That one hit the 10 Ring. Parked all 747-200's, parked a few -400's, plans to park all the 9's, closing down MEM and CVG. This is starting to look like 2001 AA/TWA "Two great airlines, one great future." The only saving grace is that mass retirements on the horizon may save a few thousand furloughs over the next five years.

 

All the 747-400's(including the desert birds) are getting the new lie flat seats. That's gotta be keeping them around for a little while.

Also, think about this. If this POS Open Skies Agreement happens, & we end up with a whopping 4 slots I see a very good chance for the 400's to stay a while. It'll be key to maximize those slots, & if the demand is high a 744 could fill the demand.

 

The 744's are "indefinitely" in the fleet plan. (Not my words but that of people who know more than you or I do.

 

That's what I've been hearing as well. With growth in Asia and SA, it makes sense to me.

 

Great points, and there is a danger of us ultimately shrinking as we go forward. There will be no furloughs but the bottom will not get any farther away. (At least not like it should) That does not seem to be the plan, but that changes every week.

Again, 77+ seat flying is our, and it is our in the PWA. We have to give it away.
The spat between Bar and I started and is because of what I agree with in the ROAR article. What the priorities of the WHOLE group are.

Understand what I am saying:
We have gone though one of the most difficult times in our airlines history. No furloughs resulted for many reasons, but one was that both side of the merger did a lot of cleaning in CH11. That left us better equipped to deal with the down turn. It has not left us unscathed though. (Debt obligations)

Going in to 2012 I beleive that given the choice the MAJORITY of pilots want scope to be recaptured but do not want to do it at the expense of a raise. That is the point.

We got in to the point of Unity, and the parallels to the Romans and the DAL pilot group. All good points.

Everyone is concerned about scope and EVERY rep and MEC member I have talked to are steadfast about no more scope sales. Holding the line is a lot different than recapturing it. That is all. With no furloughs people see the line as more acceptable. With no furloughs the are more willing to keep this line and go after the other wants. The scope restoration may happen, but not as the cost of other items like pay and the sixth week of vacation. (just examples)

 

The reality is that the jets are not here and IF Republic actually get these jets and has a smaller compensation package than we do, there will be stress applied to our PWA in many sections.That is the ugly reality.

Once again though this was not about those jets per se. It was about a difference of opinion on the ROAR article, and what I agreed with.

 

Fingers crossed!

 

I think the jets are scheduled for delivery around 2015. The real threat is that joke of a union that RAH pilots have. It's questionable whether they'll even ask for a higher payrate for those airplanes.

 

Does not matter who they are, we will compete with them. It is the SWA effect. They will Cherry pick routes. I just hope that AAI and LUV put them to bed in MKE. From the look at who the passengers are flying, it does not appear to be that big of a stretch.

 

Off topic a bit here...

I was in EWR a few days ago and saw a bunch of CAL 757-300s with the winglet mods. Is this in the cards for the DAL 753s?