Originally Posted by
Carl Spackler
The company can always decide to shrink to zero. Nothing new there. When our MEC votes this TA in, then the company can shrink our international block hours by over 100,000 hours AND still keep the Virgin Joint Venture. Without the TA, they'd have to give up the JV if they shrunk the block hours below what we're currently flying.
Where are you getting the 100,000 Block Hour number?
When the MEC votes this TA in, we'll be agreeing to lower that scope limit by over 100,000 block hours annually AND the company gets to keep the Virgin Joint Venture.
Same question.
Participating in growth is good. Shrinking by over 100,000 international block hours annually while the company gets to keep the Virgin Joint Venture won't be good.
Again, same question.
I had to leave the conversation yesterday to go fly right when you answered about 1.E.3 guaranteeing our international flying. I assume that's what you're getting at here? Where does the 100,000 number come from and how are we going to lose all that flying when the language that you posted (only TA language I've seen anywhere, so I'm taking it at face value) describes 2 protections:
1. Global WB Block Hour Protection - could potentially allow Virgin to do all US-UK flying, but we would have to maintain our WB block hours elsewhere, and actually increase them significantly (and at a much higher ratio than Virgin) if Virgin picks up all the flying we currently do. I can see a (highly unlikely) scenario under this protection where we (DL/Virgin) technically could leave the UK market, but that would require Virgin to basically shut down for that to happen.
2. LHR Slot Protection - This piece requires that we maintain 5860 flights until 2020 in/out of LHR specifically - it doesn't include the rest of our UK flying. We (DL) can't leave the UK market under the language you posted.
They could reduce Delta LHR flights down from our current annual 7,000+ (best # I was able to get is either 7,100 or 7,700 flights - can't read my own chicken scratch notes
) to 5,860. However, that would require the JV to either reduce together (meaning Virgin's WB block hours would have to go way down to keep our Global Protection in compliance), OR grow our WB block hours elsewhere (at approximately 3-1 ratio) as Virgin filled in LHR flights that we would have to vacate.
More to follow...