JSX offers a private flying experience at a commercial airline price. They operate from private terminals and they’re allowed to do it because one company sells the ticket, a different subsidiary operates the flight, and they keep planes to just 30 seats.
And having just 30 seats in a plane that normally has 50 means every seat is first class. Drinks, bags, and wifi are free and service is friendly. Customers only need to show up 20 minutes before their flight. What could be better?
The FAA has considered JSX to be one hundred percent compliant with government rules for selling scheduled charter flights. But the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) doesn’t like it, because they’re allowed to hire:
- Senior captains, recently retired from American and Southwest mostly, who are 65 or older
- Co-pilots with hours similar to those required in Europe, and that were required for major carrier pilots in the U.S. fifteen years ago.
American Airlines doesn’t like the competition from JSX, either – a premium airline offering better service in their backyard, headquartered at Dallas Love Field.
When SkyWest proposed to mimic JSX’s model, in order to provide Essential Air Service flights, the big pilot union went ballistic. They see an end-run around hard-fought limits on entry into the pilot profession. People were able to fly with fewer than 1,500 hours – in fact, they were getting paid to build up hours that would qualify them to fly for major airlines. These hours are even better and safer that what most commercial pilots fly to qualify – real operations, not just 1,000 in clear weather flying Cessna doing touch-and-go’s at the same three or four airports.
ALPA, joined by American, claim that JSX exploits a ‘loophole’ but what they really acknowledge is that JSX is legal and they don’t want them to be so they’ve asked the federal government to ban the competition. And coalition politics being what they are, the Biden administration has a hard time saying no to labor.
- SkyWest hasn’t received its approval for SkyWest Charter, even though what they want to do is legal. The delay seemed odd.
- But Mary Schlangenstein catches a new filing that the Department of Transportation plans to consider changing the rules (‘Regulatory Definitions of “On-Demand Operation”, “Supplemental Operation” and “Scheduled Operation” under 14 CFR Part 110′) that would presumably allow them to deny the ability of SkyWest Charter to operate – and that could prohibit or place limits on the ability of JSX to operate.
Small cities have been losing air service because of a lack of pilots and this just continues a trend where short non-stop routes have disappeared as major airlines have consolidated. Schlangenstein writes,
At least 16 small airports have lost all air service and more than 61 others — from Kalamazoo, Michigan, to Pocatello, Idaho — have lost more than half of their air service over the past four years, according to the Regional Airline Association trade group.
Pilots with hours and eligibility to fly for major airlines usually will. But major airline pay rates work flying planes with 130 passengers. Dividing that cost across 30 passengers – or a half-empty 30 passenger plane – becomes cost-prohibitive. Simply making the service illegal benefits ALPA and its members but compromises safety because it means more people driving greater distances either to catch a flight out of a larger airport or avoiding flying entirely. Air travel is much safer than travel by car. United CEO Scott Kirby says that the SkyWest plan is both safe and “the only way I know of that we’re going to have any dent on small-city service problems.”
Meanwhile the 1,500 hour rule (which has some exceptions), which has some exceptions, has no demonstrated safety benefit. No other country has adopted it. And ALPA members happily fly to Europe where the rule doesn’t exist, and fly in U.S. airspace alongside foreign pilots that aren’t required to follow it.
ALPA is so self-serving and duplicitous.
And the Biden Administration and this DOT are so beholden to unions.
How about considering the interests of the traveling public and of small communities who have lost air service?
If ALPA and FAA would raise the retirement agent and reduce the flight hours required to sit in the co-pilot seat back to 250 as it was for years, maybe the ban on charter operations wouldn’t matter so much. But the 1500 hour requirement makes it so expensive to become a pilot that there aren’t enough pilots to serve the small communities.
The 1500 hour requirement was introduced without any evidence that it contributed to safety. It was introduced after the Colgan Air crash in Buffalo in an attempt to be seen as doing something. Except that both pilots in the Colgan Air crash had 1500 hours experience, I think they had about 6000 hours together.
Both of the Colgan Air pilots were on the first flight of their trips. They should have reported for duty well-rested. Instead, neither of them had slept in a bed the night before. One had commuted from the West Coast on a Fedex freighter in an uncomfortable jump seat with a 2+ layover in Memphis in the middle of the night. The other flew in the evening before from Florida and spent the night in a crew lounge where he was logged using a computer in the middle of the night. If they wanted to address the fatigue issue they would ban commuting or require that pilots sleep in a bed the night before reporting for duty.
