Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?
Dalpa puts out a lot more then a document on the contract. On every contract I have been involved with they put out a contract highlights package shortly after signing. Then they put out actual contract language prior to voting. About the same time they put out a extensive often section by section explanation of the contract. Then they put on a series of road shows at the major bases and geographic centers where pilots live. There are also concurrent MEC meetings ongoing where normally the negotiating team will show up for a question and answer. The road shows are also made available as a webcast.
Afer all that 1/3 of the pilot group will complain they did not get any information before voting. Another 1/3 will complain the MEC did a sell job on the TA. The last 1/3 will say contract? Are we in negotiations?
P.S. The MEC had better not bring me any contract for a vote unless they can stand up confidently and sell the contract as the best deal for Delta pilots and their families. If they can't do that then it should not even be released for a vote with one exception. There are situations where putting a bad contract to a vote can be a useful political tool to show pilot resolve. In that case it should simply be put before the pilot group with the understanding its not endorsed by the MEC. That has not happened at Delta yet.
Afer all that 1/3 of the pilot group will complain they did not get any information before voting. Another 1/3 will complain the MEC did a sell job on the TA. The last 1/3 will say contract? Are we in negotiations?
P.S. The MEC had better not bring me any contract for a vote unless they can stand up confidently and sell the contract as the best deal for Delta pilots and their families. If they can't do that then it should not even be released for a vote with one exception. There are situations where putting a bad contract to a vote can be a useful political tool to show pilot resolve. In that case it should simply be put before the pilot group with the understanding its not endorsed by the MEC. That has not happened at Delta yet.
In essence, isn't that what the AirTran folks did on their First shot at the SLI.....or is that an apple to an orange ?
Regards,
BG
My favorite quote from this press release:
Delta posts 1Q profit on fuel hedges - Yahoo! Finance
Fuel hedges are bets on the price movement of products such as oil and gasoline. They help airlines smooth out the ups and downs of jet fuel purchases. Keep in mind that Delta's first-quarter gains are paper profits. They could turn to losses before the hedging contracts close.
Delta posts 1Q profit on fuel hedges - Yahoo! Finance
Fuel hedges are bets on the price movement of products such as oil and gasoline. They help airlines smooth out the ups and downs of jet fuel purchases. Keep in mind that Delta's first-quarter gains are paper profits. They could turn to losses before the hedging contracts close.
Regardless is the correct word. "Irregardless" is a word that people use to sound smart. It is a combination of irrespective and regardless that rural americans starting using many years ago in order to more educated.
C9
"Through our focus on free cash flow generation, Delta has now achieved a nearly $5 billion debt reduction in the past two years," said Paul Jacobson, Delta's chief financial officer. "We have also begun to make the necessary changes to achieve our targeted cost levels, which should accelerate our cash generation and de-levering."
NUFF SAID
NUFF SAID
Performance
Revenue Environment
Cash
Debt
Fuel
Operating Expenses
Tax Man
Comment
The $163M Special Items
Delta recorded special items totaling a $2 million gain in the March 2011 quarter, including:
- On Time Arrival: up 7.3 points to 87.3%
- Completion Factor: up 2.8 points to 99.6%
- DOT Baggage: up 31%.
- DOT Customer Complaints: down 53%.
Revenue Environment
- Operating revenue: up 9% or $665M on 3% lower capacity than March 2011 quarter.
- Traffic: up 1%
- Load Factor: up 3.3 points to 79.7%
- Passenger Revenue: up 10% or $651M
- PRASM: up 14%
- Yield: up 9%
- Cargo: down 2% or $6M with lower cargo yields partially offset by higher volumes.
- Other Revenue: up 2% or $21M from higher 3rd party maintenance revenue.
Cash
- Unrestricted Liquidity: $5.7B with $3.9B in cash and short-term investments and $1.8B in an undrawn revolving credit.
- Cash From Operations: $947M from strong advance ticket sales.
- Capital Expenditures: $350M including $300M in aircraft, parts and modifications.
Debt
- Debt and Capital Lease Payments: $450M including $40M early retirement of debt.
- Adjusted Net Debt: $12.2B. On track to reach $10B in 2013.
Fuel
- Fuel: expenses up 14% or $250M but offset by $45M in fuel hedge gain and reduced consumption.
- Fuel Price: average $3.28/gal but $3.11/gal after fuel hedging.
Operating Expenses
- Operating Expenses: up $80M as higher ancillary business expenses and employee costs were offset by the benefits of lower capacity and lower weather-related costs.
- CASM: excluding fuel up 3.6% on 3% lower capacity compared to 2011.
- CASM: including fuel and special items CASM up 6%.
Tax Man
- Tax Expense: up $75M as a result of prior year $71M benefit from tax credits.
Comment
- "Through our focus on free cash flow generation, Delta has now achieved a nearly $5 billion debt reduction in the past two years," said Paul Jacobson, Delta's chief financial officer. "We have also begun to make the necessary changes to achieve our targeted cost levels, which should accelerate our cash generation and de-levering."
The $163M Special Items
- $151 million in mark-to-market gains for fuel hedges settling in future periods;
- a $39 million gain associated with the exchange of slots at New Nork-LaGuardia and Washington-Reagan National; and
- a $27 million charge for fleet, facilities and other items.
