Originally Posted by
thrustsetrj200
I couldn't imagine it cheaper to furlough rather than hold on to an extra 100 guys unless they plan on getting rid of some of the planes. Imagine ALL the training events going on and how expensive it is to train someone on a new plane. That sounds expensive. I wonder if they do furlough then the next step would be to lose airplanes. I hate Delta.
You all have a legitimate reason to feel insecure due to DAL management's erratic behavior, but my feeling on this is that if they needed to furlough they would have already. The facts are if by this summer, the load factor does not go up, DAL will probably have to furlough DAL pilots. That, however, does not mean XJ will have to furlough. One does not follow the other. XJ pilots are continually getting new Jepp charts for new destinations being added and with the new Saab service cities in FL, I am not sure if XJ even has enough Saabs to cover these new routes. In short, I suspect this overstaff situation is a management's creation. One scenario I can foresee is to service these new FL cities with Saabs, more Saabs will have to be transferred from DTW and MEM and to cover Saab trips in DTW and MEM, either more Saabs (I do not see this happening) or jets will be needed.
Predicting doom and gloom is a rumor too when there are no clear and subtantiating facts from the management to support that. More than a few NWA CAs I have talked to said chances are greater that junior NWA/DAL pilots will be furloughed before XJ would have the need to furlough any of its pilots simply because of the latest trend which has been the delegation of many of the former doemstic mainline DC9 and A 320 routes to RJs.