I think most of the so called regional pilots welcome the fact that some mainline companies may be deploying smaller aircraft on routes that are being flown by them.... I think the disdain is in the apparent glee that Capt"numbnuts"crunch showed above at the loss of jobs at the regional level.....

I believe you would be hard pressed to find comments of the reverse nature....i.e. a regional pilot happy that a mainline group was losing their job... ( there are a few but they are just idiots.....maybe the two have something in common )...

I have to echo CVG767A's comments. I really do feel for anyone getting furloughed. I was furloughed myself for 4 1/2 years after 9/11, while I watched almost unprecedented growth at the regional level. For the last few years, some industry observers were saying that the next downturn would affect regionals as the legacies had already been through the fire. For anyone who thought that those times would last, didn't really understand their industry.

Much more eloquent. Thanks. I am sorry that guys are hitting the street, I've been furloughed myself and it sucks, I know. But I am tired of the airlines paying for landing fees, gas, etc for the regionals while they claim they are out of money and then using the regionals to get contract concessions and generally screw the mainline pilots. To see that coming to an end, yes I am gleeful. The fact that many are hitting the street is not where my glee lies.

I'm not sure if the Shuttle is that low -- based on the flights I've flown. However, it wouldn't surprise me. I talked to a Capt on my last rotation about this subject. He said "its on the table" but he knew of no plans as of yet to send the Shuttle to the RJs. He also said this was only for the DC Shuttle not Boston.

On a side note, DAL did win the government contract for DC ... so this may save the 88 on the DC Shuttle.

-Fatty

OUT OF THE 61 PLANNED AT THE END OF THE YEAR

20 will be dc9-30's

7 will be dc9-40's

34 will be dc9-50's

maybe they will switch some of the dc9's over to the shuttle flying, who knows

Thanks for the info. The -9 might be a good airplane for the shuttle, especially the DCA flying.

Now I hope that they decide that there's money in cargo (i.e. freighters, in addition to belly cargo).

Paok,

That sucks. It is bad to see anyone lose a job but as said above most of the regional flying today was previously flown by the majors prior to 9-11, this is just the pendulum swinging back in the other direction.

Scoop

Actually, DAL is going after Cargo quite aggressively and they are hoping to change their image in the cargo world.

Delta looking to expand cargo business | ajc.com

Also, I've heard rumours that a couple of our 777s in Asia flew the first flights not with passengers but with cargo only because of a backlog.

-Fatty

Super,
Talk on the DAL boards is R. Anderson met with the LCA today and said we were not going to keep the -30's. No timeline but definitely not the kind of news we need to hear. Other info was surprisingly upbeat (which makes it hard to believe) including DAL would report an operating profit for this quarter.

Scoop