Originally Posted by
alfaromeo
My numbers included any pilot that was available for any flying in the month, including partial month leaves, all training, ALPA leaves. It excludes SIL's (which were 0 in both months) and Management which was 17 and instructors which was 63. All the rest are in there.
Delta is now close to or equal to Southwest in productivity. I know it is hard to believe but it's true. Due to the higher variation in block hours (more international flying) Delta has some months below Southwest and some months better than Southwest. On average it's pretty close. This ain't your father's Delta.
If Delta has achieved this level of productivity there is truly a case to made for Mainline flying the 70+ seat RJs. I doubt that any of the Regionals have numbers much better than 63 if they are even there.
Take out the guaranteed profit and bonuses that the Regional airlines are paid and and let's see what the cost advantage is over Mainline.