Delta recorded special items totaling a $2 million gain in the March 2011 quarter, including:
- $29 million in mark-to-market gains for fuel hedges settling in future periods;
- a $7 million charge associated fleet retirements; and
- a $20 million loss on extinguishment of debt.
- an unmeasurable loss in the bad***ness goodwill of the DC-9 fleet as Newk moved to the fatted calf, 7ER, effects still being studied.
Dalpa puts out a lot more then a document on the contract. On every contract I have been involved with they put out a contract highlights package shortly after signing. Then they put out actual contract language prior to voting. About the same time they put out a extensive often section by section explanation of the contract. Then they put on a series of road shows at the major bases and geographic centers where pilots live. There are also concurrent MEC meetings ongoing where normally the negotiating team will show up for a question and answer. The road shows are also made available as a webcast.
P.S. The MEC had better not bring me any contract for a vote unless they can stand up confidently and sell the contract as the best deal for Delta pilots and their families.
There are situations where putting a bad contract to a vote can be a useful political tool to show pilot resolve. In that case it should simply be put before the pilot group with the understanding its not endorsed by the MEC. That has not happened at Delta yet.
As to neutral recommendations, that happened at the last NWA ch11 TA, and it was then mercilessly sold by the MEC. Still bad blood over that.
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 5,583
Likes: 326
Our new reserve rules are a huge degradation in quality of life. I flew a spillover into the month of 1 day, a 2 day, a 3 day, sat 3 shortcalls for a total of 9 days of work for a whopping 76 raw. I am still number 1 for a 4 day so when I get a 4 day, I will have worked 13 days to get into bucket 2. Unfortunately for me the moth will be over.
Performance
Revenue Environment
Cash
Debt
Fuel
Operating Expenses
Tax Man
Comment
The $163M Special Items
Delta recorded special items totaling a $2 million gain in the March 2011 quarter, including:
- On Time Arrival: up 7.3 points to 87.3%
- Completion Factor: up 2.8 points to 99.6%
- DOT Baggage: up 31%.
- DOT Customer Complaints: down 53%.
Revenue Environment
- Operating revenue: up 9% or $665M on 3% lower capacity than March 2011 quarter.
- Traffic: up 1%
- Load Factor: up 3.3 points to 79.7%
- Passenger Revenue: up 10% or $651M
- PRASM: up 14%
- Yield: up 9%
- Cargo: down 2% or $6M with lower cargo yields partially offset by higher volumes.
- Other Revenue: up 2% or $21M from higher 3rd party maintenance revenue.
Cash
- Unrestricted Liquidity: $5.7B with $3.9B in cash and short-term investments and $1.8B in an undrawn revolving credit.
- Cash From Operations: $947M from strong advance ticket sales.
- Capital Expenditures: $350M including $300M in aircraft, parts and modifications.
Debt
- Debt and Capital Lease Payments: $450M including $40M early retirement of debt.
- Adjusted Net Debt: $12.2B. On track to reach $10B in 2013.
Fuel
- Fuel: expenses up 14% or $250M but offset by $45M in fuel hedge gain and reduced consumption.
- Fuel Price: average $3.28/gal but $3.11/gal after fuel hedging.
Operating Expenses
- Operating Expenses: up $80M as higher ancillary business expenses and employee costs were offset by the benefits of lower capacity and lower weather-related costs.
- CASM: excluding fuel up 3.6% on 3% lower capacity compared to 2011.
- CASM: including fuel and special items CASM up 6%.
Tax Man
- Tax Expense: up $75M as a result of prior year $71M benefit from tax credits.
Comment
- "Through our focus on free cash flow generation, Delta has now achieved a nearly $5 billion debt reduction in the past two years," said Paul Jacobson, Delta's chief financial officer. "We have also begun to make the necessary changes to achieve our targeted cost levels, which should accelerate our cash generation and de-levering."
The $163M Special Items
- $151 million in mark-to-market gains for fuel hedges settling in future periods;
- a $39 million gain associated with the exchange of slots at New Nork-LaGuardia and Washington-Reagan National; and
- a $27 million charge for fleet, facilities and other items.
Delta recorded special items totaling a $2 million gain in the March 2011 quarter, including:
- $29 million in mark-to-market gains for fuel hedges settling in future periods;
- a $7 million charge associated fleet retirements; and
- a $20 million loss on extinguishment of debt.
- an unmeasurable loss in the bad***ness goodwill of the DC-9 fleet as Newk moved to the fatted calf, 7ER, effects still being studied.
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 5,113
Likes: 0
As to neutral recommendations, that happened at the last NWA ch11 TA, and it was then mercilessly sold by the MEC. Still bad blood over that.
I suppose the reps can't simply disappear when a T/A is reached. People have questions/comments. So I suppose that, by default, they argue in favor of something they just voted to pass on to the membership.
Still, my experience has been that there is always a strong, obvious commitment to getting a T/A passed. Why is that necessary?
I called IT, they had nothing. They said there are no current known issues with IE or Firefox. I have Firefox 3.6 and 11, both are giving it to me--constant disconnect/resets of DeltaNet and thus also Icrew. Windows 7. No downloads except the automatic windows updates. All cache and cookies cleared repeatedly, doesn't help. Like you, I can't even put in a PCS bid! It's terrible. It's obviously a problem, but my impression was that Delta was NOT taking my call as a data point to identify problems and fix them... I don't know how they ever expect to have a "known problem and fix" if they don't even ASK me to describe my issue and type a bit of data down...
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