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Richard Anderson on today's conference call.
The most worrying thing about it is the distribution of the cuts.
Trans-Atlantic is slated to be chopped 8-10% this fall. That's pretty significant. The first analyst question hit the issue right on the head as far as who will bear those cuts.
Delta might be the one doing all the cutting while our alliance partners do none of it because thay have "labor considerations" and "social pressures" which prevent them from reducing capacity in any meaningful way that might impact jobs.
We need to watch this very carefully to make sure that Delta pilots don't absorb all the pain while AF/KLM/Alitalia use our joint venture as a jobs program.
Remember, that quote about labor and social issues was from an analyst and not a Delta person. Both the Joint Venture agreement and all three contracts (DL, AF, KLM) all specify that the cuts are done 50-50. AF/KLM may not cut their total capacity, that is for them to decide, but for the Joint Venture flying across the Atlantic, it has to be 50-50.