Deleted, wrong reply

Not sure what you mean by June. We had a large bid posted in 20 May 08. There was never a planned June bid. This bid was supposed to come out in late Aug or Sep. It was delayed due to merger issues and the Boeing strike. The merger issues (Marketing unable to produce a summer schedule) is why this bid was split. They still have not produced a schedule. With the Boeing strike over and delivery dates on the 777's they had to get crews in training or have empty seats on the 777. Whenever marketing gets a summer schedule out we will get the 2nd half of the bid.

Big shock for me was how junior the 7ER Capt seats went in CVG.
1000 numbers junior to ATL.

Looks like the CVG 767 to 7ER conversion went well for the company. Not a huge amount of training.

I'm not positive, but it might be whether it was a mandatory or voluntary displacement.

New,
Excellent question - get used to hearing 4-6 weeks. The ongoing joke is that the 4-6 week answer works for 99% of questions at DAL that start with "When......"
Notice Bid period 5 fits nicely in between 4 and 6.

Scoop

PS - When you guys get on the DALPA site (4-6 weeks maximum) you will see what I mean.

I was kind of surprised by how little ATL MD88 was filled since they have been so "short."

And surprised by how many ATL 7ER awards there were, albeit very senior. But still.

And surprised by how quickly they pushed the results out. Wow.

Now stay tune for the results of the SLI in a week or so....

I got displaced from the 73 to the -88. How and when will I find out when I'm going to class?

Delta to Seek Changes in Boeing Orders
 

Delta to Seek Changes in Boeing Orders

By PAULO PRADA and J. LYNN LUNSFORD, Wall Street Journal
Carrier Will Likely Cut Northwest's 787 Plans, Expand Purchase of Long-Haul 777s

Delta Air Lines Inc., as it integrates its fleet with that of recently acquired Northwest Airlines Corp., plans to seek significant changes to aircraft orders that both carriers had placed individually with Boeing Co., according to people familiar with Delta's plans.

Most notably, the company is likely to scale back a Northwest order for Boeing's new, but delayed, 787 Dreamliner, and ask the manufacturer to expand a Delta order for the 777-200LR, a long-range aircraft that carries at least 50 more passengers and would better enable the combined carrier to continue pursuing Delta's strategy to shift a greater percentage of its flights to long overseas routes.

No final decisions have been made regarding new aircraft, the people said, and Delta has yet to officially ask Boeing to alter its order book.

For Boeing, a change in Delta orders is unlikely to disrupt its manufacturing schedule or hurt its bottom line because other customers are queued up behind Northwest for 787s, and the manufacturer is happy to expand its order book for the more expensive 777-200LR, people familiar with the situation said.

At present, Northwest, which had been the U.S. launch customer for the Dreamliner, has a firm order for 18 787 planes and options for many more. Delta's current order for 777-200LRs, two of which were delivered this year, foresees delivery of another three in 2009 and an additional five in following years.
The planned order revisions are part of Delta's effort to make sure that its network, as it melds its own routes with those of Northwest, has the right planes in terms of size and cost of operation for both its domestic flights and routes serving Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. The $2.6 billion acquisition of Northwest, completed in October, made Atlanta-based Delta the world's biggest carrier as measured by passenger traffic.

Delta declined to comment on specific order plans, but said that the long-term needs of a merged fleet would differ from those of each airline individually. "It comes down to the flexibility of the combined fleet and how we match capacity into the markets we serve," said Betsy Talton, a Delta spokeswoman. "Orders get adjusted depending on what's happening with the business."
A Boeing spokeswoman said the company remains in regular contact with its customers to make sure their pending orders match their needs. She declined to comment about specific dealings with any airline.
The people familiar with Delta's plans said the airline still sees a use for the 787, but the merged carriers already have planes -- such as the Airbus A330 aircraft flown by Northwest and Delta's Boeing 767s -- that could easily serve the same routes and meet the same capacity needs for several years.

Delta still plans eventually to take a "significant number" of 787s, one of these people said, but airline officials are more inclined to take a slightly larger version of the 787 that Boeing is developing for delivery in 2012.
Far more important to Delta's future route strategy is the 777-200LR, the longest-range model of the 777 family and a plane that can help it serve more distant destinations like Shanghai and Johannesburg, South Africa, that the airline has been adding to its network recently.

Delta would become one of the first 787 customers to offer to back away from coveted early delivery slots for the jetliner. Despite continuing production snags, Boeing has booked 895 orders for the twin-engine, fuel-efficient aircraft. At average list prices and without the discounts given to major airlines on many big aircraft orders, a 787 sells for $178.5 million and a 777-200LR costs about $243 million.

Delta is one of three U.S. airlines that earlier this decade signed preferential customer agreements with Boeing, ensuring lower prices and priority in order and delivery schedules in exchange for big order volumes.
The company has said recently that the complexity of its merged fleet and route network will lead it to consider aircraft from Airbus and other manufacturers, too. Before its merger with Northwest, Delta flew only aircraft made by Boeing companies.

Write to Paulo Prada at [email protected] and J. Lynn Lunsford at [email protected]

Nice article. Kind of what we were saying during SLI hearings. Does the lack of ATLMD88 fill possibly indicate hiring early next year or are they waiting to displace more until the summer schedule is firm. It is interesting as they continued to place folks into categories that were considered correctly or over-manned according to DAL's "Needs Projection" sheets.