When they do BOS AMS if they don't terminate it, will they do it as a DTW BOS AMS like NWA currently does? Or will they just do BOS AMS BOS, no DTW?

Delta is going to put winglets on the 767ER's. They have ordered 30 shipsets. The first were supposed to have been delivered in June however they ran into structural problems. The test aircraft which is a American 767 is now flying the certification flights and Delta hopes to have aircraft flying the line by Dec before the winter winds set in. The 757 flying AMS-CVG is very marginal. We often depart FRA-JFK with full fuel and that flight has diverted a couple of times.

Post DCC A-330
 

FWIW here are some of the rumors on the NW side.

No moving of aircraft to new bases for at least one year post-DCC.

A LOT of Deadeading to cover flying as they transition different Aircraft types to better fill the markets.

A-330 training was previously going to be flat for the rest of the year. NATCO has now been told to do MAX effor training on the A-330. This really made no sense to me because of two reasons. 1)The A-330 sim will be down for 5 weeks for software and hardware upgrades. We had to purchase sim time in Manchester, England to cover existing training. 2) Our next APA,( AE for you DAL guys) is for December 2008. In any case, we have apparently told Manchester that we want all the sim time they have between now and the end of the year.

A-330 wil be doing South America and Western Europe. It may or may not be doing Sao Paolo in lieu of the 747-400. No word on whether it will continue to fly routes from Left Coast to Japan and then south of Tokyo.

A-330 currently only has one pilot bunk so if they want to fly it over 12 hours they will either need a CONCESSION from the MEC or a new pilot crew rest area.

747-400 will probably end up going to JFK and ATL. Typical pattern/rotation will be DTW-NRT-ATL-JFK-NRT-NRT or some combo similar. Throw in some MSP layovers, not sure if it will continue LAX and HNL.

Sprinkle in a lot of deadheads to and from JFK and ATL to finish the picture.

More later as I continue to snoop around my UNRELIABLE sources. ;)

My recollection of the fence agreement when DAL purchased various parts of Pan Am is that the fence applied to an aircraft and base category.

For example: The Shuttle operation was acquired from Pan Am. A Delta pilot could bid into that category, however, as it was acquired from Pan Am, in the event of a displacement he could be displaced by a more junior Pan Am pilot.

Establishing an Airbus category in SLC (same with the MD-90 in MSP) would be a "new" category, and thus the fence rules would not apply. Of course this assumes my memory is correct, and that fences would be structured the same way.

DAL hates with a passion the concept of having to pay pilots to deadhead. Though it's fairly common, and initially necessary to maximize fleet efficiency, I strongly suspect realignment of aircraft and domiciles to happen fairly soon.

The A330 will require two bunks to go over twelve hours. The FAA requires a horizontal rest facility and has a published advisory circular on what the minimum standards for that entails. The MEC's can't waive FAR's. With the amount of very long haul flying the combined airlines will be doing we need to pay special attention to rest facilities on aircraft. Bombay to ATL is 17:55 minutes. We will have more flying like that in the future.

The A330 currently has two rest facilities. one by the pit with one bunk for the relief pilot (our contract doesn't require a seat in business, but there is a seat in the rest facility), and one for the cabin crew down below the floor near Doors 3L and 3R. The Concession I was referring to would be to put a pilot in the lower facility, which has multiple bunks.:eek: We fought against this very hard when we first ordered the A330 and I would fight against it again.

On this week's web chat with Ed Bastian, a Delta employee with the screen name of "Borat" wrote that he had heard NWA's 747's would now fly to Glorious Country of Kazakhstan. Ed actaully replied and confirmed that, no, Delta will not serve Kazakhstan with 747's.

So now we know that part of the puzzle.

Well thank God.