Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?
01-16-2010, 02:54 PM
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Oct 2005
Position: CR7 Capt
Posts: 1,621
Originally Posted by satchip
01-16-2010, 03:05 PM
veut gagner à la loterie
Joined APC: Apr 2008
Position: Light Chop
Posts: 23,286
Better then ending a 4 day that way. 
I guess the Saints are moving on... movin on up, to the east side. To a deluxe apartment in the sky. They finally got a piece of the pie. Fish don't fry in the kitchen; Beans don't burn on the grill...
I guess the Saints are moving on... movin on up, to the east side. To a deluxe apartment in the sky. They finally got a piece of the pie. Fish don't fry in the kitchen; Beans don't burn on the grill...
01-16-2010, 03:05 PM
veut gagner à la loterie
Joined APC: Apr 2008
Position: Light Chop
Posts: 23,286
Originally Posted by buzzpat
No, that's not feasible. Besides, the cockpit is so small you'd have guys killing each other on flights that long. 'Course, might be a good way to thin out the herd a little. 
I'm all for a HNL base now.
01-16-2010, 03:05 PM
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Dec 2009
Position: 737n/FO
Posts: 667
LAX Base Visit Notes
Didn't see anyone else posting these so here they are (sorry for the formatting or lack thereof):
For those of you that were unable to attend the Flight Ops base visit on Wednesday, I will attempt to give you the Reader's Digest version of the presentation.
Jim Graham, VP of Flying operations kicked off the meeting with a recap of the merger integration and the next steps. Coming up at the end of the month is inventory integration which means the NWA call signs will go away, among other things. Fleet migration where Delta south crews can fly north equipment and vice versa, as well as F/As flying other equipment, will occur around April. Jim talked about e-mail subscriptions to FlightOps and Delta publications. You can use any e-mail address and you will only receive the publications you want. For instance, the Trim Tab, or base news letters. This e-mail subscription will not be used to contact you for any reason other than to deliver publications. It saves the company a lot of money in printing costs and makes it easier for you to get the information you want and/or need. Log on to the Flight Ops website and under communications you can subscribe. Give it a try, you can always unsubscribe if it's not for you.
Barry Wilbur talked about the last AE/Surplus bid. The bid posted more than 900 displacements, but due to VDs and AEs just over 700 MDs were required.
Next bid will be in May/June time frame and will quite possibly include a 7ER category in SEA. No information on the A330 in SEA or any other base changes.
The highlight was Phil Lindsey of Network Planning. Those of you that came to the last visit in Orange County were likely under whelmed by the network planning presentation. This presentation by Phil was the complete opposite. He was well prepared and knew what issues were important to LAX. First and foremost, Phil stated that the LAX base is stable. He said there may be some slight growth as we recently saw on the 73N, but for the most part it is stable. He noted that although this is not the good news we were hoping for, as far as growth, it is not necessarily bad news because it also means there are no plans to shrink LAX. He stated that LAX is the only base he could say is stable.
Ever wonder why the Sao Paulo flights are so sporadic? Phil explained that Delta has an agreement with Brazil for a fixed number of frequencies per month. It doesn't matter if you fly the frequencies to one airport in Brazil or several, we only have a certain number. The addition of Brasilia and Manaus took frequencies from other routes, most notably LAX-GRU. Phil stated that the route is doing okay, but they have decided to give it a full year before any decision is made. So, we can expect to see GRU, albeit sporadically, until at least June.
There are no plans for a 777 base in LAX. He went through the possible destinations in Asia and the Pacific and explained why none would make money. He stated that SEA and DTW will be the main gateways to Asia. DTW has proven to be a very profitable gateway for NWA and Delta plans to continue that. SEA will be the primary gateway from the west coast. LAX is a key player with SYD and NRT. SYD is finally turning the corner. The Alaska feed and the Virgin Blue JV are very important to the success of SYD and are paying off.
Hawaii is doing very well. There will be an additional LAX-OGG frequency in March and SLC-OGG is coming down because of equipment availability, but will return. Apparently 4 of the ATA 757 ETOPS aircraft have corrosion and have been taken out of service for repair. To those of us that have flown them, maybe taken out and shot would be better. Anyway, once they return we will have sufficient a/c to serve OGG from SLC.
No information about SAN-HNL as far as which base will fly it. Phil discussed the possibility of starting OGG-NRT with a 7ER or an A330. We will know later this year. LAX Europe non-stop is not likely to happen anytime soon. Our agreements with the SkyTeam partners dictate who will fly what markets and on which equipment. The other markets not flown by SkyTeam (London and Frankfurt) have too much competition and would not be viable. Air France flew LAX-LHR and pulled out. AMR pulled down one LAX-LHR departure due to inability to make it profitable.
JAL partnership. Very important to DAL for competition reasons and access. Rumors of a Guam base to fly the beach destinations was discussed. The outcome of the JAL partnership prospect will dictate. If no deal then the base is likely. If there is a deal, then JAL may pick up that flying, but Phil stated he really doesn't know for sure until the JAL issue is settled.
