1. Use some equity money to buy a number of pilots into retirement (roughly the number of pilots getting displaced by the retirement of the DC-9)
I don't disagree with buying people into retirement, but the last I heard, even though some airframes are being parked, people are not being displaced. The increase in utilization of the remaining fleet is keeping the staffing levels as is, actually, why have new hires been placed into the DC9 then? That would be an increase in the staffing level to some degree wouldn't it? Yes, some flying has been shifted to the regional carriers already, and I'm sure more will in the future. But that same case could be made for the 80's at DAL.