Instead they adopt a rule screwing air service to small communities. The airline industry tries to find a way to restore service and ALPA wants to kill that? How can we stand up to ALPA and DOT?
why did I expect this would be the outcome?
because you just have to follow the money and the votes, that’s why.
Small town interests come out on the short-end of the stick.
There is no substitute for a yrained and experienced flight crew. Ever since the 1500-hour rule, this has been proven time and time again. Leff ignores facts and lets his histrionics get in the way of real data. Sad!!!
Helldoge: Show us the data.
There is no data that shows the 1500 hour rule increases safety. There is no data that shows increasing the pilot retirement age increases safety.
Let’s allow small communities to get air service restored.
Oops – that should say “no data that shows increasing the pilot retirement age reduces safety.”
And how about allowing one pilot to nap as they do in Europe? Keeping two people awake when both are tired is not a rule that increases safety.
Now what would anyone expect from Sleepy Joe? He and his crooked cronies will do whatever it takes to buy votes.
This brings to mind politics and strange bedfellows. On its surface, yes Democratic administrations do tend to be more union friendly. While I realize I am somewhat generalizing, most members of ALPA and APA are older, white males that for the most part have viewpoints more aligned with Republicans. Now it could be that the pilot unions and their lobbyists give more money to Biden than Republicans…but I highly doubt it.
Gary,
While there is no debate that the union wants 1500 hours, it’s also clear you’re way out of your lane on topic.
“ Not just 1,000 in clear weather flying Cessna doing touch-and-go’s at the same three or four airports”???!
Perhaps you should learn how pilots build hours in the real world before you write articles on this subject.
SMH at your reporting
So, the big airlines don’t like competition? Why don’t we show them what life under real competition is (i.e. the way Western capitalism is supposed to work) by revoking the antitrust immunity most of them have to price fix. As I understand it, the DOJ gave the DOT the authority to grant or revoke anti-trust immunity for the airlines. The airlines are making BIG BUCKS and do not need anti-trust immunity. Hey, @SecretaryPete (AKA @MayorPete), how about revoking the antitrust immunity the airlines currently have? It screws the public. https://michiganlawreview.org/journal/reviving-antitrust-enforcement-in-the-airline-industry/
@818Pilotguy – a fairly reductionist example to be sure, but not too far off, the quest for hours has nothing to do with real world flying experience and pilots develop bad habits as they rack them up.
@818Pilotguy – Gary is dramatic from time to time but he is right on building hours towards this crazy 1500 hour rule that we have here in the US. I have several friends who now fly for Skywest and others. How did they get 1500 hours? They flew up and down the coast of Florida for months at a time in a 172. Mindless and hardly applicable to real world flying.
Meanwhile, small cities are at real risk of being cut off from the air travel network because of the pilot shortage.
If unions are involved in a dispute, you can safely bet that the Biden regime will find a way to give them what they want. After all, the unions are one of the D/Socialist Party machine’s best funding sources. Right and/or wrong have no bearing on any of this.
Oh, pulllllllllleeeeeeze.
You know full well how it would play out when a 300 hour co-pilot smacks a CRJ into the ground.
The left wing media would be screaming about how the FAA was in the pocket of greedy capitalists.
All those Republicans who are delighted to get EVEN MORE tax payer dollars from blue states would be screaming that their constituents deserve the same safety as people in evil big cities.
Quit being an idiot and pretending you don’t know why the 1,500 rule was passed after the Colgan crash. Yes, we all know the co-pilot who crashed the plane in a recoverable situation had more than 1,500 hours. We also know that the rule came out as part of a comprehensive study that looked at a range of issues, one of which was that sometimes situations arise so quickly that the 250 hour co-pilot doesn’t have time to handover control of the plane to the 1.500 hour captain.
But that lame argument to rest.
Don,
just to be clear, US airlines DO NOT HAVE and are not allowed to have antitrust immunity between each other. The whole reason why the NEA was problematic and got shot down was because AAL and JBLU pursued ATI, the DOT didn’t raise the red flag on it, and the DOJ immediately blocked to sue.
The DOJ has given the DOT authority to review ATI and joint ventures between US and FOREIGN airlines but those have been equally distributed between all US airlines that fly to international destinations.
ATIs and JVs have nothing to do with the domestic market or small city service or Skywest or JSX.
I like JSX… but they were pretty obviously exploiting a loophole by providing obvious scheduled service via a “charter” service that was clearly scheduled.
The obvious ultimate outcome on this was for airlines to cease to own airlines and just be “charter Service” operators and charter all their flights at scheduled times whether 777, A350 or whatever. The obvious outcome was obvious and rendered the FAA toothless.
