I think a Gentlemen's Agreement is when you promise to pay the hooker after her services.:)

No we still have it. It allows us to get production slots we want when we want with guaranteed financing. If we purchase another Airbus jet it may go away.

It was a bit of a sloppy post and I apologize. By gentlemans agreement I was referring to the exclusivity contracts Boeing had with AMR, CAL and DAL a few years back. The "we're a Boeing only company" agreeement that evidently made someone at DAL rich, or so I heard. Evidently the EU ended that deal on behalf of Airbus when Boeing acquired MD but the companies are supposedly all still adhereing to the terms except that now DAL has acquired Airbuses via Northwest but of course they haven't ordered any new Airbuses.

If I were Delta I'd take full advantage of all of the perks such as stealing slots until I get caught with my hand in the cookie jar ordering Airbuses. For those of you who need a more grown up analogy: caught in bed with Airbus. :D

I mean if Delta decided that the entire shorthaul MD88 fleet had to be replaced asap because the autopilots were all defective, what would they order? To me it'd have to be the A320 as the 737 is too expensive and small and 738 is too much airplane to use on short haul.

It just makes me wonder if we did acquire Compass would we be able to add more Ejets or not if this agreement is being adhered to?

Depends.
With the market down, I am betting that Embraer would give us a better financing deal than they offered a few years ago.

Someone asked Dickson about this and his answer was that Delta would be properly staffed to cover the summer months and just run fat during the slow months. He also said that the manning formula was outdated and that the company and DALPA were talking about updating it. Also that the Reserve Required number per day would change based on actual conditions, not remainn static for the month like it does now.

I bet Embraer's financing deal would be tough to beat because not only would they be in at another mainline but they'd be in at the worlds largest airliner and their number one competitors major customers.

From what I know, a good portion of ExpressJet's fleet was bought at a little over half of the listed price in 1997. Thats a rumor. Of course, Embraer and Bombardier went at it for years at the WTO over government financing supporting their aircraft and I think in the end both of them got dinged.

February traffic weakens further; Delta gets downgraded - MarketWatch

The stock was DOWNGRADED. From STRONG BUY to BUY! The original posted yesterday (I missed it until today) may have been a misprint FYI.

However, then there's this:

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/carrier-shares-rise-february-capacity/story.aspx?guid={2F3715A3-E0DB-44E8-85CE-B9DBD15A63ED}&dist=TQP_Mod_mktwN

Can't get this to post as a link. Sorry.

Anyone hear the rumor about the Detroit CP telling people they were close to a deal for 12 more 330's?

I heard a NW guy say that on the tracks the other day. He said these 330s were "white tails" waiting for a home, already produced. Hope its true. On a childish level, its a sexy plane.

But on an aluminum foil conspiracist level; 20 MD90s + 12 330s - 742s - DC9s (eventually) - decomissioned 756s = 0 new pilots. Now, thats not well thought out, its emotional math.

;)