TenYearsGone

Cool thanks. Im on Leave then. I could have "bet" that I am listed as FUR on the seniority list and my ALPA status says Furloughed.

My letter from Delta also says I am on Furlough status.. My recall rights end in 14 years from start of original furlough, if Delta does not hire and my intent (letter to FLT OPS HR)is to come back.

What are some of the different rules? Thanks.

TYG

forgot to bid

Because I wanted the drive-by post of the day. Go in and make a mess and drive off.

Well, actually no. I said it because the filter in my head was bypassed when I saw an opportunity to poke at those who don't want "regional jets" at mainline and I wanted them to see how many people we could have had.

So if anyone thinks that was aimed at regional pilots guess again. I don't know of too many regional pilots who would not prefer to see mainline carriers expand by 30% or more.

Now, who's to blame? Anyone who SAID or still says I don't want to fly regional jets at mainline. And thats not always senior folks, we've got way way too many middle and junior folks who'd say "I didn't come to Delta to fly small jets" or "I already did the RJ thing, I'm not flying that stupid DC9 or MD88."

Its a fight to change minds going forward and for the most part mission accomplished believe it or not but unfortunately whats done is done and 70-76 seaters will stay right where they are.

Domestic is 6-7 crews per plane according to Dec 2010 staffing forecast, international is about 30 pilots to a plane but remember the ULH birds have two complete crews (2 CAs and 2 FOs) while the 330, 764, 767 are generally 1 CA and 2 FOs with many exceptions. The other issue is we have what was traditionally an international only category (7ER) replacing domestic categories (767) which makes it hard to determine the numbers.

By December we'll have 10,500 pilots flying and 12,221 on staff. Thats 14 pilots per plane flying or 17 on the list per plane.

Now, to do some number crunching on DCI size...

TenYearsGone

Thats good info. Thanks...

TYG

dojetdriver

Thanks.

Probably won't need to crunch much. Like has been covered, it's usually in the 4-6 crews per plane range for most "regoinals". My company "staffs on block hours, NOT crews per plane" as the mantra goes. But it sure is a coincidence that it works out to about 5-5.5 crew per plane number. The split being about 55% CA's and 45% FO's. At the height it was around 60/40 split.

However, we have gone through periods just in the last year alone to where due to productivity, we are "overstaffed", immediately followed by rampant junior manning.

forgot to bid

Do, I'm going to take your word for it and skip crunching numbers.

Now the question is what happens to staffing when we increase utilization thanks to the maybe/maybe not DCA/LGA slot swap?

boilerpilot

Just to transfer apples to apples, you were talking about crews per airplane then you switched to pilots per airplane. That means that DAL currently operates at 7-8.5 crews per airplane. Not THAT far off from the regional staffing of 5-6 crews per airplane.

forgot to bid

I won't read into your last sentence but will answer your question.

If you divide up the entire fleet of 738 aircraft, and assume all of the parked airplanes (757s, 88s, 767-300 domestic and international aircraft) are flying which they are not, then the number of pilots projected to be flying the line in August of 2010 is 9777 and in December 2010 is 10,514. We have a seniority list of 12,221 which includes instructors, off-line management, military leave, furlough bypass, sick, etc).

Do the math and it is 13.3 pilots in Aug and 14.2 in Dec when you just have line pilots and 16.6 when you use the overall seniority list.

The reason why I am using pilots versus aircraft is because of the shear number of 4-man and 3-man flights we have. If you look at the 767 international fleet in ATL you have 351 Captains and 550 First Officers all of whom might do a 2-man domestic trip, 2-man international flight (ex JFK-LHR), 3-man international and 4-man international. Trying to figure out crews that works out to be is beyond me and the info you can get your hands on. If you want to say 2 pilots to a plane then sure the ratio is 16 for the 777 and 6-7 for the domestic birds.

buzzpat

TYG, you are correct. You are still listed as FUR on DAL's roles. I deferred also for awhile and then came back. The difference between you and someone on PLOA is that you have to wait until Delta hires again to accept recall. At that time, you maintain your seniority and are plugged into whatever and wherever you can hold.

acl65pilot

I have said it before and will say it again. DAL pilots are some of if not the most efficient in terms of block hrs per pilot. No I am not kidding.
The average guy here at DAL flies about 60-62 hrs a month where many regionals struggle to get over 50 hrs per pilot per month.

We staff the ULH at 16 crews or 32 pilots per jet. and the domestic at about 7 crews per jet. The augmented international three man jets are in the middle.
Our staffing is actually fairly lean. We are carrying a excess right now, but that will disappear as the utilization rate per jet goes through the roof this summer and then again in 2011. The need for pilots is this summer, which they appear to be planning to offer a ton of premium flying for and then again in 2011 and forward.

dojetdriver

I'm not sure how many "regionals" you're familiar with. My former, barring a stand up line, was over 50, with only a few over 70 in 5 years. Of course, with the CBA I was working under, the credit was way more.

My current, I average 70 to 80 in the book per month unless I'm flying the charter side. I know guys at other "regionals" doing more. How are you getting your numbers?