Originally Posted by
tsquare
IMHO, we as DAL pilots are going to see little to nothing from the Virgin Atlantic JV. We will see some domestic growth, but that will be buried in the other growth that DAL sees in the coming years. That leaves international. THE reason for this alliance is Heathrow. Period. It is a slot controlled airport, and they ain't giving any of that to us. The only growth we will see internationally will be a 50/50 on additional LHR slots, and that's if we're lucky.
I don't expect an edict from DALPA demanding VA park mass quantites of wide bodies serving existing routes just so we can hire into them. But I do expect to keep what we have and to definately get at least 50% of any additional growth. And added protections to guard against bravo sierra little technicalities like all cargo heavies "not counting" towards ESK's and all that. I also expect rock solid protections from other markets VA may end up doing one day besides just LHR or even the entire UK.