Airline Pilot Central Forums - Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razorback flyer (Post 952530)

Copied from ALPA boards:

CVG base visit, Feb 2011

Flt ops/J.G:
-went over 2010 financials again. 1.4 Billion net profit for year equates to 8% profit margin. Eventual goal is sustained 10% profit margin.
-$5.4 billion cash balance now. Have paid down about $2 billion in debt since 2008, which is saving about $500 million a year in interest charges. Eventual debt target is about $10 billion. Said Wall st. currently likes us to have that much cash in the bank due to debt level, but as debt level is reduced, we should be able to reduce the cash balance as well. (Its nice to have the cash in the bank, but it can’t be put to work if its in the savings account. Will still keep a prudent amount of cash in the bank for unforseen events i.e. volcanoes and other major disruptions.) The reduced debt load will let us save another $700 million in interest expense - and that’s not including the gains we’ll get from moving up to "investment grade" debt.
-Not looking like we’ll be profitable in Q1 (mainly due to the ATL IROP,) but 2011 still looking good for full year. Forward Bookings and yields still very strong.
-Currently paying about $115 per barrel of jet fuel "all in" (w/oil + crack spread, and hedges) That is still a profitable level.
-Couldn’t give NWA contract employees (i.e. FA’s) same profit sharing as everyone else because it could be considered "interference" by the NMB. (Their contracts said they were to get 3.5% profit sharing - why did you pay them more? Trying to influence their vote?)

Network:
-125 50 seaters have been parked in the last 18 months. This bucks the industry trend, as other airlines are still trying to out source to RJ’s. While this is driving their RASM up, its also driving their CASM up. We have the lowest CASM of any legacy carrier, and upgaging to mainline is helping to drive our CASM lower.

-Atlantic, Winter: Capacity up @12% yoy due to post-recession reinstatements, LHR (was higher % prior to mideast upheaval) Summer: basically flat yoy

-Pacific, Winter: Capacity up 17% yoy primarily on Haneda. 4 747's that were originally going to be parked are being used for that service. Summer: capacity up @ 11%, again due primarily to haneda, but a few NRT routes as well

-Latin America: Expanding to compete w/CAL (UAL) as they are very dominant in this part of the world. Focusing on key business centers and capitals; expanding some seasonal service to year round.

-Domestic: Very profitable right now. Upgrading some key ATL cities to mainline (LIT, SDF, MHT, PVD, ALB.)

-CVG: seems to be the right size now (@145 departures.) New hub bank structure working well; complementing DTW rather than competing with it. Hub was profitable in summer 2010.

Fleet:
-All 16 747-400's flying
-2 767 out of storage to cover LHR flights
-4 757 out of storage
(Basically, all aircraft are out of storage, save 12 757 and a few domestic 767. Those are sans engines, intereriors, etc. and would take "a lot of work" to get back online)
-MD-90's: have officially acquired 13, and would eventually like a fleet of about 80. Plan to have a total of 28 flying for summer 2011 (this was originally supposed to be 36, but delays on the mod line pushed it down - more on this later,) and a total of 43 flying for summer 2012.
-DC-9's: all -30's and -40's are gone. 30 -50's flying now, planning to retire by end of year 2012.
Could be accelerated if economy and fuel dictate.
-Regionals: parking remainder of saab fleet and 22 CRJ 50's by end of 2011
-RFP and 100 seats - the RFP is not aimed specifically at getting a 100 seater, more at getting aircraft in a "seat range" that will, for the most part, replace retiring aircraft. They want a/some "small narrow bodies" (100-150 seats) and a/some "large narrow bodies" (150-200 seats.)

Virgin Atlantic code-share being looked at - primarily to compete against BA/AMR with additional frequency to LHR and complementary product (lie flat seats, etc.) (They don’t really provide feed into/out of LHR due to the long haul nature of their operation, and we already have inter-europe feed from AMS and CDG anyway)

-Not looking at Airtran 717's in 2011 - primarily because Airtran isn’t really able to talk to us (or anyone else for that matter) about ANY deal until the SWA merger is settled.

-Network LOVES the fact that SWA is coming to ATL. First, removing another brand from the market only benefits the rest of the competitors. Second, "The industry is only as strong as its dumbest competitor, and Southwest is not dumb." Basically, Southwest has higher costs than does Airtran - so they are going to have to raise revenue to make money there. They aren’t they most profitable airline in the industry by accident - they don’t sell seats at a loss just to get market share anymore. They are likely to eventually raise fares to get the revenue they need, and our yields will benefit from that as well. Third, Airtran currently operates hub banks that operate directly over ours. They anticipate that Southwest will likely "even out" the airtran operation, and eliminate some of the taxi delays we currently get during big double banks.

