Charter Flying
 

Hello,

DL has a massive sports charter presence with the MLB, NHL, and NBA, however with the expedited retirements of the 757/767 soon how will the charter side of Delta's operation fare? I know the NBA ordered 321's to be operated by DL, but 13 airframes seems like a small replacement number. Will charter ops be relinquished to other carriers? Interested on thoughts.

I think there are around 13 757s currently that do the nba flying. Then the nba leases them to other leagues when not in use. Also some football teams charter WBs.
I think the neos take over in about 18-24 months. I’d have to dig up the press release.
also, you can visit charter desk in occ (coordinate in advance), and they can chit chat about charter ops

There’s also 767s that I’ve flown for NFL teams and wasn’t there an NFL 330 last year that had an engine failure? I’ve also used regular 199 pax planes for NHL and MLB chargers. It’s not just those few 757s that do charters.

13 airframes actually increases the size of the dedicated charter fleet. There are only 11 757s in the current charter fleet.

I’m sure the company will at least seek to maintain, if not grow that side of the business.

While I’m not completely sure what you’re referring to as far as expedited retirements, the charter 75’s are not owned by Delta so that shouldn’t be affected.

Oh, it’ll be affected. When Delta retires the ER from passenger service, do you actually think they’ll stand up an entire category of pilots, instructors, FA training curriculum, additional resources, etc to service a minuscule fleet of privately owned 757 that do a very small amount of flying compared to the normal operation?

The NBA is already dumping the 757s soon for 321s.

The only thing I have seen on the NBA charters going to the 321 has been stuff floating around the internet. Has the company said anything on it?

no need to be a dick about it.

It must have felt good to grandstand.

even if all the 767s get parked it seems reasonable that the 757s will be around for a while. Even if they just fly regional legs from ATL, I think they’ll be a cash cow for network. Beats the mad dog every day of the week.

If all the 767s go away, then training has a problem because then the 767 sims can't be used. Right now, 7ER pilots can use any sim for training events.

if the 767s go away so does a good chunk of ER pilots. Don’t we have 5 757 sims? I think the 737 only has 6 (5 in ATL + 1 in SLC) and we have more than twice as many 737s as 757s

Soon might be a bit of a stretch as the orders were only placed a few months ago. Even more so if the custom interior certification goes anything like the current lie-flat neo debacle.

Did you even read the post? They were asking if a couple of additional airframes being retired this year would affect charters.

I swear 767 sims feel like a myth to me, most of my IQ was in 757-4 and every cq has been 757-1. Normally I’d never care about sim numbers but those ones are something else.

Which is the one that sounds like a tired gerbil has to spin the wheel every time you takeoff?

I pretty sure that’s 757-4. I’ve been told they won’t schedule it for anyone’s 34X, 44X, 641, etc. because of how bad it is

Done deal. https://www.flyingmag.com/nba-nabs-a...ured-a321neos/

I’m referring to the fact that the aircraft still need to be produced (eventually), delivered, and receive FAA approval for the custom interiors. That last step hasn’t been going well for the lie-flat neos.

If all goes perfectly well, the first 321neo charter ship could be in service in about 2 years.

The seats and tables and lavs and closets are all already approved and in other aircraft. The Big seat NBA airplane are not going to use an unapproved new innovative seat that was created just for our transcontinental product. Besides they are not 121 airframes. They are corporate and possibly charter planes.

All of our charter flights are conducted under part 121, per the FOM and our Ops Specs.

I’m not saying that the custom interiors are guaranteed to be delayed in certification. But I’m not holding my breath on these aircraft being in service anytime soon after the orders were just placed last fall.

121 for continuity of operation, yes but there's no FAA mandate that they even be operated 135 if the are used solely by the NBA and the NBA owns them. I doubt they will be delayed for anything especially interiors, but I have no idea where they lie in the airbus delivery calendar.

They’re not used solely by the NBA.

Yes but they are never used in part 121 passenger operations. The NBA charters them out to other sports leagues, but in the way a business that owns a private jet might lease it out during what otherwise be time the jet is unused.

Per the July 2024 filing with the DOT, they’re all going to be placed on the Delta operating certificate (as the charter 757s currently are). Our Ops Specs require that they be operated under part 121.

You are correct but what if Delta and the NBA part ways. The NBA owns the jets and can find another operator. I'm not sure what we are talking about anymore. I think any charter business Delta does with someone else's equipment is opportunistic at best and not part of the core business, but I hope we continue it because it's union jobs at a major airline rate.

its a small part of the business but I asked a network guy about it who was on the Jumpseat for some special project. He said the charter side is a HUGE moneymaker for the airline.

From an ER pilot perspective it’s almost like a little side hustle that spices up the big packet every once in a while. I end up doing them very rarely but they’re kind of neat to do occasionally. It sort of feels like a-coding an Air Force OST. Hope they stay around.

I tried that side hustle once on a GIG layover. It got weird.

She has a name. 75-4 is Christine. Christine is a spiteful b!tch. You have no idea wtf it's going to respond to your inputs with and your visibility is limited. Also, sometimes she bodyslams you. What you don't want, is her to give you the peoples elbow during push roll power stabilize

She won't do that if you yell "UPSET RECOVER!" first.

That explains it. I've been yelling CALM DOWN CHRISTINE before the push roll power thing. I get bucked every time

One of the few sims you didn't have to remind crews to buckle in and attach shoulder harnesses. She's been that way for as long as I can remember. Never knew what curve ball she'd send you during a session. There was also an 88 sim called "christine" pretty much the same kind of action (some 88 drivers would consider that "realistic" training though).

I thought the 88 sim was Agatha….