Rockie wrote:...This airline is plagued by mediocre management. Maybe it's a leftover from long ago when it was a crown corporation,
Partly correct Rockie! What many seem to forget, however, is that the present AC is an amalgam of AC, CP, PW, WD, EP, TX[?], ND. Each of those airlines brought their own corporate cultures to the various mergers/takeovers. E.g., and Doug can correct me on this, when Pee Dub, flush with Alberta Heritage Fund cash, bought CP Air, regional airline managers took over from experienced executives who had been running a fine international airline. And on down the line it went until you have the case of a former EPA low-level manager who is now the AC VP of Labour Relations [now there's an oxymoron, "AC Labour Relations"!].
I would say, despite Suit's gross over-simplifications, that one of the biggest problems faced by AC today is the ACPPA, which places structural constraints on AC which have been imposed by politicians, each with their own agenda to forward, and their own constituency to answer to. WestJet has none of these constraints placed on them. Furthermore, WJ has done it correctly: those positions which require licenses [pilots, mechanics, dispatchers] are well paid. All other non-licensed positions are paid at lower rates. Therein lies the structural problem at AC: they have some of the
lowest Flight Operations and Technical costs in the industry, and some of the
highest non-flight-operations and non-technical costs in the industry. I have heard somewhere that AC is forced to pay something around $150-200 MILLION per annum for translation services [don't know if this is accurate, I stand to be corrected on this]. My point is that if AC was allowed to operate as efficiently as they could, and could do away with much of the non-essential expenses they face daily, the picture would be quite different. But they can't because as soon as they try to do something about it, the howls of outrage start from all parts of the country. All of these structural constraints imposed by the ACPPA cost money.
Compounding the problem is a culture of entitlement among the Canadian travelling public which demands the lowest fares on the most modern and technologically-sophisticated aircraft. Do the math. A B777 costs ca. $US150M. The public wants to travel non-stop from YYZ - YVR for $150.00 The shuttle from Guelph to YYZ in a crapped out old van to get that flight costs $75.00 Gimme a freakin' break!
At least the membership of ACPA seems to be doing something about this rogue group which was operating within the MEC, and are taking control of their own destiny. ACPA's sole mandate is to properly represent the collective interests of its members, not to save AC money, not to rescue the airline, and certainly not to provide the training ground for a whole future generation of AC flight ops managers. Some of the MEC seem to have forgotten this in a rush to further their own pet agendas, including fighting the Age 60 issue.
This can only be a good thing.
Cheers.
