More 777 for DAL

[MXAV8R]

I think its 28 pilots per 777 airframe....not to nitpick..see below....

Yeah...no...it is 16-19 CREWS per 777. Well at least according to the VP of Flight Ops.

 

[General Lee]

45 777LRs total by 2015? Isn't that when the first 787 will take flight? 2015?

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[4got2flare]

Richard reports on an eventful week

March 24, 2008

Richard Anderson looked back on a week of significant events for Delta, including our announcement of two voluntary programs for employees, the delivery of our second Boeing 777-200LR aircraft, and a tornado that ripped through Atlanta disrupting spring break operations. He also discussed steps we’re taking to manage rapidly rising fuel costs. Richard recorded his weekly employee message from Seattle as he joined more than 150 specially invited employees in taking delivery of our second 777LR.
“Of course, we’re excited about bringing this airplane home and getting it in the system,” Richard said. “We’ll have six more new aircraft deliveries throughout the year, and ultimately on the 777-LR, we’ll have a number of additional deliveries over the course of the next three to five years, as that’s a very important airplane for our growth, particularly across the Pacific. In addition to lie-flat seats and enhanced in-flight entertainment for our passengers, they have increased cargo capability and are designed for tremendous fuel efficiency.”
Richard noted the two voluntary employee programs we announced last week  the 60-Point Retirement Program and the Early Out program  that are the result of rapid and record high increases in fuel costs and the weakening U.S. economy.
“Remember that these programs are completely voluntary,” Richard said. “We’ll put a lot of information out and make it available over the next several weeks, so anyone that’s eligible can learn about both of these programs. Our goal is to make certain that our reduction is all voluntary, so stay tuned to details and we’ll be sending things to your home that will lay out all of the options.”
Starting March 31 through April 14, a special DeltaNet site will offer detailed descriptions and FAQs for the two voluntary options.
Richard said we’re moving quickly on several fronts to manage the recent spike in fuel costs.
“This week we raised domestic fares systemwide by an additional $10 round trip to help offset the rising cost of fuel,” he said. “In addition, we will begin charging customers $25 to check a second bag in May. We’re anticipating that our fuel costs will increase by somewhere between $1-2 billion year-over-year, so we’re going to take steps to rapidly work to cover those costs. We’ve been fairly successful hedging fuel. We have 25% in the first quarter and, I believe, 41% in the second quarter, so we have a significant number of hedge gains, but that doesn’t offset the fact that we have a precipitous increase in fuel.”
Richard praised frontline employees who dealt with high passenger loads and severe weather, including a tornado in Atlanta, last weekend.
“Special thanks to all of you who worked the operation last weekend in Atlanta, especially the IROPS in the Atlanta area,” he said. “It was a tough weekend over the system. We had rain and thunderstorms in the Northeast throughout the Carolinas, fog in Cincinnati. So all of this with load factors in the mid 90’s. So everybody from Line Maintenance, ACS, In-Flight, Flight Ops, OCC, y’all did a great job in especially challenging weather with very high loads.”
You can call in to hear Richard’s latest message at 888-356-3971 or 404-773-7128 internationally. You can also listen online or read a complete transcript of the call on the CEO site on DeltaNet.

Well, here is yesterdays message and it does state 6 more aircraft. But where is the mystical 45 number come from??? Not Boeing, Not Delta, Not Yahoo, so where???

 

[IronCityBlue]

Is that 6 total additional deliveries this year, or 6 more triples? I thought between more triples, 737NG's and used 757's that the total delivery additions would exceed 6 for the rest of the year?

 

[IronCityBlue]

Well, here is yesterdays message and it does state 6 more aircraft. But where is the mystical 45 number come from??? Not Boeing, Not Delta, Not Yahoo, so where???

According to the Delta web site they say they have orders and options (plus the ones already in the fleet) to equal 39. However, the data is from December, 2007 so maybe this year orders/options were placed for 6 more? Not sure.

https://www.delta.com/about_delta/corporate_information/delta_stats_facts/aircraft_fleet/

 

[General Lee]

Is that 6 total additional deliveries this year, or 6 more triples? I thought between more triples, 737NG's and used 757's that the total delivery additions would exceed 6 for the rest of the year?

