Well, if you're to believe the company, it sounds like the 747s brawniness isn't as required as it once was in the pacific.

Supposedly if Delta owns a retired aircraft then they like to part it out, and 4 parked 747s would be a lot of parts to save money on. I think it's odd to do this after the interiors were done but you can part those out, no? So it'd make sense you'd improve your margins on some routes and reduce the cost of operating the 747s on the routes they still reign supreme.

So couldn't it just be that mathematically fewer 747s equals more profitability?

I argue we're a 767 airline. I think that's the nature of operating a global airline from the States where the 767 or now the A330/350/787 would make more money most of the time than a 748, 773 or 380.

Park 'em. I couldn't care less. It is not our decision what airplanes to buy, nor how to fly them... We need to get more money for the airplanes we DO fly. If we were paid properly for what we do, we could NEVER be held hostage for airplanes. To borrow a phrase, this is management's manifest destiny.

At one time, the 757/767 was 35% of the metal at DAL. We WERE a 767 airline. Soon the 737/MD88 will be the lion's share of DAL metal. Bigger. good plan.

I guess there will always be routes where you do want the ULH aircraft and that's probably why a 747 fleet of 12 or 16 has its niche. The 744 like the 752 isn't getting any younger as time goes on though so eventually they are going to exit stage left.

So if we are still taking bets:

• 330s come now, do what they're doing but also encroach on 772 flying.
• 330Neos for the long term 763/764 flying.
• park the 4 744s, but not replace them, you now can use the 772 on some of those routes.
• buy a half dozen 773s, maybe a few more, to replace 744s at the end of the decade but it won't be a 1:1 replacement. So now you have just what you need for very large ULH flying and can have a such a small fleet because it's already a part of a larger fleet. Win win.

warning: they benefit only commuters.....so i will probably get flamed for choosing to be a commuter.

a) i want our 2hr commute into shortcall back, that we lost in the recent LOA
b) I want to be able to bank all of the positive space deadhead deviations that I dont use (like if i finish a rsv trip in sayyyy STL, and take SWA straight back to MCO instead of using the company dhd to ATL)

I stand corrected, sorry. I usually see this kind of stuff. But the company hasn't issued any public info, the articles cite "internal company memorandum".

But the rest of my guesses I still think are accurate.

Please post the full text if you want anyone to take it and run with it as new business. Or, are your resolutions already on the adenda with Armando?

Bank deadheads for what? You already have unlimited positive space deviate from deadheads. For commuting?

The Dude Abides
 

Richard Anderson says the Big Lebowski will be free on every Delta flight.

I believe that's what he means. Fedex or UPS have a similar system.

The idea is that by saving the company a scheduled DH, he should be able to "bank" it for further use.