Airline Pilot Central Forums - Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?

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Quote:

Originally Posted by shiznit (Post 1453431)

I don't see 70 "growth jets" in 2 years.
I see about 12 more 90's,
14 less DC-9's, an unknown addition/subtraction of 739/757/320's,
and 50-ish growth 717's, with 30-ish more in the 3rd year out from now.

SD's letter stated that the number of pilots to be hired "can and likely will be adjusted". The math doesn't work to hire less(given the 50-ish 717's coming), so it stands to reason that more will be the "adjustment" but they will not announce that until this fall or around the new year.

(My opinion: IFS wanted 1000 FA's in the spring but the board said no, and so they approved a lower total number and had to split the hiring between spring and fall. It's not a Delta hates pilots thing.)

Delta does not have contracts in hand that confirm the purchase of 8-12 WB and 30 more large NB aircraft so they won't announce hiring for aircraft that probably can't even be built and delivered until mid to late 2015. In a real world scenario I'd expect to hear about hiring(or increased hiring) about 2-3 months ahead of scheduled delivery (kinda like we just got with the 717's)

It seems more prudent to make constant and smaller adjustments to the Company plan, keeping it nimble and responsive, backtracking on a strategic plan isn't usually a good idea and sows doubt among the shareholders(and then stock prices decline). I don't see any necessity to announce big numbers years in advance, things could change.... And always do in this crazy business!

I'm simply going by the mainline domestic fleet count between now and the end of 2015. Perhaps the mainline domestic fleet will increase, & then decrease as 757 retirements are acclerated. All the numbers I've seen from the company and the union point to growth over the next several years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Columbia (Post 1453408)

IMO, adding 300 pilots (to the bottom) may very well make the difference for weekends off on reserve or holding a line for well more than the bottom 2%.

Perhaps. But only if you're on a category that newbies are going to, right? And if a majority are going to the 717 or M88, how many will it really help? We have over 10, 000 active pilots. 300 pilots isn't a lot considering the size of our pilot group. It's a great start, but the majority of the group won't be effected by it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shiznit (Post 1453431)

The fleet plan, aircraft delivery schedules and aircraft park and retirement plans are all posted in various locations on Deltanet and are accessible from a work computer. The latest revision that I looked at was dated 6/13/13 and showed a net increase of 80 mainline airframes by 12/31/15. It didn't include the 11 EVA/Uni MD-90's. There were 50 739 and 88 B717 deliveries against 17 DC-9-50 and 41 B757 retirement/lease returns.

Colbert's back from vacation.

Good possibility of used 321's............................................. .Kingfisher.

When's it gonna be, the next AE (results)?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big3win (Post 1453842)

Good possibility of used 321's............................................. .Kingfisher.

Kingfisher?

http://www.cougar-rides.com/wp-conte...phpgTg8JT.jpeg

I know we like used and abused but

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/b...w/19436669.cms

I know it's not the 321s but not sure if anything they touched would be something to get.

Quote:

Originally Posted by forgot to bid (Post 1453863)

Kingfisher?

http://www.cougar-rides.com/wp-conte...phpgTg8JT.jpeg

I know we like used and abused but

Kingfisher Airlines?s 15 leased planes may land in scrapyards - The Times of India

I know it's not the 321s but not sure if anything they touched would be something to get.

Better check the PlaneFax on those.

Quote:

Originally Posted by slowplay (Post 1453680)

1) Does that 41 include the 11 B757s that have already been taken out of service since July of last year? If not, then thats 52 B757s lost and 50 B739s replacing them. Also there's a rumor we're headed to 60ish B757s, that'd be a total loss of around 90 B757s since the 739 was ordered. So that makes the 739 almost entirely a 757 replacement, but the 739 was advertised as a 763 and 320 replacement as well. Are we still going to park from of the 16 domestic B763s or 320s?

2) Given the numbers of around 80 aircraft in the particular categories you mentioned I see a BH ratio of 1.80 (or 1.7981).

If that is true, why did we put the required ratio in the PWA at 1.56 if this growth was known last year?

3) We have about 324 retirements between now and the end of 2015. If we are going to have net growth of 80 airframes between now and the end of 2015 that'd require about 1444 pilots (14/acft). We're hiring 300, so we need 1,144 in 2015 alone to cover aircraft already being delivered in 2015. So we'd behind the entire year in staffing by a considerable amount even with 95 pilots a month.

What the he[Rachel Maddow Show]ll are they thinking with pilot hiring? Why only announce 300 if you need nearly 5 times that in short order? Or is it we don't need 14 pilots per plane anymore? How many RES Captains and FOs are exceeding ALV now and is it already effecting pilot staffing needs?

4) 80 airframes between now and the end of 2015, or about 89 since July of last year, equals a seating inventory growth of around 11%. Put those seats in motion and take DCI to 450 jets and net the DCI 50-seaters for 76-seaters ASM swap and you've got a domestic growth of around 6-7% over a 2 year period. Or what 3%/yr give or take.

It's a lot of growth or about 3X what we've been doing for years now and even this year...

Richard Anderson 24JUL13: We will continue to manage our capacity conservatively as we've done over the past several years in order to prioritize profit margins and improving cash flows. The first half of 2013, our capacity was down overall, and we will be up slightly about 2% in the back half of 2013; for full year capacity, up less than 1%, below GDP growth.

So.... honest question, what's the growth for? We're going to grow our domestic fleet by 14%, grow ASMs by 6%, increase well beyond the required BH ratio... but where are these jets going? And why are we breaking our capacity constraint model out of the blue even after this week claiming we're staying the course?

And with all the growth why are we only going to hire 300 in 2014 leaving us way behind for 2015?

It reminds me of talking to these APDs in the 88 program, guy 1 is freaking out because there will be so many pilots coming through there won't be enough sims even with the E period sims for newhires and the wheels are going to come off. APD guy #2 says we were told we don't really need to hire right now.