717, That's a rumor that had been put away a while back.

Off topic, but this Legislative Affairs "Call to Action" just came out. Last time we asked for help on FT/DT we only got about a 5% response rate from Delta pilots.

It's your future...

After more than three years, a final agreement on an FAA reauthorization bill is within sight. In order to influence the outcome of the final bill that is sent to the President, ALPA members are urged to make their voices heard on Capitol Hill. ALPA has launched Calls to Action focused on three specific legislative proposals currently contained in the House version (H.R. 658) which, if included in the final bill, will compromise aviation safety. Please visit the Legislation & ALPA-PAC page of the ALPA website to send a message now to your federal legislators and tell them One Level of Safety is imperative.

Flight/Duty and Rest Rule: A provision inserted in the House bill (Section 826) mandates additional regulatory review of federal FAA regulations to take into consideration different industry segments and different operational characteristics. The result of this provision will be to derail the pending Flight/Duty and Rest Rule, which is otherwise required to be issued by August 1, 2011.

Lithium Batteries: Section 814 of the House bill prohibits the FAA from issuing or enforcing any regulation related to the air transport of lithium batteries if the requirements are more stringent than ICAO standards on dangerous goods. For years, ALPA has advocated to bring lithium batteries under the full scope of dangerous goods regulations in both the US and at ICAO. A final rule is pending at the Department of Transportation to make improvements in the safety of lithium battery air transport. The House provision will prevent the DOT from issuing a final rule. The safety bar must be raised across the globe.

Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Both the House and Senate bills have provisions related to the integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems into the NAS. The House version is of concern because it mandates a deadline for integration of UAS into the NAS and does not make accommodations for safety oversight. ALPA’s position is that no UAS should be allowed unrestricted access to public airspace unless it meets all the high standards currently required for every other airspace user. The House provision is a step backwards and does not promote One Level of Safety.

As you may know, Congress is currently in a two-week recess and will return to Washington on Monday, May 2nd. This time period presents a good opportunity to reach your members of Congress and your senators in their home districts. You are encouraged to meet with your representative and senators either one on one or during a town hall meeting or open office hours to share your views on ALPA’s priorities for the FAA reauthorization conference.

The House and Senate are already working at the staff level to iron out differences in the two bills (S. 223 and H.R. 658). The staff expects it will take approximately three weeks to walk through the bill and reconcile relatively non-controversial items. We have little time to influence the process. The importance of your grassroots participation as a professional pilot and constituent cannot be over emphasized. Each Call-to-Action item description on the ALPA National website provides background information for your review. Use the ALPA Call-to-Action system, phone calls and meetings with your Washington delegation to let your congressional members know that you support One Level of Safety.

Earlier in April, the Senate conferees were announced, they are; Senators Rockefeller (WV), Boxer (CA), Nelson (FL), Cantwell (WA), Hutchison (TX), Ensign (NV), DeMint (SC), Baucus (MT), and Hatch (UT). The House is expected to appoint conferees once they return from the recess.

The Delta MEC Government Affairs Committee will join other ALPA MEC’s Government or Legislative Affairs committees and ALPA National to lobby Congress on Capitol Hill when Congress returns in May.

Now is the time for all ALPA members to get involved with this nationwide ALPA Call-to- Action. Thank you for continuing to support your union by taking the time to contact your United States senators and representative today.

We have vacation move-ups. But you're way too late for May.

Crew scheduling can't move vacations. You have to call the vacation planners and they might work with you if you have some special situation and the reserves available is OK.
The lady in charge of vacations is pro-pilot and very nice.
Having said that, I wouldn't get my hopes up. Its way past the deadlines for May.

As was said it's a bit late in the game to swap for May. For future reference Section 7. D. of the contract covers vacation moveups and MOU 1-1 covers covers vacation swaps with a specific person in your category.

Denny

One of my neighbors works for Boeing's sim division. He has some clients from Europe that are getting some of the Click 717's. No word yet on whether Airtran's (Boeing) 717 sim's and techs will be staying or going. If I see a for sale sign in front of his house then we will all know that Southwest/Airtran will not be keeping their 717's.

Those are the ones going to SAS subsidiary Blue 1

They are taking a total of nine 717s to replace their MD90s going to Delta. Not much more than another niche operator of the type...

The DC-9 stays even with oil at record levels.
That further shows that the ultimate retirement of the DC-9 is more contingent on a replacement aircraft and is not affected by the price of fuel.

My reading on the previously announced accelerated DC-9 retirement is that was a negotiating ploy to strike a deal with a rival airline for a 120 seat replacement aircraft...it might now be the deal fell though.

(The deal was to trade Deltas undelivered 73-8 positions to the ATL rival, take 717s in trade and retire a commensurate number of DC-9s as 717s come online)

Cheers
George


and receive new heavy-checks, it would prove true the parkiwould show that the DC-9

And people think the 717 is totally off the table :eek:

I could also be a way to play hard ball as well......

Taking back LAX:

(ok it's RJs but it's a start)

The airline with the "canyon blue" paint favors that "low margin" route

Cheers
George

Happy to be a 5%er...
Composing new letters as we speak

Cheers
George

So May or June now? Last I heard it was supposed to come out end of April. I guess I can stop checking the crew resources page everyday :) acl you seem to hear a lot of the rumors and such before many others, what do you know about this early retirement rumor? Is it solely so that Delta can keep up with hiring, or is it because they think they have too many pilots? I am near the bottom so I get nervous with those kind of rumors, but nontheless like to hear what is going on. It sounds like if Delta is considering hiring a small amount on the next AE, the early retirement considerations would be solely based on out with the old, and in with the new so that they aren't hit so hard with the high retirement numbers coming up in a few years.