Originally Posted by
AceOnTheRiver
How many international flights are they adding in the next 6 months? I don't see how they can staff the airline with the long haul increase, plus the early retirements thrown into the mix.
Well, most of that is typical AMR shell game - announce new city service, pull out of existing city pair (BOS-SFO), reallocate the airplanes and crews.
Also, for every 737 for MD80 replacement, it's a 14% capacity increase (160 seats vs. 140) with the same crew ratio.
Retirements are also lagging the company's forecast -- the big exodus everyone is hoping for hasn't happened and probably won't until December, 2012.