-Talked about the M9K/M8R mods (increasing capacity on 88's and 90's.) Still planning on proceeding with the mods, not aware of HVC complaints. (Joked that once the AVOD is on the planes, they’ll have the earphones in and the movie on, and wont’ even see the traffic to the galley.) Delay on the mods is due to having to get an STC on some of the aircraft. Apparently, a lot of the cockpit switches are "backwards" (usually forward is on, back is off, but these are the opposite - and we apparently have to get a STC from the FAA to change them. At least that’s the way I understood it.) I gather these were the China Eastern birds, as it was stated that the SAS/Blue 1 aircraft would likely be first to hit the line.

Crew resources:
-Pilot Block hours up @5% yoy - covered by hiring that was done in 2010 (read: no more bodies FOR 2011.)
-Next bid in April to May time frame
-CVG will be status quo (i.e. no new 320 category, no drawdown on 73N)
-744 will be status quo
-767 to 7ER conversion pushed to end 2012 or 2013. Management wanted conversion quickly for flexibility, but now realizes that there’s a cost for that training, and wants to slow down the conversion. For now, when bodies are needed on the 76, they will go to the ER category.
-Looking at a new A320 base. ATL good possibility (currently 30-40 A319/320 departures from there) but NYC also in the running depending on final outcome of slot swap.
-Also looking at a new base for the 330.
-Not setting up bases to be 100% where the flying is, but rather ensuring proper coverage to respond to network’s changes.
-Sounds like hiring decision FOR 2012 has not been made yet. Crew resources would like to add more bodies so they don’t come up short, but executive team wants financial performance to meet or beat last year, and wants to make sure existing resources are being used as efficiently as possible before bringing on more bodies. J.G. indicated that a decision to hire for 2012 will probably not be made until around August
-Crew resources knows a large wave of attrition is coming, and that they need to stay ahead of it. This forecast is complicated by the potential change in rest rules, the possibility of more aircraft coming from the MD-90's and RFP’s, and the uncertainly of when guys over 60 are going to retire. You’ve likely seen the numbers before, but the short version is that by 2014 we’ll 2000 guys over 60, and by 2018 its about 4000 pilots. Currently, initial training throughput is 40-60 pilots per month, and it takes about 3.5 to 4 months to get a new hire from indoc to active line flying. Lead time to replace a retiring pilot is closer to 12 - 16 months from the time they know he will leave to the time they contact, interview, hire, and train a replacement. (I was left with the impression that crew resources believes we need to start getting bodies soon, even if that means carrying extra folks - but that management doesn’t want to pull the trigger just yet.)
　
IROP:
-Tiger team has published it’s initial findings, and those should be out to the pilots in the next few weeks.
-Many systems that they believed to be fixed (i.e. phone lines) failed under the pressure test of the severe IROPS.
Tech:
-Looking at various products for a true EFB. Have products in hand from various manufacturers, and about 50 pilots will be trying them out soon.
-Considering an upgrade to the M88/90 panel that would consist of 2 flat screens per side and integrated GPS. Would enable the aircraft to fly GPS approaches. If implemented, would take those aircraft to about 2018.
-Considering AVOD in the A320. Have to balance cost w/remaining service life of the AC (i.e. is it worth installing on the older aircraft that will be retiring when the RFP aircraft arrive?)

Other:
Restructuring MX bases (and adding new ones) to improve reliability. This will drive some basing decisions (i.e. 73 mx in CVG will likely keep the 73N category in CVG for a while.) This will impact how much flexibility network has, but at this point, operational reliability is more important.

-New Commuting policy: Stated that it was still the pilots responsibility to do appropriate planning for irops, etc. This could even include NOT counting on a flight that is a chronic canceler. Basically, the first time is a freebee, second time you’ll likely have to review it with the Chief pilot, and the third use could result in going down a "more formal path" (Didn’t mention a time period for occurrences.)

-Crewpass - very high on the list for RA, but (as usual,) its being held up on capitol hill by who pays for it, as well as who else is included in the program (pilots are a given, but FA’s being debated.)

I don't like this new commuting policy. I'm afraid to use it more than once due to comments like this. The NWA policy use was unlimited and no questions were asked. Is this because the flight attendants have the exact same policy now?