Originally Posted by
georgetg
Ok, let me flip it around.
Change nothing.
No change in our ALV,
No change in our work rules
No change in our staffing
No change in our training backlog
No change in augmented crews
No change in overstaffing on the 777
and increase pilot compensation by 30%
All that would happen is even with all the high cost items at Delta, the pilot portion of CASM would be equal with Southwest.
The difference between DAL and WN has less to do with pilot compensation and more to do with everything else. (Debt, infrastructure, equipment, other employee groups, etc.)
I'm glad we have a sharp team running the ship, improving the CASM with the end result of getting better RASM.
But when we look over the fence we can see that WN has a higher pilot portion of CASM. When you factor in augmented crews at DAL the percentage WN spends in excess of DAL could easily go higher.
I'm saying there is headroom, and if we're all not in training, the headroom grows by another 10 points as seen in the 2009 numbers.
Put another way: If DAL and WN had the same RASM, pilots at Delta are providing 30%+ of the RASM. It's like reverse profit sharing...
Cheers
George
Again, I completely agree. No really. Many pilots get caught up in CASM as a whole, and not our percentage of it. Yes, of course it all matters to make a business sustainable, but as you illustrate, we need to look at our portion of it.
We are cheaper than WN, and that is exactly where management wanted us in CH11. Now WN is feeling the pressure, just like they wanted them too. There is room in there for significant gains. We agree! My point is that it would be even more prevalent if we broke these two sides of the operation out. Probably so much so, that the company would not want us to see it.
As I have said on the other thread, SWAPA has help foster in this new era with their willingness to undercut, and now they have to live with the world they helped create. As we can see, there are areas that we can gain in, and with good measure. I still think it is sad that we are using SWA and SWAPA rates and benefits are a benchmark given that their idea of pilot compensation is what imploded the industry. (I know, go rant on the other thread)