We will always have a lot of fleet types. They are looking at maybe taking out a fleet or two and adding a fleet or two.
The reality is that the 9, 88, 744, some of the 757's, and some of the 320's are getting old. We are going to be replacing them in the next 10-15 years. That is not something that is new.
But, yes, I suspect they are in talks with three to four manufacturers. Some are farther along than others too. Just replacing the 88 fleet alone in a mega billion dollar investment.

The merger is what it is. Wall St. is funny that way. Anyone remember when Harley Davidson was put into a conglomerate with AMF? Beer Coolers and Bowling Alleys had a lot to do with building motorcycles.

Management has to find some way to accentuate the positive and truthfully, Delta does have sufficient size to operate quite a few types without any being so small as to be terribly inefficient. Further, we need quite a variety of capabilities to serve our global network.

Clearly some rationalization does need to occur in the 70 to 150 seat range. Right now we operate CRJ-700, 705, 900, the E170 & E175, the 737-700, A319, A320, DC9-30/40/50, MD88 and MD90. These are flown by ASA, Comair, Mesa, Freedom, Mesaba, Pinnacle, SkyWest, Republic, Shuttle America, former Northwest and Delta pilots. A lot of this equipment is inefficient, a lot of it is "well seasoned" and many of the deals we've entered into to operate it (cost plus regardless of revenue) are not serving us well. (if I forgot an airplane type, or pilot group... forgive me) The point is, we got a lot of management teams and there are lawsuits and infighting amongst this "team." Not only is Mesa / Freedom suing Delta, so's Skywest.

To contrast:

Southwest operates the 737.

American and Continental are headed that direction.

Self limiting... Cross the country or around the world.... much much much different animals. But I know you know this. :D

United appears to be outsourcing all the < 150 seat market they can. US Air has a management team - frankly - they only appear in the news when they get arrested - so who knows what their plans are

The C Series might be a way for Delta to leapfrog the competition. We also have some of that earlier 737 order on the books, although if you look at the history of that order, we've sold deliveries and bought RJ's, tons of them.

I was specifically referencing the 70 to 150 seat market.

But Southwest could get giggy with them if they wanted (and passengers would stand it). The 737 is ETOPS certified and does/did cross the Pacific for Continental and Aloha. Private Air tried running them across the Atlantic.

Southwest's SA on the market:

Q & A With Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly at SmartMoney.com

Another statistic in my daily business news review that is just amazing:

Absolutely... I am pretty sure you are correct.


*Sigh*... yeah I know this, but we are still completely different products. I guess we could be the same if we chose to become a cattle car operation, and shed several fleets, but I still prefer the way we do things here. I sincerely hope that management is looking at rightsizing the airframe for the market in all theatres too. That is what makes Hauenstein so special as he does seem to "get it" Since the Asian markets are sucking wind, I would hope we could ferry a few 320s or 737s out there and fly them around. Not all markets out there require ETOPS, so this could work out too. I dunno.. obviously those decisions are not made with input from a web forum, but the discussion is interesting...

DAL can think that the >150 seat market is not theirs, but that does not mean that we need to.
Fact, is that if they want to outsource it, it means they do not want to design a business plan that works with it. I see that as an easy out.
People want to travel, they want it all, good company, pilots that have no life except to fly their jet, and 20 dollar prices coast to coast. I personally would prefer to raise prices, see less ridership(even though it would mean less jobs, sorry but we have to fix the industry not be politically correct), and have the airlines and their employees treated better.
Fact is that to date we have been able to cut bone after bone with minimal blood spilled. Some day that house of cards is going to come crashing down. The politicians will look to the airlines and the airlines will look at them. Fact is that be running this industry on fumes we are headed towards what I would term a reckoning. They will try the MPL as a band aid, just as they tried age 65. Fact is that sooner or later we are going to have to realize that this instant gratification society is going to kill this industry.

Simple math....
Quality+Safety=Money. It costs money to do it correctly

Those guys do read it or had it read for them though.

Delta closes $2.1 billion in financing

ATLANTA - Delta Air Lines Inc. says it has closed on $2.1 billion worth of financing, which will help with the major debt payments it has due next year.

The world's biggest airline says it refinanced about $1.5 billion in debt from Northwest Airlines, which it acquired last year. It says the transaction generated another $600 million in cash. The transactions were first announced earlier this month.

Delta says the loans address more than 40 percent of the debt that comes due next year. It says the whole transaction has an effective interest rate of 9.2 percent.

Delta says it expects to end the quarter on Wednesday with $5.6 billion in cash.

The new debt is secured by Delta's Pacific routes, including route authorities, slots, and gate leases.

I somewhat agree with you. We are different than SWA; however, we still have a domestic product. And although the domestic air travel has been reduced to "the bus" mentality, we can't forget that it is the domestic passenger that fills our airplanes and makes the international hub and spoke design profitable. We can't ignore that the SWAs and jetBlues have been eating away the low hanging fruit and slowly taking market share away from the legacies. Without our domestic passengers, our international system isn't viable.