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

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Quote:

Originally Posted by cni187 (Post 1111741)

My mom called and laughed at me because the low is in the 20's here in Atl and its in the 70s in So Cal. High of 83 today in Riverside CA.

It's 47F right now in Bismarck, N.D. with an expected high of 51F today, and a high of 57.............yes, +57 degrees Fahrenheit expected tomorrow. :)

GJ

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailingfun (Post 1111735)

It would take somewhere between 1.5 and 2 billion for a complete restoration contract.

What is the point of this comment? Who's side are you on?

More specifically, what would you like to see in C2012? Status quo + "COLA"????

I'm usually neutral on the whole "managing expectations" talking point, but you're really making a case here. :rolleyes:

Quote:

Originally Posted by acl65pilot (Post 1111692)

NRT is going back tot he 744. That really leaves JND and DXB. DXB just went to a 24 hr layo.

I too find it hard to fathom them closing the 777 base in ATL, but I am not the one that started the discussion. I heard what Scambo heard, and from different people. It is more about diversifying our flying and moving things out of the ATL basket from what I was told. It has to do with the way the City of Atlanta played with the renegotiation of our leases, or so the story goes.

From what I could gather, and I did not ask too many questions, it was not going to be immediate. For that reason alone, I bet ti never happens. From what I hear there will be more seats pulled on the next bid. The 777 is doing MSP-NRT and similar markets. Its not that they are parking anything, they are just moving stuff around to maximize its benefit.

As for DTW and LAX from ATL on the 777, those are position flights. Once they get most of the MTC up and running in DTW on the 777, those two flights may not be needed.

The back end of that rumor was more interesting to me anyway. Go search what Scambo posted. That is the part that got me to respond, not that it was leaving ATL, it was what the long term plans were. (Long meaning five years)

I also took this as a purposeful leak. One that is to get out to certain people or organizations, not pilots, but airlines and airport boards. Its a message.

I could believe it.

But as to the city of Atlanta and negotiations, now come on... the city of Atlanta is as pure and clean as the wind driven snow...

Quote:

Airport concession winners linked to city officials

Airport concession winners linked to city officials | ajc.com

December 25, 2011

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In just nine days, the Atlanta City Council will have a chance to award one of its biggest plums: the contracts to run restaurants and shops at the world’s busiest airport.

More Atlanta/Fulton news »

Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration wants the City Council, at its Jan. 3 meeting, to sign off on a list of proposed winners whose contracts cover 150 storefronts throughout Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

“In terms of dollar amounts, the concessions of course are enormous,” said City Council member Yolanda Adrean. “We’ve got the busiest airport on planet Earth.”

A concessions contract at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport can be a long-term cash cow. Many run for 10 years, with gross sales for the total group of concessionaires expected to hit $377 million per year.

Because the stakes are so high, concession deals at Hartsfield-Jackson have sometimes been steeped in corruption and cronyism, including a bribery scheme in the 1990s that landed two city councilmen and one concessionaire in prison, and a lawsuit over the selection of an advertising contractor that cost the city millions.

...(Mayor Kasim) Reed vowed that the process would be honest and transparent... A review by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows financial and political links between the mayor and major concessionaires, and also between the businesses and other city officials...

(AJC found that)

Hojeij Branded Foods Inc. won one of five large packages of restaurant concessions. The company is controlled by Wassim Hojeij, who was a member of host committees for Reed campaign events. Hojeij, his relatives and people linked to his company contributed at least $27,000 to Reed.
Atlanta Restaurant Partners won both as a prime contractor and as a subcontractor. The partnership is made up of Daniel Halpern, who co-chaired Reed’s campaign, and family members of former Mayor Maynard Jackson.... contributed at least $16,700 to Reed’s campaign... Halpern’s wife Sonya served on Reed’s transition team. After he became mayor, Reed named Daniel Halpern to the board of the Atlanta Housing Authority. Halpern also made campaign contributions to City Council member Lamar Willis, who sits on the transportation committee.
An entity called HMSHost, one of the biggest winners in the competition for concessions, contributed $6,100 to Reed, although $2,000 was later refunded.
Entrepreneur Mack Wilbourn gave at least $3,400 to Reed in contributions made personally and through his company, Mack II, which was selected by the city as a prime contractor for restaurants in the airport’s atrium and Concourse A. Because the rules allowed him to do so, Wilbourn also won restaurant spaces as a subcontractor throughout much of the rest of the airport. Wilbourn, who was acquitted of charges in a major airport corruption case in 1994, has also made campaign contributions to City Council member C.T. Martin, who chairs the transportation committee that oversees the airport.
Paradies-Atlanta II, another longtime player in airport concessions, was recommended as concessionaire for a collection of stores on Concourse E and the new international terminal Concourse F. Company founder Dan Paradies went to prison in connection with the 1994 bribery scandal. (He retired as CEO at that time; his nephew Gregg is now chief executive.) People linked to Paradies-Atlanta donated at least $2,250 to Reed since September 2009, according to campaign finance databases, although some of that money was refunded.
Delaware North Companies won another of the five large packages of restaurant concessions. In the first half of the year, Reed received multiple donations of $2,500 from the Jacobs family of Buffalo, N.Y., who are affiliated with Delaware North and own the Boston Bruins.
Some significant contributors did not win contracts. Roberson & Reynolds is one example. Principal Nancy Jafari, her husband Lohrasb, and partner George Reynolds combined to give $16,800 to Reed.

