I have started hearing some rumblings from Delta Pilots and have rerun the numbers for Delta with a more reasonable Pilot/Aircraft ratio instead of the current ratio. The more reasonable ratio was taken from comparisons with United and American respecting their different fleet types and reasonable staffing levels for the different fleet types. I've been somewhat concerned about the unusually large pilot/aircraft ratio at Delta since I built the model but rationalized it away when they were hiring fairly recently(couple years ago) with the same staffing levels we see now. I hope I am wrong, but it is very possible that we may not see hiring from Delta till 2014-2015. I explain all this in more detail on the report. We won't really know the what is going on entirely until Delta starts calling for interviews. If they call pilots this next spring for interviews, that is a very good sign, if not, then they are likely overstaffed.
Delta Airlines Overstaffed Analysis | Audries Aircraft Analysis