The current 787 that flew is not the aircraft that was ordered so Delta is weighing options.
Plans are to grow NYC. LGA is apparently the crown jewel of the market for business travelers. Continental and the Star alliance are huge out of Newark and a challenge for DAL. The acquisition of the LGA slots will help us beat them in the market.
The issue of European flying and theater qualifications was raised. Specifically, the ability, or inability, to maintain proficiency in various theaters with such an inconsistent schedule was raised. Barry Wilbur addressed this and expressed that he understood our concern. He stated that the short European destinations (i.e. DUB, MAN etc.) are very efficient for LAX. He will bring back to the planners that there needs to be more consistency when building and assigning these trips to bases. If not already known to Crew Resources it was made clear and in no uncertain terms, that LAX wants to do all of the Hawaii flying. We'll see.
All in all, the feed back from attendees is that this was a much improved presentation. After the last visit, Jim Graham and Flight Operations wanted to ensure that the issues that were important to this base were addressed. From what I have been told, for the most part, they succeeded.
Finally Jim spoke about the Delta Care Fund. This is a 501(C)(3) organization that is supported by employee donations and fundraising. The funds are used to assist only Delta employees with disaster relief or some other sudden financial crisis resulting from an emergency or disaster. You can set up payroll deduction to make monthly contributions. Every little bit helps. As Jim stated, even $5 per paycheck will help fellow Delta employees. For information log on to the DeltaNet, Employee Connection, then on the Self Service page for information and to sign up. Or pick up a flyer and payroll form in the lounge
For those of you that were unable to attend the Flight Ops base visit on Wednesday, I will attempt to give you the Reader's Digest version of the presentation.
Jim Graham, VP of Flying operations kicked off the meeting with a recap of the merger integration and the next steps. Coming up at the end of the month is inventory integration which means the NWA call signs will go away, among other things. Fleet migration where Delta south crews can fly north equipment and vice versa, as well as F/As flying other equipment, will occur around April. Jim talked about e-mail subscriptions to FlightOps and Delta publications. You can use any e-mail address and you will only receive the publications you want. For instance, the Trim Tab, or base news letters. This e-mail subscription will not be used to contact you for any reason other than to deliver publications. It saves the company a lot of money in printing costs and makes it easier for you to get the information you want and/or need. Log on to the Flight Ops website and under communications you can subscribe. Give it a try, you can always unsubscribe if it's not for you.
Barry Wilbur talked about the last AE/Surplus bid. The bid posted more than 900 displacements, but due to VDs and AEs just over 700 MDs were required.
Next bid will be in May/June time frame and will quite possibly include a 7ER category in SEA. No information on the A330 in SEA or any other base changes.
The highlight was Phil Lindsey of Network Planning. Those of you that came to the last visit in Orange County were likely under whelmed by the network planning presentation. This presentation by Phil was the complete opposite. He was well prepared and knew what issues were important to LAX. First and foremost, Phil stated that the LAX base is stable. He said there may be some slight growth as we recently saw on the 73N, but for the most part it is stable. He noted that although this is not the good news we were hoping for, as far as growth, it is not necessarily bad news because it also means there are no plans to shrink LAX. He stated that LAX is the only base he could say is stable.
Ever wonder why the Sao Paulo flights are so sporadic? Phil explained that Delta has an agreement with Brazil for a fixed number of frequencies per month. It doesn't matter if you fly the frequencies to one airport in Brazil or several, we only have a certain number. The addition of Brasilia and Manaus took frequencies from other routes, most notably LAX-GRU. Phil stated that the route is doing okay, but they have decided to give it a full year before any decision is made. So, we can expect to see GRU, albeit sporadically, until at least June.
There are no plans for a 777 base in LAX. He went through the possible destinations in Asia and the Pacific and explained why none would make money. He stated that SEA and DTW will be the main gateways to Asia. DTW has proven to be a very profitable gateway for NWA and Delta plans to continue that. SEA will be the primary gateway from the west coast. LAX is a key player with SYD and NRT. SYD is finally turning the corner. The Alaska feed and the Virgin Blue JV are very important to the success of SYD and are paying off.
Hawaii is doing very well. There will be an additional LAX-OGG frequency in March and SLC-OGG is coming down because of equipment availability, but will return. Apparently 4 of the ATA 757 ETOPS aircraft have corrosion and have been taken out of service for repair. To those of us that have flown them, maybe taken out and shot would be better. Anyway, once they return we will have sufficient a/c to serve OGG from SLC.
No information about SAN-HNL as far as which base will fly it. Phil discussed the possibility of starting OGG-NRT with a 7ER or an A330. We will know later this year. LAX Europe non-stop is not likely to happen anytime soon. Our agreements with the SkyTeam partners dictate who will fly what markets and on which equipment. The other markets not flown by SkyTeam (London and Frankfurt) have too much competition and would not be viable. Air France flew LAX-LHR and pulled out. AMR pulled down one LAX-LHR departure due to inability to make it profitable.
