Originally Posted by
RockyBoy
Scope is the only big ???? here in this "conceptual" opener. The concept appears to me that they will shoot for no more growth at DCI, but no DCI flying coming back to mainline and really just leaving the AS codeshare alone.
I'm struggling with the "improve the balance of flying language, because that can be read all sorts of ways. As others mentionned, the economics of the 50-seat RJ are doing all the improvements we need, when looking at the cap on large RJ's. In yesterday's webcast, Bastian talked about his
350 50-seat RJ problem, and said something to the effect that we will have to have discussions with our DC partners and airframe manufacturers, and be "creative". That better mean crewing airplanes with Delta pilots only. The regional industry is probably on the verge of a fatal double-blow, with both RJ eceonomics, and pilot staffing issues combining in the near future.
Why would we want to save them, when we can fold them back in, where they belong?
I thought it was interesting that ALPA will ask the company to oppose any foreign ownership changes. Kinda interesting to see a political issue come into play within our contract. I think foreign ownership could be our biggest threat in the next decade.....so I give them credit for heading in that direction early.
Also fascinating that we will ask to codify the minimum crew complement at TWO pilots. I think this is looking far into the future, where the airframe manufacturers and avionics OEM's will try to "solve" (co-)pilot shortages with extra autopilots, a remote, and a german shepherd.
Lots of discussion about whether 750-hours or 1,500 hours makes sense for a newhire F/O... I can think of a time when we won't have either. It already happened once, in the seventies, when people were hired while working on their instrument ticket.