Originally Posted by
sailingfun
They stated at the JFK meeting hiring 305 and then taking a break until fall of 2011 and then could hire another 300 or so. The flying at Delta is so cyclic that they don't want anyone in school in the summer. They need everyone on the line. If you have new hires in class in the Spring and Summer then you have to have pilots in all seats in class at the same time to make room for them as everyone moves up.
I don't see the bold part as being true for
new hires. There is no reason why they can't be in the school house in the summer. They aren't being pulled off the line to switch airplanes, so there isn't a loss in the system.
Most of the instructors are DGS, so no loss there. Any SLI instructors are probably less busy because they aren't doing as much CQ or Captain upgrades as normal, to keep people on the line for the summer. (a smart training dept would train people expiring in June in May, and August people in Sept).
In 2007 they hired and trained right through the summer. In 2008, the hired in March/April and probably trained through the summer as well.