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Originally Posted by Carl Spackler
(Post 1419339)
We do have a very large surplus of pilots. Very large. Fat in nearly every category except for the 3 summer months that are easily handled by people begging to white slip. That surplus only enlarged by the very large increase in productivity allowed by this contract.
The company has decided it makes economic sense to carry all the extra pilots as opposed to furloughing. That's their economic decision. Once again, we have a very large surplus of pilots at ma Delta. Carl . |
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Had a chance to talk today with someone "in the know." Not a lot of new info but he reinforced some things many already believe and offered some fresh insight. Here is what he had to say on key topics...
Background: The primary objective this year is a $2Bn profit and debt below $10Bn. FltOps asked for new pilots in Jan but were told to wait until finance could run the numbers. In March, Finance calculated there was a better than 50% chance the costs of hiring would exceed any costs associated with tight manning. It is now generally accepted among management they calculated WRONG! Expect a summer full of GS, IAs and Rolling Thunder like never before. That leads to the AE... AE: By the time the right people figured out the extent of the staffing problem (SD had been telling RA since Jan) it was too late to fix it with hiring. My source does not know the specifics of this AE other than it is partly a desperate attempt to curtail at least some of the scheduling carnage currently foreseen. It will also serve to get as many people in place as possible in order to put most of the new hires into the 717. The last big hiring cycle saw a lot of new hires going straight to the 7er. That created a seniority imbalance with wide ranging implications. They want to avoid this in the future. So what about hiring... Hiring: Barring an economic catastrophe, We MUST begin hiring no later than Jan 14. Hiring folks were told today that if 3rd Qtr numbers are solid and RA feels the profit and debt goals are assured, they should be prepared to start recalls/flows this fall. Contrary to some other info that has been out there, the hiring will be relatively slow (recalls plus 20-30 flows per month with minimal off-the-street) to start and won't pick up until the second half of 14. The massive hiring will be well under way by Jan 15 and continue for many years. AS: Execs are very unhappy with AS. "They are code share Wh@*&s willing to hook up with anyone who can fill their A/C" (his words). They are helping our competitors while claiming to be our partner. The DAL capacity being dropped on their core routes is both a statement of protest and a real effort to begin to wean off AS feed. In his opinion, we can only continue 3-4 more years in the current arrangement. We will have to be in a position to buy AS or go toe-to-toe with them by then. So what about SEA and LAX... We will continue to see slow but steady growth in SEA. There are numerous routes we would like to serve in LAX, but we are running into dead ends trying to get gates. The most preferred option now is a swap with UAL - our underutilized ORD gates for their T6 gates. Unfortunately, those negotiations are moving very slowly. Now you know all I know...that and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee...maybe. |
Originally Posted by sailingfun
(Post 1419533)
So the 2014 block hour program will show a increase but still small for the first half of the year. With your statement above I guess that means no hiring in 2014 and probably 2015. Want to make a small or perhaps large wager on that?
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Originally Posted by sailingfun
(Post 1419332)
I am still waiting for someone to explain why we don't have a massive surplus of pilots given the hundreds if not thousands of jobs lost in the new contract.
The subject is your false statement that you're waiting for someone to explain why we don't have a massive surplus of pilots. You already know we do have a large surplus. Nearly every Delta pilot knows it too. Why you state this stuff is the only question. You know better. Carl |
Originally Posted by ITSALLGOOD
(Post 1419545)
Had a chance to talk today with someone "in the know." Not a lot of new info but he reinforced some things many already believe and offered some fresh insight. Here is what he had to say on key topics...
Background: The primary objective this year is a $2Bn profit and debt below $10Bn. FltOps asked for new pilots in Jan but were told to wait until finance could run the numbers. In March, Finance calculated there was a better than 50% chance the costs of hiring would exceed any costs associated with tight manning. It is now generally accepted among management they calculated WRONG! Expect a summer full of GS, IAs and Rolling Thunder like never before. That leads to the AE... AE: By the time the right people figured out the extent of the staffing problem (SD had been telling RA since Jan) it was too late to fix it with hiring. My source does not know the specifics of this AE other than it is partly a desperate attempt to curtail at least some of the scheduling carnage currently foreseen. It will also serve to get as many people in place in order to put most of the new hires into the 717. The last big hiring cycle saw a lot of new hires going straight to the 7er. That created a seniority imbalance with wide ranging implications. They want to avoid this in the future. So what about hiring... Hiring: Barring an economic catastrophe, We MUST begin hiring no later than Jan 14. Hiring folks were told today that if 3rd Qtr numbers are solid and RA feels the profit and debt goals are assured, they should be prepared to start recalls/flows this fall. Contrary to some other info that has been out there, the hiring will be relatively slow (recalls plus 20-30 flows per month with minimal off-the-street) to start and won't pick up until the second half of 14. The massive hiring will be well under way by Jan 15 and continue for many years. AS: Execs are very unhappy with AS. "They are code share Wh@*&s willing to hook up with anyone who can fill their A/C" (his words). They are helping our competitors while claiming to be our partner. The DAL capacity being dropped on their core routes is both a statement of protest and a real effort to begin to wean off AS feed. In his opinion, we can only continue 3-4 more years in the current arrangement. We will have to be in a position to buy AS or go toe-to-toe with them by then. So what about SEA and LAX... We will continue to see slow but steady growth in SEA. There are numerous routes we would like to serve in LAX, but we are running into dead ends trying to get gates. The most preferred option now is a swap with UAL - our underutilized ORD gates for their T6 gates. Unfortunately, those negotiations are moving very slowly. Now you know all I know...that and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee...maybe. Sounds great! Hope it's all true. Even the coffee part! :) Actually, you can get a cup of coffee at World Bean in LGA for $1. So at least that part of you post is definitely true. :D |
Originally Posted by ITSALLGOOD
(Post 1419545)
Had a chance to talk today with someone "in the know." Not a lot of new info but he reinforced some things many already believe and offered some fresh insight. Here is what he had to say on key topics...
