Originally Posted by sailingfun

The MD88/90 fleet is in a retirement phase. Not sure how you missed that. They can leave positions unfilled and still remain within contractual rules. All other fleets would require backfill. Backfill does not however have to be on this bid. It can be on a subsequent bid. In the case of the MD88 read the letter attached to the bid. It lays out the current plans for displacements. They may or may not backfill MD88 CA’s depending on several things. They likely will not have bidders to backfill copilot seats so placed openings in the bid to allow new hires. The point of the post was all other fleets must be back filled unless flight ops goes to network and requests a reduction in block hours. That is highly unlikely.