Originally Posted by
PurdueFlyer
No at worst it's the Chinese sweat shop shuts down and the American factory workers keep their jobs but will soon need to replace most of their retiring work force.
Delta system ASMs are being held constant, what is changing is that regional ASMs are decreasing while mainline ASMs are increasing. At worst the fleet size stays the same, but mainline at Delta certainly isn't shrinking.
There will be so much movement mainline in up coming years that'll be impossible to retire aircraft to match retirements unless the legacies want to cede more market share to LCCs. They have their financial houses mostly in order, and Delta in particular is firing on all cylinders. They won't be shrinking much if anymore baring any 9/11 type event, but something like that would ruin the whole industry.
What is happening to DCI and soon to happen elsewhere is great news for long term career progression. Things could be a lot worse. We could have you guys arguing over who is going to be flying E-190s and C-Series for mainline.
Hopefully the scope line is continually held and regionals keep shrinking.
Your post is extremely optimistic. The reality is that while Delta is up-gauging aircraft, it is cutting frequency which requires less pilots. I get the graphs showing pilot block hours vs previous year. For the last fiver years, pilot block hours are down 2-5 percent each year. There will not be this major hiring that you are counting on. There will be hiring, but it will be conservative hiring.