Background: The primary objective this year is a $2Bn profit and debt below $10Bn. FltOps asked for new pilots in Jan but were told to wait until finance could run the numbers. In March, Finance calculated there was a better than 50% chance the costs of hiring would exceed any costs associated with tight manning. It is now generally accepted among management they calculated WRONG! Expect a summer full of GS, IAs and Rolling Thunder like never before. That leads to the AE... AE: By the time the right people figured out the extent of the staffing problem (SD had been telling RA since Jan) it was too late to fix it with hiring. My source does not know the specifics of this AE other than it is partly a desperate attempt to curtail at least some of the scheduling carnage currently foreseen. It will also serve to get as many people in place in order to put most of the new hires into the 717. The last big hiring cycle saw a lot of new hires going straight to the 7er. That created a seniority imbalance with wide ranging implications. They want to avoid this in the future. So what about hiring... Hiring: Barring an economic catastrophe, We MUST begin hiring no later than Jan 14. Hiring folks were told today that if 3rd Qtr numbers are solid and RA feels the profit and debt goals are assured, they should be prepared to start recalls/flows this fall. Contrary to some other info that has been out there, the hiring will be relatively slow (recalls plus 20-30 flows per month with minimal off-the-street) to start and won't pick up until the second half of 14. The massive hiring will be well under way by Jan 15 and continue for many years. AS: Execs are very unhappy with AS. "They are code share Wh@*&s willing to hook up with anyone who can fill their A/C" (his words). They are helping our competitors while claiming to be our partner. The DAL capacity being dropped on their core routes is both a statement of protest and a real effort to begin to wean off AS feed. In his opinion, we can only continue 3-4 more years in the current arrangement. We will have to be in a position to buy AS or go toe-to-toe with them in 3-4 years. So what about SEA and LAX... We will continue to see slow but steady growth in SEA. There are numerous routes we would like to serve in LAX, but we are running into dead ends trying to get gates. The most preferred option now is a swap with UAL - our underutilized ORD gates for their T6 gates. Unfortunately, those negotiations are moving very slowly. Now you know all I know...that an a dollar will get you a cup of coffee...maybe. Now, here's a question for anyone, are we in position to go toe-to-toe with Alaska? Have we won the west coast HVCs over via the codeshare? How would A321s work into such a ploy? Another question, why are they upset about Alaska being code share *****s willing to hook up with anyone who can fill their jets and helping our competition? Wasn't that obvious before? Isn't that what outsourcing regional service to the lowest bidder has been about? Skywest? RAH? ExpressJet now? And so on. Now it's finally a bad thing? Sad to see even if hiring kicks in, it'll be a little slow. I'm very curious though, are they changing their minds on how quickly and large the 717 needs to be staffed up? Sounds like to me they're going to curtail it? But then again they wanted to be aggressive because of the aggressive delivery schedule and reduced training capacity... then again there were rumors the airplane was going to be delayed? I'm still curious about SD's wording about we've received additional clarity and will adjust accordingly? |
SOOOOO what are we calling it???
B-717..................
I have heard some names MiniDog etc...... But I kind of like "kick dog"......... "Delta 234, ATL ground. Left on Dixie Left on E and follow the company kickdog 8L" Thoughts?:D |
Originally Posted by FIIGMO
(Post 1419554)
B-717..................
I have heard some names MiniDog etc...... But I kind of like "kick dog"......... "Delta 234, ATL ground. Left on Dixie Left on E and follow the company kickdog 8L" Thoughts?:D |
Originally Posted by johnso29
(Post 1419566)
Or how about the mad pug? :D
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