the items we like and vote just on those.  We vote for an MOS based on the number of pros vs cons.

For the record, I voted in favour of it.  Since I plan to retire in the next 2-3 years, it didn’t really matter to me which way the vote went but the reason I did vote in favour was that it does provide stability for Jazz and those pilots who decide to stay in the long run.  I would have been disappointed if the “NO” side had won but that’s democracy.

For junior pilots, there will be some changes, not necessarily positive ones but in time, things will progress favourably.

 

[AvWatcher]

In talking to an Air Georgian F/A, they are being interviewed by AC Rouge. Doesn't sound like they are getting automatic positions on the seniority list.