Originally Posted by
acl65pilot
You see that announcement a few days ago about spending billions on upgrades? Of course you did. Just because it is DCI does not mean that they will not stick IFE's in the seats. If they can figure out a way to do it and no kill the product it will happen. They are adding FC seats to most of the jets that will remain as well. Notice that not all the 70's will be configured and we all know the 50's will be gone. Point is that the jets remaining will have extra weight avail to the MTOW for IFE's. Just sayin... They see DCI as a seamless to mainline and will do everything to marry the product.
I know that they CAN put IFE in DCI airplanes, but will they? None of our competitors (other than Jetblue) have any IFE in their outsourced equipment. In my opinion, I think Delta looks at the competition to see what we need to do. Unfortunetly, we have taken forever on the in-flight TV setup. For a while, I thought it was a matter of getting the airplanes in the shop, etc but airplanes they have modded for TV don't seem to take long.
It's poor customer service to provide a varying product. Some Delta 757s have TV - some don't. I DHed on a 757 yesterday and thought, "Great - my 757 should have TV - should make the flight go by quickly." Nope - no TV. What do you think a customer thinks? Now take the market that has a mix of 737s and RJs. We're screwing out customer depending on what time of day they want to fly.
Wifi mods went fast, probably because there it was pretty easy and provides revenue.
Originally Posted by
acl65pilot
See above. There is no price elasticity for IFE's Someday but currently people buy tickets on price and price alone. We are seeing a shift away from 50 seaters for many reasons, but the main one is CASM which effects CASM, not comfort. If it made money we would fly it as is.
I'm surprised there isn't price elasticity for the IFE. If I were a paying customer, I'd pay more to fly on JetBlue or Virgin America LAX-IAD than on Delta or United. Maybe $10 more, but I am aware of the TV and how that would help out.
Originally Posted by
acl65pilot
My point is the MD-90 is a great Band-Aid. Problem is that as we move later in to this decade and in to the 20's the 9, 88, 90, 320, 757's 767's 744's and even the 73N's will be 30-60 years old. All of that metal combined with fuel prices, carbon offsets etc will make it necessary to refleet the airline.
Simple supply chain economics, and airline economics will not allow 50 aircraft deliveries a year to refleet in 10-15 years. If we did this the cost is unworkable.
The baseline point was that airlines generally should be refleeting at a rate of about 10-20 jets a year continually so that there is not a bulge. It holds true with staffing as well, but does not work out that way. Reference the retirement numbers in 8-18 years.
It is my opinion that if we wait until the next gen 737/320 arrives in 2022 or later we are going to be in a position where it will cost DAL hundreds of billions of dollars over a few short years. We will not have the option to wait a few years like we do with the 787. The aircraft are going to be at the point where the HAVE to be replaced, it will not be just the desirable option. Boeing and Airbus will see that and the price per jet will be a lot less elastic.
Of course we could buy all of the used 73N WN is getting rid of, but we would not be able to compete with a competitor that is using a jet that will be 20-25% cheaper to operate.
Make sense?
Yeah, makes sense. I know that all the airlines today can't wait ten years for a replacement 737/320. And that timeframe is if it's on-time and you're one of the first customers.
I guess the company's choices in the past are coming back to haunt us. But we have to fill the seats if we order more airplanes. ATA did a big fleet renewal early last decade, but couldn't make it work. There were more issues at ATA than just that, but that was one of them.
I think the "problem" is that our fleet is middle aged. Too young to replace but not old enough to retire. If I were in charge, I'd buy some 737s now at low prices, but lease them out for five years or so, then take them back and replace the MD88s with them. Yes, a few more seats to fill but the economy should be better and traffic would of grown by then.