It appears from Lounge visits and the most recent management question and answer session posted on the Delta net this week that the NWA cargo operation is going to be shutdown rather quickly after the merger. Does anyone know how many total pilot jobs this will cost the combined airline?

Sailing,
A bunch of numbers were thrown around in the hearing yesterday - did you review the transcript? It also went over the problems the current environment is causing all cargo outfits in general but especially in the Pacific.
I hope management isn't planning drastic cutbacks after the merger goes through, but I am less and less optimistic every day.

Scoop - Still hoping for the best.
Scoop

I Hope it not near term. Here are the comments from last week Q & A. Does not look good.


Any ideal on what will happen to the 747-200 Freighters. Will Delta Maintenance work on those.

Tony Charaf (Sep 24, 2008 1:28:58 PM)
My understanding is they are going away.

Tony...I know we always look at paxs, mail, cargo as an aggregate when looking at markets. With a renewed focus on cargo would we not keep a few freighters for lift purposes where we might have a backlog of freight or premium cargo lift required or is there not enough money in cargo to fly a few freighters?

Tony Charaf (Sep 24, 2008 1:41:45 PM)
This is my personal opinion: the 747-200 freighters are not good freighters and that operation is not making money. Cargo businesses within airline businesses have not fared well. Based on that, we need to be very cautious on how we proceed. The final strategy is in the hands of Richard, Ed, Steve and the cargo team.

These comments mirror what Haustein has said. So in the end how many jobs are we talking about?

Would those be the "Super Premium Widebody" jobs?

Yup, those are the ones.

Guess the title is just a little over the top eh. But I guess that is what happens when you let your lawyer do the marketing for the arbritators.

However, we all need to be concerned that jobs at THAT (what ever ya want to call it) level may be going away off OUR list. As a young Delta guy, I'd want the option of being a captain on widebody rubber dog$hit hauler in say 10 years.

Ferd

Ferd, you exhibit one of the most rare qualities of a mature self assured human being. You are able to laugh at yourself. If we meet somewhere out there I will surely buy you an adult beverage and a Diet Coke for me.

BTW, I flew rubber dog sh*t out of Hong Kong for 5 years in the 141. I prefer flying the beautiful people to Nice. See ya on the Cote D'Azure this weekend.

Thanks, appreciate that! Your on for the diet cokes. But, since I'm a retired USAF dude who had a 141 guy as a UPT IP, let me buy (with your tax money of course).

Ferd

It is my understanding that all of the freighters will be "timed out" within 2 years. Barring a large financial commitment to do heavy maintenance on the freighters, they will be retired to the desert.

The only freight advocate at a position with any influence at NW was Jim Friedel, and he got promoted out of the VP Carog job and replaced by someone with ZERO experience in cargo and ZERO experience in the Pacific.

If you want to hear something sad and humorous, contact one of our pilots trapped, yes trapped, in Anchorage. Mr. Lentz, new cargo manager, had a 2 hour Q and A with the ANC pilots about freight ops. This was the meeting where he demonstrated zero prior experience in freight and Asia ops and claimed that the A330 freighter was the best replacement for the 747 freighters.

On the DL side, RA hired some cargo gurus from UA. The same ones that ran UA Cargo into extinction...

From what I read and hear, our cargo guy is making money hand over fist. We fly routes to bum fu** places that make a profit before we even sell a seat. It has become a big problem for non rev travel as every ounce of lift is allocated to revenue cargo and pax. I think I read a quote by RA that we have become the leader in belly cargo. Can someone back me up here?

Please don't construe the previous post as a denigration of the NW Cargo ops. It's tough to compete with the cargo giants in a region suffering an economic slowdown with old airplanes. When we start invading another mid east country those mil charter birds will truly pay off!