Originally Posted by Timbo

The surviving post merger Delta CEO was Richard Anderson who came from NW, which already had a bunch of Airbus 330's and 320's. NW was the US launch customer for the 787, they had a sim and even had trained some instructors on the 787....when the 787 developed problems.

It was delayed about 3 years, but by then NW had merged with Delta which already had 777's and 10 more on order, and then Richard got into a ****ing contest with Boeing over the 787's, the Import/Export bank financing the ME3, etc.

So Richard delayed the 787 orders until 2020, and then just a few months ago Delta cnx'd them altogether. In the meantime, Richard restructured the Narita hub (ie dismantled it) and decided to make SEA and LAX the west coast gateway to Asia.

Don't need the range of the 787 if all you are going to fly is SEA/LAX to Seoul. They are working on another JV with Korean right now.

And who needs Boeings when you can buy Airbus for less than half the price?

Richard's got a real hardon for Boeing, that's why Delta's buying Airbus.

Originally Posted by Tinpusher007

I have always believed this to be the case. It never made sense to me that publicly, Richard said the reason the 787 lost out in the RFP was that Boeing couldn't get us favorable delivery slots when he was the one who deferred the order in the first place. He never hid his disdain for Boeing well, even going as far as making comments that hurt their stock price.

Originally Posted by sailingfun

People directly involved in the process say the 787 was the front runner. Delta needed the range of the 787-900 over the 787-800 or A350. Boeing knew our plans for the Shanghai hub and the range requirements and felt they were in the drivers seat. They did offer to supply 777-300ER's initially until the 787-900's started arriving. We asked that they build us 777-200LR's instead. They refused stating they were going to stop all -200 production on the 777.
In the end the reasons for why we made the choices we made are mute with the failure to achieve a Shanghai hub and that is the direct reason they are rethinking the widebody plan and have shifted focus to Korea.

Originally Posted by sailingfun

People directly involved in the process say the 787 was the front runner. Delta needed the range of the 787-900 over the 787-800 or A350. Boeing knew our plans for the Shanghai hub and the range requirements and felt they were in the drivers seat. They did offer to supply 777-300ER's initially until the 787-900's started arriving. We asked that they build us 777-200LR's instead. They refused stating they were going to stop all -200 production on the 777.
In the end the reasons for why we made the choices we made are mute with the failure to achieve a Shanghai hub and that is the direct reason they are rethinking the widebody plan and have shifted focus to Korea.

Originally Posted by Tinpusher007

Pardon my ignorance, but do we really need a 9000NM airplane to fly to PVG? The 200LR is a niche airplane; isn't that why we only have 10 of them? The 777-300ER is a very capable airframe in terms of payload and range. It seems that or even the A350-1000 would have made for a better true replacement for our whales. But I guess thats all a pipe dream with the changing situation in Asia for us.

Originally Posted by IronOne

A lot of these Florida commuters probably have inflated seniority in NYC and don't mind the commute. The Florida commuters (myself included) can go either way.
The North East people who drive to work or have a very short flight to NYC are less likely to move to ATL. They want QOL. Which will reduce how many of them will bid ATL positions.

Originally Posted by MikeF16

I liked the map that showed that one CVG88 pilot holding out in DFW. That is one angry crusty mother effer

Originally Posted by vilcas

"Hotter FA's" probably just friendlier would work. This isn't just the FA's the gate agents and customer service have some bad apples in the ranks as well. This is a big issue when it comes to competing with he foreign carriers. If we can improve customer service maybe we can increase market share internationally and justify the wide body aircraft everyone would like to fly. The pacific market being an area where things are toughest for us.

Originally Posted by sailingfun

that is the direct reason they are rethinking the widebody plan and have shifted focus to Korea.