Originally Posted by
DeadHead
Embraer Snaps 3-Day Advance as Delta Said to Postpone Orders - Bloomberg
" Embraer SA (EMBR3), the world’s fourth- largest planemaker, fell for the first day in four after Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) deferred an order of 100 small narrow-body jets until 2012. "
Found that line somewhat interesting. At a glance I think this is a a good thing. Seems like the majority of big aircraft purchase orders over the last few years have been for ERJs and CRJs, so it's nice to see some Boeing metal on firm orders while RJ orders are delayed.
Manufacturer aside, delaying 100 seat aircraft orders until after the 2012 contract makes sense from management's standpoint, but scares me from a pilot's standpoint. I slowly see scope becoming a major issue in this next contract, seems as the the battlefield is being laid out as such.
Personally, anything proposal with a scope sale attached to it is a big no vote from me, but I'm sure there are those that think 100 seat flying is beneath them and not worth substantial contract improvements for the short term.
My one question is, how essential are 100 seat aircraft to the future of DAL's network coverage? Can DAL sustain it's capacity efficiently with 70 seaters bridging the gap to mainline 150 seaters? or will this leave a major efficiency gap in our system?
I welcome someone else's interpretation of the Tea Leaves, with a healthy smattering of some classy sideboob shots.
While the timing of the announcement seems to line up with upcoming Sec 6, I don't think the two are related. I just think DAL has not found an acceptable product. RA has been consistently saying that in order to get the full value of an aircraft you need to OWN it for 30 years. The E190 is not a good product. JB stopped taking delivery of them, Catcus has a small amount, & RAH has a small amount too. The C-Series is a paper airplane, & I don't think we want to commit to it without knowing we can get 25-30 years out of it.
Keep in mind our A319's are pretty young, as are a good amount of our A320's. They aren't replacing all of our 320's with the -900ER, just some older ones. Our A319's are configured to 126 seats.
I also feel our NC will not even bring a TA to MEMRAT that has scope relief in it. As a matter of fact, I think we need to worry about Code Share/JV language just as much as seat/weight limitations. It's crucial that we all take the contract survey(available soon) and pound our Reps with priorities. NO MORE SCOPE RELIEF!!!!