That was my point earlier. We have a wave of retirements coming and the system has just shown that even with two training centers they can't handle the load.

This smells like it was an idea put forth on Mahogany row with the bean counters in charge against token resistance from training and flight ops.

What I see is a capacity disciplined airline that is taking advantage of a slow economy. We will use this slow fall/winter to do mods on 767's, consolidate training facilities, and get more debt off our balance sheet. We will be fat on WB's this winter like every other year until the schedule picks back up.

Also, notice how this announcement was made AFTER the early out programs were announced?

I don't care when the next AE happens, I only care if the next AE is good or bad.

Any gouge?

And out of curiosity, who thinks their category is under or overstaffed?

They're all understaffed, yes, I know. :D but in all seriousness how many categories are running out of reserves and how many are barely using reserves?

According to the latest bid monitor report almost everything is overstaffed...and my number is still greater than the total pilots required:mad:

ATL does alot of contract training for outside companies I could see them moving the 737 classic, MD-11 and L1011 sims somewhere (NATCO?) and concentrating the ATL center on active fleets.

"He says he expects the process to finish next year."

Well, the 9s won't make the trip. One less sim bay needed.

There are several empty sim bays in ATL. The OTC has lots of classroom space too. I don't think it will be a problem.

I was told by BB that there would be no F's, maybe flow up hiring late this year, and when full hiring starts in earnest, it won't stop. This was a recent conversation with him in LGA.

I think theres at least 8 open sim bays in ATL. And that's without relocating the MD-11, L1011, and old 737 sims.