I'll be right there with ya. At least you'll be doing nothing next month. :)

I'm a south guy and I am happy to see an active Delta pilot in the position regardless of North or South. I was told that a North guy was put in charge of the fleet because it was policy at NWA for fleet managers to be active pilots. While I really liked our former fleet manager he was a retiree. I am glad to see the torch passed to active Delta pilots.

^^^^^^^^^^^exactery^^^^^^^^^:D

I don't belive that the North side had any retired pilots working in the fleets other than helping out with the manuals. All training was done by active pilots, with the exception of ATIs which did ground training and procedural trainers. Yes, I agree with you..they all should be active pilots.

Rumors:

717s from Mexicana (25 ex Midwest planes sitting in MEX right now)
A330s via Boeing (Currently used by Saudia that will be replaced by 777s)
600-800 newhires next year.

Discuss.

For any northie out there...............

I'm in the process of finishing up the Bridge Training on the LMS. Where in the frack is the link to LMS on any of the ops pages. I found a link to old fashioned Atlas on the Inflight page, which I can get to the LMS from. But, isn't there a way to get to a required training item from Flight Ops?

I tried the NWA links at the top right, but there is nothing there anymore.

My guess is that we won't be getting any B717s - it's just a DC9, which we have just been getting rid of. Just too small an airplane - I bet that network would prefer two CR9s in a market vs one 717.

As for A330s from Saudia - I doubt it, those planes are like six months old. Why would Saudia take delivery of an airplane just to turn around and replace it? Not that it doesn't happen, I just don't think it's likely.

That many new hires would be nice.

There is a link on your Fleet page that takes you to ....

ATLAS/LMS

That's not what I am hearing. We need a replacement for the DC9-40s and -30s, and the 717 does it. Many routes out of LGA for example need a 100 seater, and the CR9s just don't do it. Not to mention those 28 Saudia MD90s have the same cockpit also, although it wouldn't be the same category. Richard is always supposedly on the lookout for A330s, and Boeing does owe us money on the 787 delay. ATL needs some A330s, and rumors have been going around that some may be pulled out of other bases, or, you could just get more and then put them in ATL. Also, Saudia was leasing some A330s from a Turkish carrier (Atlas Jet) before getting their own, so those that were leased may be available via Boeing now. And, why would we hire 600-800 otherwise? Retirements? Nobody knows for sure how many will retire, and when.