Boomer

True, but that doesn't prevent Delta from coming to Comair pilots and saying,

"See what you made us do? Now find a way to take $17 million out of the next contract or we'll have no choice but to do the same with the planes you have left"


But Delta still winds up owning the planes. They just move them from Comair to Freedom to Comair to Pinnacle to Mesaba to ASA (The NxxxLR 900s) or from Comair to ASA to SKW to GoJetssss (The NxxxCA 700s).

All that moving around trying to save a buck and the hulls are still on Delta's debt sheet.

acl65pilot

They may own the jets, or they may not. Either way the end results is a third party that obligates their corporation to act as the party responsible for the financial commitment. In OH's case, sadly, I do not see them getting awarded any flying.

Boomer

I agree, but it's a shame because Comair puts the ELT in DELTA.

FlyingViking

I agree but find it interesting that current profit and future profits plays a lesser role in the big scheme of things.... weird, but then again I am just a pilot so what do I know?

captainv

Boomer, I remember reading a big piece in the Enquirer a while ago about the slow dismantling of CVG. Quoted all sorts of DAL/Airport big wigs saying how they knew years and years ago what CVG's fate would be - which of course was the exact opposite of what they told us all those years.

What they say doesn't matter, even on the off-chance what they said was actually true. They do it because they can.

scambo1

I think Delta believes Comair put the TA in Delta.


And broke it off.

acl65pilot

I agree to some extent. We are long term tenants in this business, and have more than a vested interest. I believe there are many things that DAL would love to do to help improve this product, but have too many financial limitations from their debtors to invest more than the billion and a half a year that they currently plan.

Airlines have become hosts that many other profitable and successful industries and businesses feed off of. They do serve a purpose. For DAL to do what it needs to do, the airline needs to shrink by 20%. They need to close CVG, MEM and make either SEA or SLC the gateway in the Northwest. The product may be going that way, but the fact is that DAL needs to get off of debt, and in my opinion down to the five billion range. When that would happen, we would see a lot of this push to move debt off the balance sheet go away. It really is simple, but shrinking so that you can correctly retool is a very scary proposition for employees and shareholders.

Effectively, they need to not renew one DCI contract and commit to buying 40 new jets every year forever. That in of itself is simple fleet renewal math. By putting off these decision we will see a push to do it quickly and as a result, DAL will state they cannot afford all of that debt. Part is tactic, part is the CH11 era, and part is former leadership teams taking a break from reinvestment in the product. RA and co is doing this, and maybe in five years we will see tangible results.

boog123

Seen something the rest of us haven't?

hoserpilot

Sorry guys, the T n A is at Skywest. When I was there we hired nothing but hot SoCal girls and unmarried young babes from Utah. Oh, and of course those two strippers that I gave an app to in Medford. (I'm talking FA's)

acl65pilot

nope!


My statement come from the opinion that a National and International network is key. We have that though the merger, but DAL has commitments like the DCI CPA's, Airport leases and obligations, etc that cause the over all network to be inefficient. Frequency and market share were the buzz words last decade, and they have given way to RASM, and total revenue generation. The problem in this shift is special interests, and existing contracts. DAL will get to the point of a 10-20 percent reduction in the amount of departures they do, though larger gauge jets. It is painfully slow with the type of agreement that have been signed in years past. DCI is morphing but slower than it should. Our route network is doing the same, but again slower than it should due to contracts and existing obligations.

I highly suspect that the DAL of 2020 will be totally different than the one we see today. From a pilots perspective that can be good or bad. As Bar states, Unity(not the over used word, but the real grassroots unity where one job is not worth more the the next) is key. We fly jet, and need to be willing to put job security and protection to the top of the list. If it cannot be bought or sold, the job security and benefit from this belief will allow us to see the ensuing decades be far kinder than the last to this career.

* I said DAL departure, not Delta pilot departures. That point is significant.