Recap, rumor is we've gotten a 717 deal with SWA in place, that the terms for Delta are highly highly favorable and DALPA is being asked for scope concessions to bring it on the line, right?
In essence, DAL has secured 717s but to bring them to mainline is to make a concession to us so what will we concede in return?
Now, if this is true, what does that say?
To me it says the demarcation line between DCI and mainline is not at the 76 seat limit where we think it is.
To me it says like the DC9-30 is no different than the 65 seat DC9-14 that preceded it decades ago. Once off the mainline property is never to come back unless its outsourced.
The 717 is a DC9-30 in size, so to bring it to mainline is to make a concession.
I guess whoever mentioned that they didn't want to see anything smaller than the MD-88 at mainline is getting their way minus the grandfathered fleet of 737-700s and A319s and outgoing DC9-50s:
So the mainline vs DCI demarcation line is probably 150 seats or less minus grandfathered equipment:
But since we're giving scope up on the bottom end we need to do it on the top end and with all the JV's it sure seems as if we are sharing those super premium widebodies.
Therefore, and to abuse this post to help foster a hatred of buckets
, the first 150 seat bucket is to be outsourced. The next 150 seat bucket (151-300) is to be exclusively insourced, and the third bucket of 301 seats or more is to be shared with our friends.
That's what this concession for 717s rumors says to me.
fwiw, I'm not saying the 717 is to be outsourced. From the beginning of this rumor it has been clearly stated there would be a quest for a single category because the economic advantage of this aircraft required bringing it into the 88/90 fleet. However, if the EMB-195 became the EMB-200 that sat 117, do you think it would come here automatically like the 717? Evidently not, so to "give us" the 717 is seen as a concession if this rumor is true.