The process, launched last spring and led by airport general manager Louis Miller, hit turbulence early on. The city in September decided to scrap an initial roster of proposals, saying too many of them lacked required documentation.New proposals were solicited and evaluated during the fall. Then, in the first step of the approval process, lists of winners were couriered to members of the City Council’s transportation committee around midnight on Dec. 14, less than 12 hours before they were to meet and vote — a much shorter time than normal. The packet was not on the meeting’s agenda. The rushed schedule — ostensibly to help keep the international terminal on track for its spring opening — was controversial.

...Adrean said the international terminal’s looming deadlines create a sense of urgency... Reed’s administration did not release the scores of the winning bidders to the general public. The AJC requested the documents under Georgia’s open records law, but the city’s lawyers would not provide them, and said the documents are exempt from disclosure until the council approves the legislation and Reed signs it.... Common Cause Georgia, a watchdog group, has pushed for regulations to limit political contributions by companies that compete for airport contracts. The city has no such restrictions in place. Nor do any other metro Atlanta governments...

...This summer, Reed publicly opposed pay-to-play reform, saying the city’s ethics rules for contributions were already “as strong or stronger than any major government in the state of Georgia.”

Oh Atlanta, you're always on fire...
http://piperbayard.files.wordpress.c...of-atlanta.jpg

...except with your sucky sports teams.

It'd be funny to threaten the city to move international flying from ATL to DTW now that there is a new terminal but DTW still offers a better one. If you threaten to ramp up MEM operations to cover domestic flying knowing all along that SWA will not really expand that much in ATL to begin with then you might cause a great panic among the city managers.

I just looked at 320 open time in NYC for feb and 90% of them are 1 day trips. I thought that someone said that the trips will be 4 or 5 days... :confused:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Howgozit (Post 1111767)

I just looked at 320 open time in NYC for feb and 90% of them are 1 day trips. I thought that someone said that the trips will be 4 or 5 days... :confused:

Check earlier post re. pilots and their predictions.....

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailingfun (Post 1111663)

A entry and exit are required for a SAQ. The Check Captain or AQFO have to fly both legs. It may be for Bogata that a entry only is allowed if the CA already holds a SAQ. Every other qual including Africa, South America and special airports requires the entry and exit. There is no reason for the check airman involved not to release the copilot. Its been my experience that they do that 100 percent of the time.

The LCA/AQFO does NOT have to be in a pilot seat for the entry and exit, they need only be in the cockpit. The captain getting the SAQ does have to be in a pilot seat.

The only reason that the copilot cannot be released is if the copilot has never been to the special airport involved.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NERD (Post 1111701)

Prepare for incoming T. As a former North guy I miss standardization of SOPA/SMAC, but think the South's way of international (TOE) and SAQ is hands down better. NWA did very little international training. IE: Check out on the whale I had OE to Asia but none to Europe because the whale did not go there at that time. I get a charter there and the capt. is a known f'up and had I not studied up our international section, picked the brains of other capts that had flown the DC10, and had a S/O that had flown the C5 over there, we would have had to fill out at least a half dozen ASR's. Northwest just assumed that everyone or at least someone on the crew had been to these different theaters.

My dad tells a very similar story on the DC-10. He had just completed OE, and his first trip on the line included AMS-BOM. Went around the cockpit to see who had been there before and for some gouge- no one had been!

Manuals and papers went flying all over the cockpit trying to get it figured out what was coming. Of course the plane had also come in late on top of all that...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Howgozit (Post 1111767)

I just looked at 320 open time in NYC for feb and 90% of them are 1 day trips. I thought that someone said that the trips will be 4 or 5 days... :confused:

Fifi does what Fifi wants! :D

(the first few months of a new category is always a total wild card)

Quote:

Originally Posted by forgot to bid (Post 1111590)

ACL,
I don't doubt ATL 777 might move out completely, but couldn't the size of ATL 777 and DTW 777 be flipped vs closing ATL 777?

I ask, because what else would do a route like ATL-NRT?

FWIW 777 routes (by my best count, I might be missing some):

ATL-DTW
ATL-LAX
ATL-DXB
ATL-JNB
ATL-NRT

DTW-ICN
DTW-PVG
DTW-PEK
DTW-HKG

NRT-HKG
NRT-SIN
NRT-TPE
NRT-ATL
NRT-MSP

MSP-NRT

LAX-SYD

ATL-NRT is about the shortest International leg we do on the 777. The Whale will do it...maybe in the winter it might be tough, then it can be over 15 going west. But sometimes on the way home it's not even 12hrs. Last time I flew it it was about 11hrs. I threatened to sit in F/C all the way home and let them 3 man it! Now that we are doing NRT-MSP, that is shorter.

LOS and TLV were both shorter, but they took the 777's off both.

When we first started the MSP leg, I was told we are only doing it because some of the Whales are down for the lie-flat seat mods. We'll see what happens when they get them all done, see if they put the Whale back on MSP-NRT, or...?

Any of you Whale drivers know what the max range (time or distance) is with a full load of pax? How many 4 pilot, over 12hr. legs do they fly?

I know the 777 LR is capable of flying for about 20 hours. It holds 317,000lbs. fuel, and burns about 16,000/hr. average. Right now, I think JNB-ATL is our longest leg, 7,400 mi. Take off to landing is about 16 on that one, depending on winds of course. The longest I've done is a bit over 17 hrs. BOM-ATL, in the winter, about 7,600mi I think, into a snow storm in the ATL which was fun. But the hardest part was trying not to slide off the hill by the jetbase on the packed ice on the taxiways!