Has any one heard, are the merger committees going to meet between now and the 8th like Bloch suggested?

I can't help but think one side is feeling better about how the winds are blowing with the committee and will want to talk...........and no, I don't know who.

Is it the 8th yet?

Ferd

 

new,

That's exactly it. I just want to hear someone say hey, this where we would compromise or just come out and admit that they want a windfall.

 

All I'm looking for is to stay on my equipment, at my base, with relative seniority to where I am now. I have a nice life and get my weekends off.

I don't want to fly 747s and I don't want to move. For 99.9% of the guys I fly with, that's their sentiment as well. No better, no worse would be fine with me.

 

The I don't want to fly 747's and Idon't want to (you fill in the blanks here) is EXACTLY what the Republic pilots said prior to the final arbitration but what really happened? Every time an opening came on a 747 or anything else I might add a Republic guy filled it asap.... That statement carries no weight to the NWA pilots,"fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me." We definitely want to keep our large widebodies and feel a need to insure that through seniority.

 

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Ferd,

My gut feeling is neither side is going to call the other and we are in the waiting mode now until a decision is made.

As far as one side calling the other because they think it's leaning the other way, I think it's a big game of "chicken" right now and, unless the arbitrators call and say "hey the list is going to come out tomorrow at noon," both sides will continue down the current path. Neither side wants to be seen as "caving."

I, for one, am looking forward to the "Siapan tour" with an experienced guide!!

Denny

 

Well, that's hard to do. First, attrition has never been used as an equity in an SLI integration. The NWA pilots want it, I understand why they deserve it and Chairman Bloch seems to want to give it to them. If so, Bloch wants to do something that has never been done before.

Most agree a Dynamic list is an impossibility and the attorneys suggest Delta Inc. would reject a dynamic list and send us right back to arbitration

So it is likely a static list will have to pre-load some advantage to the NWA side to compensate them.

But, that is giving NWA something better than status quo NOW to make up for attrition lost in the FUTURE.

We all know how well promises made by airline management hold up in the future.

Bloch proposes to break this thorny deadlock by pulling out a number of NWA pilots, pulling the other NWA pilots up into these slots, merging the lists by ratios, then adding the pulled out pilots back in where they would have been if not removed. The effect is to raise the entire NWA list as if the attrition had already happened.

Seems workable, but no one has ever done this, or has any experience with this, and nobody knows where Bloch might draw the line. The numbers he asked Delta to prepare were between 90 and 173. Understand 170 pull outs equals 340 pilots & everyone underneath them because we are talking about a slot held by two NWA pilots.

You'd have NWA DC9 drivers next to Delta 767ER guys. Is that a reasonable compromise? I'll admit that I do not know.

 

Denny,

Your on for Saipan! Look for either me or Big Mike. I give both the tour and the TOUR. Sun screen, bring sun screen! Believe it or not (I didn't) but Guam/Saipan are actually south of Hawaii.

Ferd

 

The big deal about this is - - I'm almost convinced NWA got FUTURE retirements in play as a equity now.

On average the NWA pilots hired in younger and are younger than the Delta pilots. The Delta pilots will retire before the NWA pilots senior to them. At least in the classes of 2007 and 2008, it will be almost all Red pilots at the top 24 years from now.

Who'd have thought a merger of equals was just as difficult as any other merger?

 

Molon,

It's the first time I've heard someone comparing Delta to Republic as far as this merger goes!!!! I think you better take another look at what fleets we each bring to the table!!!

I'm sure that no NW pilot will want to fly any of the DL aircraft out of any of the DL bases because it's just kinda beneath'em!!!!

Denny