Block hours per pilot isn't a measure of efficiency in this business...

The widgets we make are called ASMs
The cost to make the widgets is CASM

Delta's CASM is indeed higher than Southwest's CASM.
But to effectively measure pilot productivity we need to measure the pilot portion of CASM.
Guess what we are still more efficient as Southwest when it comes to the pilot portion of production.
Yes, that's right, the pilot portion of CASM at Delta is lower than the pilot portion of CASM at Southwest.

Why is this?
Let's look at "digging"

The workers at company A produce 25 billable digging hours per week.
The workers at company B produce 20 billable digging hours per week.

Clearly the workers at company A are more efficient, right?
If you measure billable digging hours you'd be right.

What if I told you the workers at company A use a shovel and the workers at company B use a Caterpillar D9.

Now who is more efficient?
Does it matter if Company B pays their D9 drivers more than the shovel wielders at company A?

So yes, using sailings "metric" of block hours, we are less productive than the others. But using the metric based on the currency the company accountants use - ASM - we are not. And that's the one that matters...

Cheers
George


Extra credit homework for sailing:
What is the pilot portion of CASM at Delta, what is it at WN?
How many ASMs are produced per pilot block hour at Delta, how many at WN?