Departures are way down as well.

 

Three things I took away from this interview:

1) Were did RA's Southern Accent go?

2) DAL is trying to morph into an investment grade stock.

3) We aren't buying anything (any time soon). Our order books are full- with 737-900s and Bombardier jets

TEN

 

Duly noted, but when you only hire 200 off the street pilots in 5 years, 5 years doesn't mean anything in anf of itself.

If we ever hire again, especially sustainable 40-50+/month hiring, MSP (if kept the same size) will likely be available to junior pilots again, maybe even out of new hire training like it was the last time we hired.

 

88 is a full sized tube though. Not comparable to an RJ at all.

Unless you're in the back rows between the engines with no windows, the 88 is a nice ride from a pax standpoint. APU management in the summer time notwithstanding of course.

 

And what used to get mainline service is now getting RJs. The loyalty NWA received for that will soon disappear.

 

2/3 of the C concourse that used to be mainline are now mostly jumbo RJs...wait a minite

 

There are down, but define way down? I tried to find some numbers but the best I can do is a DOT number that departures were down 1.67% from 2011 to 2012. For 2009 through now it looks like it has been relatively static, considering our over all shrinking capacity.

I do not see MSP becoming a MEM or CVG to much business traffic. It has as many Fortune 500 companies as ATL and profitability is good for the hub. However everything is not roses in snow town.

My guess is that in the end MSP will be a 7er, almost all domestic flying, M88, and 717 base. No more wide bodies and no more Airbuses.

 

Just because a hub/pilot base shrinks doesn't mean its going away. Moving the sims was a separate decision altogether. NATCO was nice but the economics of having it all in one place makes sense. Even MEM and CVG have a bigger presence/route map than any other airline would provide if DL "pulled out".

IMO DL is in a good position at both markets; big enough to offer a footprint that dominates the market and business travelers and still be able to severely punish anyone that tries to poach, yet small enough to not have to run much of an arbitrary hub with needless overlap.

MEM, CVG and MSP are all good markets and I think DL will try hard to continue being the major/dominant player at all 3. The biggest threat IMO to all 3 remaining hubs and pilot bases (in 2 of the 3 cases) will be keeping the airport boards from selling their souls for the mythological "LCC effect" and trying to get DL and the local tax base to subsidize cut throat competition that will result in far smaller route maps that will hurt everyone.

 

No they aren't. It's still #2 behind ATL for mainline departures.

As for the A320 base, MSP has way more pilots per departure than other hubs.

 

I'm far from an experienced investor, but I believe airline stock prices tend to take a hit (trigger a sell off) whenever said airline announces large aircraft orders. I could be wrong on that.

Plus I think it sends a strong message to both Boeing and Airbus that we are not necessarily in a direct need of wide body aircraft at this point, and holding off until the end of the decade is something we are prepared to do. I personally wouldn't read into it too much.


All in all, I think we are in a good position overall with a pretty aggressive lead to our domestic competitors. Internationally though, that may be another story. Good news to see the Abu Dhabi U.S. preclearance checkpoint apparently getting shot down.

I'm just not interested in hearing about this "proposed wide-body order" being contingent on TA ratification at the end of 2015. The company needs to run the company the way it sees fit and fleet expansion should not be allowed to be used as negotiating capital.