We got 2 LRs already this year, and get another on Dec 31st (so it is this year technically), and then 5 more before Mar 31st of 09, including 3 on March 31st itself. We get 6 737-700s this year (starting in June I think), with a current total order of 10 total. Richard Anderson stated in his "town hall" meeting after he got hired as CEO that we would get 20-25 737-700s total. We are almost done getting the 17 757ERs from AA (ex TWA planes built in the late 90s).


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[IXLR8]

45 777LRs total by 2015? Isn't that when the first 787 will take flight? 2015?

Bye Bye--General Lee

Typical GL response...how did I know?..

 

[johnsonrod]

Time for Delta to kick some NWA a$$ in the Pacific. Of course, it might take some time to get some bilateral rights and slots... Whatever happened to the Pacific routes flown out of PDX on the MD11?

 

[ACL65PILOT]

We still have them, we are not utilizing them. To my knowledge they have not been sold.

 

[Papa Woody]

There is a lot of digging that you can do, but it does look like the larger numbers that were brought up here a few months ago by myself and a few others are proving true.
At 16-19 crews per airframe this is indeed good news for us.

Yes....at least some Delta pilots will be earning average SWA pay.

The rest?

 

[~~~^~~~]

I would assume that it could be a way to pressure NWA to a deal,....

ACL, thank you for your post.

I would disagree that this pressures NWA in any way. Management had already agreed on the stock swap & business successorship plans. The NWA pilots do not believe anything from any source - so this likely will not have any effect on them.

The 777LR makes Narita a "nice to have" and not a necessity as Delta simply flys over hubs with a more efficient aircraft and better service.

Delta can win in the market.

 

[JohnQ]

ACL, thank you for your post.

I would disagree that this pressures NWA in any way. Management had already agreed on the stock swap & business successorship plans. The NWA pilots do not believe anything from any source - so they can not look far enough down the road to see the threat.

The 777LR makes Narita a "nice to have" and not a necessity as Delta simply flys over their hub with more efficient aircraft and better service.

Delta can win in the market.

Don't count your chickens too soon. Hey, I'm DAL and hope that everything comes true just the way your optimistic post implies. But...

1. I won't believe a word of the "45 777s ordered" until I see the formal press release.

2. I won't believe we are actually flying the planes until they are painted in DAL colors flying paying pax.

3. NWA's NRT hub isn't just "nice to have." They have 5th freedom rights and perhaps more importantly, long-established corporate accounts, sales presences, and business relationships in Asia that will take us decades to build, even if we had 100 777s. Additionally, NWA has some of the smartest network guys in the industry, and they are the best at keeping the "cockroaches" (LCCs) out of their hubs. This from one of the former CAL (read, very bright) network guys now working for us.

That is why the merger COULD have been such a great thing.

 

[jrcpilot]

Time for Delta to kick some NWA a$$ in the Pacific. Of course, it might take some time to get some bilateral rights and slots... Whatever happened to the Pacific routes flown out of PDX on the MD11?

According to Network Management Director we have rights that can be exercised from Pan Am acquisition on some routes and others will have to be negotiated through the political and bilateral process.

 

[~~~^~~~]

John Q, you make excellent points. You are right about NWA's network and revenue folks. But, I do not see how this pressures NWA management in any way. For one thing, we will likely share code as we do now.

Delta has a lot of Pacific route authority unused that they got with Pan Am.

Delta can get new hires with good attitudes without longevity, or pay more for DTW and his pals while getting a obsolete, inefficient and disparate fleet. It is less expensive to grow internally.

 

[IronCityBlue]

John Q, you make excellent points. You are right about NWA's network and revenue folks. But, I do not see how this pressures NWA management in any way. For one thing, we will likely share code as we do now.

Delta has a lot of Pacific route authority unused that they got with Pan Am.

Delta can get new hires with good attitudes without longevity, or pay more for DTW and his pals while getting a obsolete, inefficient and disparate fleet. It is less expensive to grow internally.

While I agree with that in theory, I wonder about the Pan Am routes over the Pacific. Are they specific city pairs or how does that work? When Delta applied to get ATL-Shanghai it was far from automatic, and didn't a previous attempt at a China route get denied a year or two ago?

If its true that Delta can build up a meaningful Pacific presence on their own, that completely negates any reason to take on a massive merger and culture clash like an NWA merger would result in, especially when you consider the fleet type they would take on in the process.