rvr350

It's just a matter of time SkyTeam will create a central BOD, and a supreme leader to lead us all.

On the side of the MadDog that used to be owned by a distant Delta Air Lines, will be replaced by "SkyTeam, operated by extinct Delta Brokerage Air Service".

Timbo

Management's Mantra has been, "Pay down the debt" so until they get that paid down, I doubt we will see anything in the way of new wide body aircraft.

As BB mentioned, all our JV partners are getting them, so we don't need them, right?

Everybody sing along:

You'll look sweet,

upon the seat,

of that 737-900 Er built for you!

Timbo

And we are getting 787's...eventually.

Oh, and we are all going to die...eventually.

I'm betting I see the latter before the former.

Bucking Bar

That's sort of what we got in the merger ... an extension of the T.K. rope off the seats plan. The economic disincentives to furlough likely prevented furloughs, so far. Of course, if Delta can't sell the seats, it is less of a disincentive to Delta during a protracted downturn (as we may be entering if many economists are correct).

Unfortunately there are times when an airline needs to shrink, or else the thing is likely to go out of business. Our leadership has been there and does not want to return to bankruptcy. A hard floor is unlikely to be negotiated in the interest of preserving jobs for "the rest of us."

At the same time we want all of Delta's growth. Not simply stagnation above a floor number. We want any new flying to be us.

What we want is the contractual right to our flying. Delta can run its airline as it sees fit, we'll be in charge of pilot labor. We don't care what Delta flies, we simply want to be the pilots who's labor is needed.

ACL65 is of the opinion that as 2013 and pilot hiring needs approach, Delta will want to extend our seniority list down to some regional partners with the quid pro quo that they'll buy "our" airplanes. That makes sense on many levels but would be quite complicated to execute.

The last thing we want is a floor, or a ceiling. We do not need a repeat of Compass with pilots off the seniority list, forgot in a merger and tossed to the side while our fleet replacement jets are outsourced.

Bottom line, as a union we need UNITY and as long as we keep that as the central goal, we'll work out the details when the time comes.

Bucking Bar

787 will make a good 767 replacement.

We're bigger than SkyWest and smaller than AF/KLM/AI. That's our niche.

acl65pilot

Bar;
It is not an opinion, it is a rumor that keeps popping up. Big difference.

scambo1

The sky is falling. ... DAL had the lowest fuel price of the airlines last year. They can afford to pay us more.

Peak oil is real. Gas is going to get more expensive, a lot more expensive. DAL is doing the right stuff wrt to fuel.

If you think the economic churn the world is in is just going to magically go poof and disappear, I want some of what you are smoking.

Combine peak oil with the annual expansion of worldwide fuel usage, it is possible that I may not make it to age 65 and almost a certainty Clamp wont - as an airline pilot.

Bucking Bar

Depends on a lot, mostly our scope.

People are going to want to travel .... a year on a rickety rockin sail boat eating the other passengers when the winds are unfavorable isn't going to cut it as an alternative.

R A certainly is willing to wait out the market. He's waiting for airplanes to sell at liquidation prices. The rub is that whatever forces other airlines to liquidate has usually damaged us too and those airplanes are pretty worn out (rotables timed out) when they get to us. We really waited on the 757 replacement as late as we possibly could have and probably missed the new engine option jets simply because we could not wait.

R A may be hoping to catch the wave of 777's that get turned in as the 787's enter service. If the early numbers were correct, the 787 is economic leap forward over the 777 and will have much lower maintenance costs as well as a capacity footprint that drives higher revenue per seat mile. Disappointed A350 customers and the cargo operators will likely maintain used 777 prices long enough that our gambit will have done little other than make our costs unappealing compared to our partners.

johnso29

Aren't those replacements for the older B747's and MD11's? I'm pretty certain they're replacements and not growth.

johnso29

I guess we will all just go back to boats and trains then.