For someone to reach the level of CFO..........he cannot be stupid. I’m sure he has been informed of the timeline necessary to bring new pilots on the line. If he hasn’t, someone else has dropped the ball. I suspect there are other considerations he is juggling along with this problem.

Yes, it could jump up bite Delta in the tookus. But, hey, if it happens, on the good side greenslips will be abundant!:)

Denny

I’ll grant that the CFO ought to be a pretty sharp cookie, fully capable of analyzing and weighing data to make the best possible decisions. I also grant that inadequate planning may benefit some in the pilot group with some flush paychecks.

That said, one doesn’t need to look far amongst the smartest people you know to still see dumb decisions because they hold onto preconceived notions, ignore data that is inconvenient, or just aren’t all that interested in some questions or problems. My favorite unknowable question that everyone (OK, just a lot of super opinionated keyboard ninjas) seems to know for sure that they’re right on and everyone else is wrong is whether Delta ought or ought not to have 787s in its network.

As for the green slip lottery, I would say that while everyone loves a green slip, it isn’t necessarily the best thing for the pilot group or the company. The existence of a green slip, and certainly lots of green slips, represents an opportunity cost where: 1) more pilots are not employed by the company such that a shortage exists and a green slip is necessary. 2) the system, our brand, and therefore, our profit sharing checks, or even the growth of our regular checks, all face risks when the company has to waive cash around in order to keep us from failing to safely move people around in a reliable and timely manner. Again, everyone loves getting a green slip, but it isn’t without risk or opportunity cost.

There may be other relevant considerations, but I have yet to hear of any that really answer why we shouldn’t just keep onboarding pilots at a steady clip as an inexpensive shock absorber for manning and stay ahead of the retirement waves.

Trust me. I pretty much agree with all you said.

With all the retirements in the next 5-7 years, mine included, it's gonna be training nightmare anyway. But adding new aircraft to the fleet that are growth will make it darn near impossible. The Company should be adding pilots now to cover that sure thing...

Denny

They can't ask for (and get) productivity enhancements unless we have a crisis to solve that justifies the give.

What’s the current situation? Interviews going out? Classes sizes / times per month?

just heard interview invites went out for August.... Im shocked if thats how far out the next batches of interviews will be.

Are you sure it wasn’t Indoc invites for August CJOs?

Slow interviews for March - about 4 candidates per interview day.
Double of that for April - May.

All I heard.

Indoc classes are 2-3 per month, but only 40 per month total for Jan-Mar.

No...the guys that just got Indoc dates for Mar, had Aug CJO’s.