JSX is a great customer product, but, if the FAA wants to have horrible policy on pilot hours (which they do), no carrier should be able to circumvent them with nonsense. Gary, you and I agree on a lot but I think you should separate great product innovation like JSX from obvious exploitation of rules when the ultimate outcome of that exploitation is so obvious.
And Tim… I wonder how you’d feel about this issue if JSX’ primary hub was in Atlanta… don’t worry about answering. I already know. Your delta fanboyism knows no bounds. 🙂
and Tim, btw. DOJ did not immediately block to sue the NEA. Don’t lie to help your usual hopeless conjecture.
The Biden DOJ sued. The DOT and DOJ under the previous administration either allowed the NEA or didn’t sue to block it (all DOJ can actually do. they don’t approve. they sue or they don’t).
@Goforride “the 1,500 rule was passed after the Colgan crash. Yes, we all know the co-pilot who crashed the plane in a recoverable situation had more than 1,500 hours. ”
You’re actually making Gary’s point here. Yes, I know you go on to say “the rule came out as part of a comprehensive study that looked at a range of issues, one of which was that sometimes situations arise so quickly that the 250 hour co-pilot doesn’t have time to handover control of the plane to the 1.500 hour captain,” but even that example is based on a prima facie argument that 1500 hours makes a substantive difference (which is counter to your Colgan example). Every time this topic comes up on VFTW I ask if someone can present data showing that 1500 makes a substantive difference in safety? If it’s just more is better, why not 2000 or 3000 hours? Where is the data that shows there **is** a difference between 1000 and 1500 hours, or between the ALPA model and the JSX model in general?
In regards to cities losing airline service, that’s all the more reason why the US needs more and better intercity rail, akin to what Europe and Japan have.
Huh? Intercity rail from places like International Falls, Minnesota or Escanaba or Devils Lake? Your comment shows an immense ignorance for the distances and number of passengers in play under EAS. Rail works in high demand, relatively short corridors such as Boston to NY or Orlando to Miami (soon) or Paris to Brussels. It does not work for a tiny city like Devils Lake, ND to Minneapolis – the distance is too far and the traffic too slim.
Neither party is labor friendly. When was the last time a major airline was allowed to strike? 1991? Why is Southwest coming up on 1200 days without a contract with no release to self help?
@Tim Dunn – thanks. I am aware of what you are saying. My main point was with competition IN GENERAL. The anti-trust immunity the US airlines have with their foreign carrier partners limit competition and harm public. Here is a list: https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2022-10/Active-ATI-cases-list-2022_Oct_f1.pdf
@K.C. Cooper. I live in a small town 2 hours from the nearest mid-sized town. And I *love* rail travel. The problem is that smaller cities cannot support passenger rail. Every decade or so, our state explores the cost of expanding rail service and the cost vs. reasonable ridership is insane. Fares will either need to be so high no one will ride, or government will have to subsidize it to a crazy degree. That’s why alternative solutions, like a JSX approach or something else is needed. ALPA and AA are understandably pushing their own self interests — at the cost of everyone else.
Angry-Flier-I agree.. Unions and the DNC rule.. the customers no rights
Unless you are the exception, please don’t pretend to know about pilot experience below 1500 total PIC time not being valuable. There is a lot of learning in those initial years of gaining experience, and most likely more than a few “I’ll never do that again” experiences that will be vital in pilots making good decisions later in their career. Just as I don’t want to hear “oh shit” in the operating room, I don’t want to hear it on the flight deck of an airliner either.
Where is the down side of pairing a retired FAR 121 pilot with 30000 hours with a less experienced pilot on the flight deck? Checklist discipline, CRM, deicing, etc. are all valuable experience early in one’s career. The ALPA president tipped his hand when mentioning public charter as “alter-ego carriers”, union speak for non-union. Do retired 121 pilots automatically become safe again if the retirement age is raised to 67? Stay in your lane ALPA.
I love how the “do your research” idiots don’t do their research. Biden administration? Did ANYONE go to the original sources? Of course not. You believe everything you read on the Internet.
JSX has a flight between Phoenix and Denver Metro, if I can no longer fly them I will drive rather than go through the BS on the other airlines. Flying commercial has never been more demeaning.
We flew JSX on a flight back in August. Such a great service without all the obligatory airport nonsense. Future Air travel will change and it will look like the JSX model. Stifling completion with unproven regulation is not the way to progress. Remember that around the world we have an aging population and that does not have to mean a less safe environment..
P.s. as I am not a resident of the US. ( don’t have a Zip code ). I can’t officially comment on this issue. That I find strange, as a good many of JSX passengers must be from outside the US.