Originally Posted by TheManager
So, as I understand your post, we have no straws or leverage now but we will in 2016 because of the start of a mass pilot exodus?
I see just the opposite. If we vote this TA in as it reads today, we will lose most of all of our leverage going forward.
* DL has a 50 seat problem today
* DL has a debt /credit probelm today
DL has to fix the 50 seat probelm to lower their debt. They have to lower their debt to obtain more credit at favorable rates to shore up the network. Richard needs the credit to make a run at AMR assets and to protect the Pacific network which would entail either:
* Purchasing HAL
* JAL JV
* Purchasing ALK (to secure the feed)
Currently, with this TA, we are solving the 50 seat/debt issue with little return on our help unless you believe 4/8/3/3 is the best it will ever get for us.
If we say NO, it will not take a complete overhaul to fix the TA. Close the loop holes, fix the downside protection language, pay and scope and their will be a deal that can be ratified.
RA will be ready with his team right away first week of July. DALPA will be the hold up though as we should NOT send back the same NC and TO should be removed as well.
How many 50 seaters besides the handful at Comair does Delta Air Lines, Inc. own? None. So this isn't our issue. Our issue is the contracts. That's not an asset/liability issue. Credit/Debt? Do you know anything about this concept?
We go from 600+ DCI airplanes to a lower hard cap. For the first time in a decade the DCI fleet is shrinking. What kind of momentum is that? What kind of leverage is that?
Maybe if our raise had been 0/0/0/0 we'd have a shiny new fleet of CRJ-900s coming. But because ALPA negotiates for 12000 pilots, and not one selfish one, we don't always get all of what we want. Negotiating capital being what it is you know. Have you been a part of Section 6 before?
My argument for better leverage in 2016 is a simple issue of supply and demand. When 5 airlines need 10,000 pilots in the following 10 years, where will the most highly qualified pilots go? To the highest compensating airline with the best work rules. Where are they all flocking now? Oh wait. They're not.