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Since we've gotten our own spot on APC, some people have hinted that we needed a separate discussion from the hiring thread, so here goes...

Does anyone know when the DOT will tell us (or any other airline) the amount of slots we've been awarded into Cuba?

Do these new Cuba slots mean that we will see accelerated growth with either fleet type?

Well I dunno about the DOT but I'll take a stab at us. When we got the DCA slots it was a bit of a last minute deal so whatever plans we had were changed / put on hold as we pulled 190s to do DCA and backfilled 320s on those other routes. Some 320 routes were ended to facilitate the DCA ramp up.

I don't think Cuba will happen like that. For starters we have some planes doing the charters already. So those become scheduled. Also DCA had immediate potential where as cuba may be a little slower growth as travel to the island picks up. I don't think they'll need to flood every slot they get immediately.

Any rumors going around on those extra 190's Delta is no longer taking delivery of?

Not sure... Maybe that's why we are adding 69 E190 FO slots by September, according to the March bid. Unless there is another reason. Is the 190 understaffed?

190 is really unstaffed. Guys right out of training are holding a line. Lots of folks are getting out of their seat lock and going to the bus

JFK 190 FO is VERY understaffed. Everything in the red the day bids come out. Something like 25 less FO's than Captains in JFK. Going to be a long summer with terrible schedules.

Late May-Early June timeframe for announcement from DOT regarding Cuba. We will be awarded everything we applied for that wasn't Havana since there weren't enough other applicants to deny anyone on those routes.

B6 application was:

New York (Kennedy) – Havana (2 daily frequencies)
Fort Lauderdale – Havana (4 daily frequencies)
Fort Lauderdale – Camagüey (1 daily frequency)
Fort Lauderdale – Holguiìn (1 daily frequency)
Fort Lauderdale – Santa Clara (1 daily frequency)
Orlando – Havana (2 daily frequencies)
Tampa – Havana (2 daily frequencies)
Newark – Havana (1 daily frequency)
Boston – Havana (1 daily frequency)

No, but we can start one! 11 of those E190s will come from Delta to us. First person to hear it on the line wins a prize :p

We run maybe 2-3 charters per day to Cuba currently. We'd be looking at 7-8 daily flights after the award. We would definitely need to juggle capacity to cover these flights (or get some new airframes).

Assuming we get maybe 6 of the requested HAV slots, plus the others, that a lot of lift needed overnight. Plus pilots to fly the flights (something tells me Cuba trips won't go to reserves much).

Why not take on more 190s? I think the 190 makes us more flexible than the competition. Sometimes you don't need a A320 with 180 seats from MYR to PBG like the competition uses (NKS--and you know that plane is empty). I'll take a WAG and say it costs us less to operate a 190 with 90 seats filled than a 320 with 90 seats filled. So why not? Sure dispatch reliability isn't awesome, but neither is that of the 380, or even the 788....yet.

The whole cost to operate thing has interested me awhile (in a nerd sort of way). I suppose there is a way we could figure out CASM on both AC and RASM for that matter. I do agree with a post from earlier that more airframes might be needed.