Originally Posted by
rahc
Bender,
The AF/KLM issue is a huge concern of mine as well.
Two parts about it burn me....
1. with block hours and current flying levels, they are in compliance whereas with the seat kilometers they are not.
2. the lookback period of 3 years is all of a sudden dropped to 1. I view this as 2 years of flying that they don't have to make up for anymore.
I've heard people talk about how we have 350s coming, and if we upgauge a flight its negative for us... but they have just as many 350s on order as we do (25 of them). Plus they have 777-3s coming, as well as 787-9s. I know the 777-300 has a larger seating capacity, but what about 787-9s?
We are always going to have markets for the 757 such as KEF, SNN, MAN, DKR, etc that don't demand anything larger. What is the smallest aircraft they fly trans-Atlantic?
I would recheck your numbers on compliance. I believe that the company may be in compliance this summer and the planned down guaging at AK/KLM could keep them in compliance. Certainly if Alitalia is pulled from the alliance they will be in compliance for the 3 year measurement period under the current agreement.