Originally Posted by
forgot to bid
I like the idea of 70 growth jets in 2 years so let's go with that for a moment... why are we only hiring 300? I mean why are they only announcing 300 for all of 2013 with 70 planes needing about 1000 pilots plus retirements. and then we are growing 12 WBs too?
there's a disconnect there unless we gave up more productivity than we first thought???
I don't see 70 "growth jets" in 2 years.
I see about 12 more 90's,
14 less DC-9's, an unknown addition/subtraction of 739/757/320's,
and 50-ish growth 717's, with 30-ish more in the 3rd year out from now.
SD's letter stated that the number of pilots to be hired "can and likely will be adjusted". The math doesn't work to hire less(given the 50-ish 717's coming), so it stands to reason that more will be the "adjustment" but they will not announce that until this fall or around the new year.
(My opinion: IFS wanted 1000 FA's in the spring but the board said no, and so they approved a lower total number and had to split the hiring between spring and fall. It's not a Delta hates pilots thing.)
Delta does not have contracts in hand that confirm the purchase of 8-12 WB and 30 more large NB aircraft so they won't announce hiring for aircraft that probably can't even be built and delivered until mid to late 2015. In a real world scenario I'd expect to hear about hiring(or increased hiring) about 2-3 months ahead of scheduled delivery (kinda like we just got with the 717's)
It seems more prudent to make constant and smaller adjustments to the Company plan, keeping it nimble and responsive, backtracking on a strategic plan isn't usually a good idea and sows doubt among the shareholders(and then stock prices decline). I don't see any necessity to announce big numbers years in advance, things could change.... And always do in this crazy business!