Delta buys 20% of Latam
 

And gets 14 additional A350’s out of it.

Huhhh...Did not see that coming.

Yeah, I just read it and almost passed out. After all the talk on here about the A350’s not meeting our needs, we are getting 14 more over the next 4 years. 4 that are currently in service.

I better not get too excited. We might just park the 777’s and make it a net loss of 2 airframes. I’ve become cynical over the last 20 years.

Didn’t the triple 7’s just get refreshed? This is growth. I bet we got them for cheap. This is a great deal. Hopefully will open up some new SA routes or at least routes we used to fly. A350’s are actually liked well by the company. I’ve heard it from the mouth of Bob Smeltzer and a route planning guy at a recent flight ops meeting and from an uppity up last month on skynet from a presentation. We had growing pains but they’ve been doing well the past year. 14 new ultra wides plus normal staffing (doubled-2Ca/2Fo per flight)... good for movement. I expect a good sized AE coming to a dealtanet near you soon. Movement from the ground up. This is great news deltoids.

Right. Movement in the 350 and 777 fleets creates lots of movement down stream to the other fleets. It is always nice when there’s movement at the very top.

Put all the 777s in LAX, put the new 350s in ATL, and split the remaining 350 options between DTW and ATL?

I hope so. I know the 777 has been a good aircraft for us. I would love for these to all be growth.

Well that puts a quick end to 2 negative narratives on the forums:

1. Delta is JVing everything and doesn't want to grow Int'l

2. Delta is not happy with the 350

The Renaissance is officially in full swing

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And depending on how many are coming in 2020 we need more pilots yesterday.

CNBC reporting DL exiting GOL ownership stake.

We often talk of the 777 as a homogeneous fleet of aircraft when comparing it to the 350. That is an inaccurate analysis. The A350-900 compares favorably with the 777-200ER, but is not even in the same league as the 777-200LR. The disappointment with the 350 is mostly among the pilots who thought the 350 could fly to SYD. It just doesn't have the lift or the legs to compete on a 15 hour flight. SYD, JNB and BOM are where we need the 777, but just the 10 LRs. Our 777ER flying could be done with the A350, in fact several city pairs move between the 350, 777ER and soon the 330-900.