Jan classes at the earliest, more like Feb. As of earlier this week.

Yes, those that were hired will get the call first. Then those with interview invites will get called.

Hate to be a wet blanket to the prospective new hires at the new Delta, but the conference call today was not at all up beat regarding growth. This was said today on the call:

"It's probably an understatement to say it's been a challenging year with record fuel prices," Chief Executive Richard Anderson told analysts during a conference call. "And now we face economic uncertainty in the global markets."
President and Chief Financial Officer Ed Bastian said Delta is looking hard at its capacity given the economic downturn. He said that in the fourth quarter, Delta's international capacity growth will be about 2 percentage points less than previously expected.
Bastian said that Delta expects to experience a decline in demand in 2009 due to the economic environment, and the airline is prepared to act accordingly on the capacity front if that happens.
"There's no doubt we face challenges with the credit crisis," he said.

My opinion is that all growth plans and capacity plans are already being revised sharply downward, or the plans are already set to do so. The damage done to the domestic and world economy is real, and it will take some time for the patient to heal.

Carl

2% is nothing. That will be the issues with aircraft deliveries. It equates to less than about one city pair.

As I stated last week there were some mixed signals coming out about future plans. It appears that this has worked itself out. From the information that I and others have, there is planned growth and hiring for next year.

The 2% was in regards to the 4th quarter. What Bastian said about 2009 is the big part.

"Bastian said that Delta expects to experience a decline in demand in 2009 due to the economic environment, and the airline is prepared to act accordingly on the capacity front if that happens."

I'd love to see new hires as much as anyone but I don't see it happening soon.

Carl,
Thats how we operate. We hire right until its time to furlough. So in order to furlough, we need to start hiring again.

Scoop

I wonder why in the hell that happens? I've watched that exact same thing at NWA.

Carl

Ain't that the truth.

I will see if the tune changes in the coming weeks.

I want to see new guys as much as anyone, but it looks like a major global recession is in the works. I'd sure wait as long as I could to hire anyone if I were in charge of things. If stuff gets as bad as some are saying, we'll be lucky if we don't furlough down to the TBKANE clause and pull seats out of some of the RJ's. It's one thing to park a few domestic airframes, but when we start parking ER's the number of guys we won't need will add up very fast. I hope I'm wrong, but the worldwide economy sure doesn't look like it's gonna be doing to well for a few years.

I agree to a point. Most say this recession will be over in the next six to eight months. If we are in fact at or near the bottom, it would make no sense for a carrier to furlough that many.
Now I know, since when do airlines and sense go in the same sentence.
It is a bad time, but currently DAL has not see the expected drop in its loads. We are quite surprised by this.