I find this rumor a bit of a stretch. Aircraft purchase prices are carefully watched by all airlines. No one wants to pay more then a competitor. Most sell in a fairly tight price range amongst like airlines. The list price for a 777-200 ER is 205 to 230 million depending on options. Delta has one of the best deals and lots of delivery options at a fixed price. I understand our actual price for a 777ER would be around 180 million. If we were offered A330 for 60 million dollars each I suspect we would have announced a order for 120 of them and start replacing the entire 767 fleet tomorrow. You can't buy a A320 even with discounts for 60 million. The list price on a A330-300 is 195 to 205 million. At 60 million a copy we could crush everyone. I don't think you will touch one for under a 160 million in the real world.

From a very good source the plan to move some 330 time to ATL is on hold because NWA has limited simulators available for the training that would be involved. Perhaps a former NWA pilot can add to this but it appears that NW only had enough sim capacity to accomplish annual training and attrition for the A330. A massive rebid would require leasing huge blocks of outside sim time which is expensive at the moment. They will cover the Atlanta flying with deadheads and 9 and 12 day trips instead of moving the time.
Yes the bid is going to be brutal for Atlanta.

Heyas Sailing,

Tis true. There is only 1 330 sim. But we have like 4 747-400 sims. Go figure.

In the past, they have leased copious amounts of 330 sim time from Airbus in MIA, I believe.

Nu

This is a general comment, and not directed at the 330 rumor (this is the first I've heard of it), but getting 330s from Boeing would not be unusual.

As part of a fleet renewal package, a manufacturer will often agree to take a competitor's fleet off an airline's hand in order to secure that customer as a longtime client. Consider it trading in a Chevy to buy a Ford. Those airplanes either end up in the dessert, a scrap heap, or sold/leased on the used aircraft market. Boeing and Airbus have both done this.

IF this rumor were to come to fruition, these will not be new 330s. In fact, they will probably be older, worn out copies. The fact that USAir deferred their 330 order (they did not cancel it) has no bearing here. More than likely, Boeing has some aging 330s it took on trade in that it needs homes for and they are offering them as a temporary stop gap measure. Again, just speculation, but that would be the likely scenario.

Where do I find the current reserve call-out list?

In DBMS go to Open time and there is a sub-menu, the B option I think, that says reserve availability. It's only for the current and next day.

Denny

Thanks. I'm about to serve my first day of reserve on Friday. My raw score will be 0 since I have just become qualified. The way I understand it, my chances of not sitting short-call the first day are almost nil. That being said if I put in for PM short-call, what time will they give me? Are they going to do what they want to me either way?

Beer??????? Who said beer??? I have lots of that!!:eek: I'll even show up with cleanish underware :D

Ferd

Unfortunately yes. I have some weird backups in case they call me. Seek every option available to get there, hope for the best, and be prepared for the worst (5 am on Friday).

It is true, we only have 1 330 sim, strong possibility we will get the one that we were using in Manchester; it could be up and running fairly soon...the sim can be dual configured 330/340.

I'm with sailing on the exchange of 3 330s for 1 777...don't think so, unless its an old aircraft.