Sanctuary!

The bankruptcy of Aha! airlines and its parent company, Georgia-based ExpresJet, has grounded a fleet of five Embraer ERJ145 regional jets and the crews who flew them. Fifteen-years ago, such an occurrence would have been construed tragic—and rightfully so. Pilot gigs were hard to come by in the early 2000s, Baby-boomer captains were in their primes and movement up air-carrier seniority lists was downright glacial.

Such is not the case in the patently and unapologetically Darwinian airline industry of the post-COVID 2020s—where air-carriers feed like hyenas on the freshly-dead carcasses of their fallen competitors. Nowadays pilots are hot commodities, commanding salaries, bonuses, and working conditions at which airline CEOs and CFOs would have openly laughed a few short years ago.

Case in point: Piedmont Airlines—in a shrewd, self-serving move artfully veiled in the raiments of altruism—has announced that it will provide employment-relief to the newly displaced ExpressJet airmen under the distressed carrier provision of its ALPA-negotiated pilot contract. Added in 2021, the provision allows the airline to offer employment—as well as seniority-based pay and bonuses—to pilots in, or formerly in, the employ of carriers deemed distressed.

Piedmont Airlines’ director of operations Matt Kernan states: “Piedmont added distressed carrier language to its pilot contract last year before anticipating the fragility of some regional carriers after the pandemic. No one wants to see an airline fail, ever. We know that ExpressJet pilots are well-trained aviators who know the Embraer 145, and we are very pleased to make this transition as easy as possible for them.”

Continuing in the vein of contrived serendipity, Piedmont recently announced the addition of no fewer than 15 Embraer ERJ 145 aircraft to its fleet. The new regional jets are slated to arrive in October—just as the ink on the former ExpressJet pilots’ new contracts dries and their new-hire and FAA paperwork comes to order.

 “This is an opportunity to get these pilots significant pay and bonus increases, expedited job offers and in the process, help Piedmont grow its fleet,” Mister Kernan remarked. “A pilot with five years’ experience can start at over $160-an-hour.”

Darwinism aside, the deal Piedmont looks to offer the tired, poor, and huddled mass of ex-Aha! pilots speaks to mutual equitability. In addition to excellent pay and bonuses to the tunes of $15,000 (general sign-on), $30,000 (PIC upgrade), and $40,000 (PIC at both one and two-years of service)—the Piedmont new-hires will be afforded contractual flows to American Airlines, of which Piedmont is a wholly-owned subsidiary. What’s more, pilots making the jump from Piedmont to the On-Time Machine receive a cool $25,000 parting bonus.

FMI: www.piedmont-airlines.com