For those of you who haven't watched it, I highly encourage you to login to Deltanet then come back and click on the link below. It's Ed Bastian speaking at the ATL crew lounge March 24 for the 2015 base visit.

The whole presentation is interesting but especially where Ed speaks to debt reduction (paid down $15 Billion in five years and will be down to $5 Billion this year and DEBT FREE two years following). Key in starting at :55 mark in the video where Ed talks about our performance vs other airlines and then talks about the debt reduction at the 4 minute mark.

Regarding the fuel refinery watch Ed's Q & A and key in starting at the 4 minute mark. Contrary to what Sailing has said multiple times, the refinery has turned out being a great investment and has more than paid for the initial investment, and will continue earning/saving money going forward.

Regarding C2012, the notion the company was contemplating keeping 50 seaters and performing engine overhauls is utter nonsense. Those planes were going away one way or the other and have saved Billions by allowing them to upgage including more 76 seaters. A different story than was broadcast leading up to the vote. Sometimes you just have to use your noggin and apply a little logic vs the talking points you are being fed. Let's do that for C2015, instead of being lead down a primrose path of "getting the membership to vote yes".

Please ignore those here who are preaching the sky will soon be falling. To the contrary, profits will continue to go up with even higher payouts. Don't touch profit sharing! If you believe what Ed says in the video about the performance of this pilot group vs our peers, there should be little argument whether this pilot group deserves an industry leading contract in pay rates (not including profit sharing) and work rules.

One other thing to keep in mind, as mentioned above the company has paid down $15 Billion in debt in 5 years with less revenue/profit than it is now making and going to make. It has made large expenditures toward airport upgrades (ie over a Billion at JFK), had spent over a Billion on a customer service training initiative, grew the free cash flow further adding money in the bank, while spending Billions buying back stock and showering the shareholders with a bunch of money. The debt/interest payments will soon be gone. The JFK project is concluded, interior updates mostly complete. Just think about it for a second and you will realize there's just a ton of money filling the tank at Delta headquarters. What is fair? Surpass rates from the early 2000's and make the pilot group whole again. Do you agree?

Link didn't take. Go to the bottom right corner on the Flight Ops page and click on "Missed a Flight Ops Base Visit".