Originally Posted by
DAL4EVER
This may have been discussed earlier but has anyone thought of the ramifications of the new rest requirements on the regionals and then that impact to Delta. I know Pinnacle which has around 140 aircraft flying under the DAL banner routinely schedules a large percentage of overnights for reduced (<9 hours) rest. With the other requirements, I'm curious what the staffing requirements will be once this is implemented. Further, is this considered a pass through cost that DAL will have to absorb? I don't know how the Air Service Agreements read for the 9 or so carriers we have but this could cost us a pretty penny to the tune of a couple of hundred million dollars.
There's also a lot of talk about Pinnacle likely going into Ch.11 bankruptcy reorganization. If they do, can we drop that flying if we don't agree to the new terms or can the courts force us to stay in the deal? Also, aren't we paying them 25 million for higher pilot costs due to their recent contract even though they are asking for concessions and going to the courts to force them either way.
Either way it could be another large opportunity to cull more 50 seaters besides from just Comair as well as drop (and hopefully reduce permanently) more large RJ's from our insane 250+ DC-9-10 replacement fleet.