JAL partnership. Very important to DAL for competition reasons and access. Rumors of a Guam base to fly the beach destinations was discussed. The outcome of the JAL partnership prospect will dictate. If no deal then the base is likely. If there is a deal, then JAL may pick up that flying, but Phil stated he really doesn't know for sure until the JAL issue is settled.
The current 787 that flew is not the aircraft that was ordered so Delta is weighing options.
Plans are to grow NYC. LGA is apparently the crown jewel of the market for business travelers. Continental and the Star alliance are huge out of Newark and a challenge for DAL. The acquisition of the LGA slots will help us beat them in the market.
The issue of European flying and theater qualifications was raised. Specifically, the ability, or inability, to maintain proficiency in various theaters with such an inconsistent schedule was raised. Barry Wilbur addressed this and expressed that he understood our concern. He stated that the short European destinations (i.e. DUB, MAN etc.) are very efficient for LAX. He will bring back to the planners that there needs to be more consistency when building and assigning these trips to bases. If not already known to Crew Resources it was made clear and in no uncertain terms, that LAX wants to do all of the Hawaii flying. We'll see.
All in all, the feed back from attendees is that this was a much improved presentation. After the last visit, Jim Graham and Flight Operations wanted to ensure that the issues that were important to this base were addressed. From what I have been told, for the most part, they succeeded.
Finally Jim spoke about the Delta Care Fund. This is a 501(C)(3) organization that is supported by employee donations and fundraising. The funds are used to assist only Delta employees with disaster relief or some other sudden financial crisis resulting from an emergency or disaster. You can set up payroll deduction to make monthly contributions. Every little bit helps. As Jim stated, even $5 per paycheck will help fellow Delta employees. For information log on to the DeltaNet, Employee Connection, then on the Self Service page for information and to sign up. Or pick up a flyer and payroll form in the lounge
01-16-2010, 03:20 PM
Banned
Joined APC: Jul 2006
Position: Space Shuttle PIC
Posts: 2,007
DFW MD90 base???
I just flew to DFW and had great conversations with a couple people who really know that station, one a manager and one a gate agent. Apparently we are getting more gates there, they have brought back mx, and we are renting the large hanger again. "Word" on the street there is that we will have 30-40 flights flying through there per day (is that more than CVG?), and they will be connecting people through our international hubs in Seattle, LA, JFK, and Atlanta. But wait, Richard Anderson said "no way" to a base there, and of course he also said no way to a merger with Northwest.
01-16-2010, 03:47 PM
Happy to be here
Joined APC: Jun 2006
Position: A-320A
Posts: 18,563
Originally Posted by Bill Lumberg
I just flew to DFW and had great conversations with a couple people who really know that station, one a manager and one a gate agent. Apparently we are getting more gates there, they have brought back mx, and we are renting the large hanger again. "Word" on the street there is that we will have 30-40 flights flying through there per day (is that more than CVG?), and they will be connecting people through our international hubs in Seattle, LA, JFK, and Atlanta. But wait, Richard Anderson said "no way" to a base there, and of course he also said no way to a merger with Northwest.
Thanks for taking the time to talk to em.
They have been polling the FA's that live there to see what type of trips had to be out there for them to bid back there.
Maybe/maybe not a pilot base. If it is I would expect to see it on the next bid or not at all.
I think that 30-40 flts a day is just to start, FWIW.
01-16-2010, 03:50 PM
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2008
Posts: 3,838
Originally Posted by Bill Lumberg
I just flew to DFW and had great conversations with a couple people who really know that station, one a manager and one a gate agent. Apparently we are getting more gates there, they have brought back mx, and we are renting the large hanger again. "Word" on the street there is that we will have 30-40 flights flying through there per day (is that more than CVG?), and they will be connecting people through our international hubs in Seattle, LA, JFK, and Atlanta. But wait, Richard Anderson said "no way" to a base there, and of course he also said no way to a merger with Northwest.
You know things are getting better when they start doing DFW-NRT just to give AMR the middle finger.
High stakes games...I'm waitin' for the other shoe to drop.
Nu
01-16-2010, 03:53 PM
Happy to be here
Joined APC: Jun 2006
Position: A-320A
Posts: 18,563
Originally Posted by NuGuy
Heyas,
You know things are getting better when they start doing DFW-NRT just to give AMR the middle finger.
High stakes games...I'm waitin' for the other shoe to drop.
Nu
You know things are getting better when they start doing DFW-NRT just to give AMR the middle finger.
High stakes games...I'm waitin' for the other shoe to drop.
Nu
JAL DOES IT NOW......
01-16-2010, 04:01 PM
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jun 2008
Posts: 3,716
Good info on the the west coast visit, eg the publications...whats the chance of getting it down to just one, its ridiculous all of the publications out there. "One place, right place?" Come on guys, theater qual is not that tough...a good ops bulletin would suffice (maybe not for SA)
Last edited by iceman49; 01-16-2010 at 04:21 PM.
01-16-2010, 04:27 PM
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,619
Originally Posted by wiggy
Anybody seen the code-a-phone from yesterday, about a "BEH SLI" dispute? Is that us? If so, anybody know what its about? (sorry if this has already been adressed)
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
