El Peso

I really don’t think I agree with this. Delta has (66) 767s in their fleet currently. Those things will need to be replaced soon enough and that would mean G4 growth as there’s no true 767 replacement out there.

Meanwhile AA has (47) 777-200s that are approaching 25 yo and only have (35) 787s on order. Don’t forget this is after parking all the a330s and 767s. There’s a reason why wide body FO here goes senior to narrow body CA.

Now the next part is straight from the horses mouth, not speculation. AA strategy going forward will be to rely more on our international partners like BA and JAL, while we focus more on domestic. That’s straight from the Chief Revenue Officers’ mouth. With that in mind I think it’s safe to conclude that those fore-mentioned 777-200s are history.

Yes it’s true that there’s more retirements at AA than Delta, but AA will likely only have about 109 wide bodies in the near future, unless they place another order (not in the plan/too debt heavy). I doubt thats the case at Delta.

AllYourBaseAreB

Short term AA widebody picture sucks. But after paying off a bunch debt (the short term plan) the training backlog improves and rates go down, they will place a WB order. To worry now about something so unpredictable, and 5 years in the future, is wasted energy.

Milksheikh

I still think the long term prospects are better at AA. Up until very recently, true widebody capt at delta was pushing a quarter century. It’s insanely senior and only the top pilots on the list will get to that point. With how much delta has hired compared to AA, someone getting in at AA now will be a widebody capt sooner and for much longer while also having much better relative seniority as a widebody capt. Aircraft orders could change things up in favor of delta but they could also take the JV approach and farm out widebody flying too.

AAL24

There are roughly 1,000 WB CAs at AAL for whatever that’s worth. Junior WB CA outside of the LGA base tends to run in the 2400-2800 seniority range. We are at +-15,000 total pilots. Retirement numbers by year are available under the airline profiles.

Milksheikh

yup and AA has a bigger retirement bubble to pop than delta and has hired a LOT less pilots since 2014

El Peso

And if I’m not mistaken, in 2014 AA was actually still recalling TWA pilots who were not exactly spring chickens themselves. Also Eagle flow throughs who again weren’t exactly kids. That demographic is why I think you’re seeing AA retirements go so strong longer. Remarkably they haven’t even peaked yet.

TransWorld

Spot on, with your assessments.

AAL24

yeah if you’re looking for quick progression to decent seniority as a 737/A320 CA then AA is probably the one of the best bets out there. Particularly if you want to live in an AA base. WB CA though will be a long wait. Between now and 2040 there are about 10,000 retirements.

Hueypilot

I'll add that I have a friend at DAL who got hired there about 1-2 years after I got hired here (US Airways/AA)...so he'd have about 7-8 years on property. He's a 76ER (757/767-300) captain at Delta. Granted...he's NYC based and is probably on perma-reserve. But it's possible there at Delta. No way you'll ever touch anything larger than a 320/737 with that kind of seniority, even if you didn't mind being bottom-of-the-barrel reserve.

I think for the OP, the big questions are "where do you want to live" and "do you want to commute." Those are the most near-term issues, along with better earnings potential at DAL simply due to their work rules, potential for profit sharing, etc.

Zerosilver84

From now til 2040 there's a min of 7500 retirements at Delta.