I agree they are old, but then again who cares if they make money.

I did a ferry flight to VCV a couple of weeks ago. There were a bunch of 717s parked out there. For a while there was quite a rumor about us picking up about 20-25 of them. I'm not sure where that stands right now, but that was one of the items mentioned as a carrot from Boeing for the 787 problems. The 777-300 is going to be in DAL colors. I would think there will be 10-15 of them. Also, there was some serious talk about more A330s but I'm not sure where that is either.

Personally, I don't think we will see the -9s going anytime soon as they are paid for and oil is cheap. However, when the economy rebounds, the credit markets thaw and oil goes back up, I would look for the -9s to be retired. I'm not sure what they would be replaced with however and that concerns me. I hate seeing more CRJ900s hit the property while we are flying mainline planes to the desert. I'd rather see the -9s stay on property for 10 more years flown by us then have 1000 mainline jobs go to the connection carriers.

In my opinion the fences for the 787 are largely theoretical due to the glacial pace of 787 development.

I'd guess the 744s and 777 fences are the only "real" fences.

I do think there is a possibility for 777-300 replacements for the 744 before the 5 year fences expire. I would imagine those aircraft to be fenced from former Delta for 1-2 years.

In terms of the 787 here's a little overview:

Economically the first 20+ aircraft are 6000lbs (30 pax) overweight.
In addition both GE and RR engines are burning 4% more than expected.
Add the cost of financing and Boeing doesn't have an economically viable airliner at the moment even if it was flying.

Timeline wise "Rollout" was on 7/8/07 or almost a year and a half ago.
Look at the pictures below. The 787 is still a long way from first flight.

Best case first flight to certification is 12-14 months, thats if the electric packs and electrothermal deice work as expected. You would have better odds planning for a 5 minute taxi at JFK.

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/fl...mb-560x628.jpg

Zoom in on the horizontal stabilizer to see what's holding it together...

Cheers
George

Can we say 10+% of aircraft notes right now. When that goes down, you will see orders.

ACL,

I could be brain dead from too much MD88 CD training, but could you please explain that using small words and perhaps a picture or two??

Did you mean? :D

Captain Steve Dickson
Senior Vice President –
Flight Operations
Delta Air Lines, Inc.

Whoops ... you would be Steve would you? :)

The MD-90's are still in play. Some Delta people have been over to China and looked at them already. From first look they all have been following Boeing's specific maintenance plans and Aircraft specific inspections. Logbooks are up to date and the planes are clean and in nice shape. A decision on the 90's will be up to the board at the next BOD meeting. The price on them goes down a little every day.

The variable that we are all waiting on is the advance bookings within the next few months. The networking guys have turned 180 degrees since in the last 60 days as the market has continued to soften.

We are taking a few 757's and 767's to VCV while at the same time we are picking up some 88's that have been parked out there in the past because of the cost prohibtive nature of the heavy checks. We have flown them to Boeing field and Boeing is doing the heavy checks because our guys at TOC are a little busy. Also I think they are also getting our WI-FI mods at the same time.

Until the economy turns around and advance bookings start taking a positive turn we are all dealing with a very fluid situation. What I have stated today may be completely off the board next week. Speculation on exactly what will happen in the next six months with the 787 and any future orders is a complete shot in the dark at a 3 inch target at 300 yards.

This is all just a snapshot today and next week it will be another fire that people smarter than me will have to deal with. Until then, I will go back to my single malt and my cigars. Cheers folks.
:D

Thanks Selcall

All true. There are also a few other a/c in the wings, but the bookings and lease rates need to come down.