In recurrent they said they wanted two classes of 4 per month. Now my thinking is...
A) How many of those 4 will actually show up to Comair instead of chasing the flavor of the month quick upgrade (or a legitimate better offer).
B) Why not just one class of 8? Seems to me it would save money that way....

Reduction/Attrition/Furlough
 

So we are going to see 2008 block hours reduced from 2007. But we are trying to hire 4 people ever other week, and if Delta reduces the hours too much at anyone time we might have furloughs.

Now I realize that Delta is decreasing its domestic flying, but I thought overall airtravel was increasing. All of those ATC problems in the North East always state that by 20XX we'll see 2X the planes in the sky.

Something doesn't add up here.

When will the other regionals be looking at the same problems?

I wouldn't worry about furloughs at this point. Attrition is sky high right now. Add to that that he says "furlough" and "continue to hire" in the same breath. I fully believe that attrition will take care of any staffing issues we may have, whether the staffing issues are perceived or real.

He does mention flying for other carriers on a short moment's notice. Perhaps something is in the works; no one can know for sure. In the end, there is nothing anyone can do about it except ride the waves.

I seriously wouldn't worry about a furlough unless something drastic happens such as another terrorist attack, the economy completely tanks and airlines drastically cut flying, etc, etc, etc...

The ONLY reason we furloughed back in '05 was because the company was trying to whip the union into submission. It ended up backfiring because we were so short staffed, and most pilots refused to pick up open time while we had guys out on the street. The few pilots that did pick up open time needed friendly "reminders" about picking up extra flying with guys on furlough. I think the company was banking pilots flying lots of extra flying, and when it didn't happen, the recalled everyone almost immediately. If I recall correctly, the furlough was no longer than 3 to 4 months. Furloughed in January and everyone was back by April.

If they did furlough, they would only be slitting their own throats when it comes to staffing this airline and I think they know it. Or, maybe they are completely clueless and have no idea what is going on. Yeah, that's probably the most likely explanation.

Besides, wasn't the most recent FA vacancy bid due to "increased block hours"? They always talk out of both sides of their mouths here. Always have and always will.

Anyone else heard United as a possible option for additional flying?

Also, if someone could either post or PM me the memo from Soaper, that would be great. Apparently my mailbox was too full to receive any new messages! Thanks!

TO: Comair Pilots
FROM: Dave Soaper, senior vice president of Aircraft Operations
RE: Block-hour reduction follow-up
I wanted to provide a follow-up to the memo from President John Selvaggio earlier this month.
As John communicated, fuel cost pressure is driving a reduction in domestic capacity, which will
affect all Delta Connection carriers, including Comair. As a result, up to 14 aircraft will be
coming out of the operation. We will fly 10-15 percent fewer scheduled block hours in 2008.
We continue to work closely with Delta to ensure that we are doing everything we can to make
this decrease in block hours as seamless as possible to our crews. Our current staffing plan
indicates we will be able to achieve any necessary crew reductions through drops, line-value
reductions and attrition.
Our short-term strategy is to work with Delta to adjust the proposed block-hour reductions so that
they can be phased out over a longer period, to the extent possible. For example, we have
successfully re-worked the schedule from March through May, slowing the reduction in each of
these months. This more gradual reduction allows us to minimize the potential staffing impact by
allowing attrition to mitigate the overage. By contrast, a significant reduction in any single month
could put us in an overstaffed situation where we would have to consider furloughs. Ultimately,
we still achieve the full block-hour reduction required, just not as quickly.
Our long-term strategy is to continue to look for opportunities to grow — both within and outside
the Delta network. More than likely, growth at this time would come in the form of taking over
flying from another carrier. To be successful at this, we must be prepared to react to flying
opportunities on short notice and we must maintain a sound operation. For these reasons, we are
continuing to upgrade and hire to backfill some attrition but also to be poised to accept new flying
on a moment’s notice. We recently released a vacancy bid, and beginning in February, we expect
to resume hiring at up to eight new hires a month.
Thank you for your continued focus on safety and running a quality operation. We will continue
to update you regarding our strategy and staffing situation as we have new information to share.

Thanks for posting that Charlie Bravo.

I hope Delta does not stand in the way of us doing business for other carriers. Maybe I'm looking at this wrong, but if I were Delta and I wasn't going to use the airplanes/pilots, etc. of Comair, wouldn't I want them making money for me some of ther way, like flying for one of my competitors?

You would think...but its hard to make money with 50 seaters nowadays. I can't think of any carrier thats looking to add them. Besides, I think these 14 a/c are being returned to lessors, so its not like they are dead weight to OH or DL.

I agree it might be hard to make money with a 50 seater. Delta says they can't make money with the regionals and want to do more mainline flying. So on my deadhead out of LGA on the MD-88 on my last trip I sat in the back by myself and let the other 29 passengers have the front all to themselves. It was great no screamin kids etc. But why send out an MD-88 with 30 people on it? I guess I don't see the big picture.:D

One of my favorite restaurants gives out free peanuts. It must be hard to make money giving away free peanuts.

Then again, the folks that load up on the (free) salty peanuts tend to order more (expensive) drinks. So the 50s are Delta's "free peanuts". It's hard to add profitable international routes if the people gotta drive to JFK or ATL to catch that overseas Delta flight.

Of course that doesn't stop them from telling you how worthless you are in the "big picture"

Only 8 are returning to the lessors. That was already in place and scheduled to happen before Delta announced it's domestic cuts. We "lost" another 6 aircraft... According to the Chiefs that came into recurrent last month, those 6 will be parked over at old remote or at the maintenance hangar for spares or whenever Delta realizes that the public demand for flying isn't going anywhere.

Personally, I'd like to see those 6 making money (whatever profit we can get) for another carrier. Hopefully Delta will see that whatever money we make they technically make anyway, and will allow it. And hopefully said carrier is impressed and wants us to do more flying. But thats my little dream...