New hires to NYC 7ER started 16 years ago in 2007 as Delta began post bankruptcy hiring. At that time it was a pure long haul international fleet, with flying equivalent to the current A330. By the summer of 2008, 150 of 485 NYC 7ER FOs had less than one year on property. The 767 category performed short international and domestic flying. The music stopped with the two punch combo of age 65 and the NWA merger. The resulting combination of 7ER and 767 eroded the pure international flying. Growth of the A330 fleet further eroded the "Wide Body" flying in the 7ER category.

The amazement is over the type of flying new hires are doing vs what airplane they are flying. In 2007 it was amazing that you could have 200 hours of combined Delta experience in the cockpit over the North Atlantic while the Captain was sleeping. In 2015 it was a big yawn to have a new hire doing domestic WB trips. Today's A330, A350, 765 new hires are akin to the 7ER of 2007 and nothing like the 7ER awards of 2015.