Delta plans no follow-on aircraft order anytime soon

[Dornier 335]

source

Delta plans no follow-on aircraft order anytime soon

By Lori Ranson


Delta Air Lines has quashed speculation that it intends to place a second aircraft order following its decision last month to order 100 Boeing 737-900ERs.
Previously Delta had stated it could order up to 200 aircraft, and praised the technological advances offered by the Bombardier CSeries.
But speaking on 13 September during the Deutsche Bank Aviation and Transportation Conference Delta President Ed Bastian clearly stated: "We are done talking about aircraft for the near to medium term."
Bastian acknowledged there has been a "lot of industry chatter" about a second tranche of aircraft being ordered, but "there's no second step of aircraft whether it be with Bombardier or Embraer or Boeing or Airbus. We're very comfortable with where we will be sitting for the next several years. I do want to put to rest any thought that we are in the market considering a new aircraft decision".
A major driver behind Delta's decision to cap aircraft orders at the 100 Boeing narrowbodies is keeping its capital expenditures in a $1.2-$1.4 billion band on an annual basis, explained Bastian.
He added Delta's goal is to generate operating cash flows of $3-$4 billion per year and take "that incremental two billion and pay down the balance sheet".
"We'll be talking in the future about aircraft," said Bastian. "But nothing in the next couple of years."

 

[redflyer65]

Wow, didn't see that coming. Oh wait, they just said the schedule this fall is a full 5% less than last year.

RF

 

[Sacha]

On Your Six,

How many have you got below you? Just sayin babe... There is always that strip club over in East Point. ... They like fat chicks there from what I heard. Furloughed again...Bummer....

GODSPEED!!!

 

[Andy]

Age 65 should be able to take care of some furlough concerns. Problem is, most senior Delta pilots bailed prior to bankruptcy so most of the retirements they'll see are from the Northwest side. I think that's a bit less than 200 per year. Comparatively, American and Continental/United should be around 500 per year.

 

[GuppyWN]

Maybe Delta is buying a bunch of 717's.

Gup

 

[General Lee]

Wow, didn't see that coming. Oh wait, they just said the schedule this fall is a full 5% less than last year.

RF

There is a reason it is 5% less this Fall/Winter than last year, they are adding mods to the 744s (lie flat seats and AVOD--personal video), and they are adding crew rest facilities to the A330s this Winter. They want the A330s to be fly over 12 hours (Lagos to ATL, DTW to Tokyo Haneda starting next April), but they need to have 4 crew members for anything over 12 hours, and that means 2 bunks, not just one currently in the A330s). They are actually installing new crew rest facilities in the 767ERs as well, under the cabins. With normal Europe traffic falling after Labor Day anyway, the decision was made to complete a lot of these mods this Fall. They are actually adding a couple routes this Winter anyone due to rising demand in Japan (stronger Yen)---we start Honolulu to Fukuoka starting in December. (a route NWA used to fly with DC10s).

Any other questions Redflyer? As far as ordering 100 seaters, the order has been put off 2 more years so the balance sheet can be cleaned up more, which is a good idea. DL had $16 Billion in debt, and management is trying to get that down to $10 Billion by 2013 (2 years from now.....amazing how that works). DL actually paid down $700 million in debt just last quarter, and $2 billion last year alone. Have a great one!



Bye Bye----General Lee

 

[General Lee]

Maybe Delta is buying a bunch of 717's.

Gup

It did say delaying an order for NEW aircraft, but we all know DL likes used aircraft too. (MD90s---25 coming next year alone, many are in GSO and IND right now getting galley mods) I haven't heard anything else about those 717s in awhile, though. Maybe not.


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[General Lee]

Age 65 should be able to take care of some furlough concerns. Problem is, most senior Delta pilots bailed prior to bankruptcy so most of the retirements they'll see are from the Northwest side. I think that's a bit less than 200 per year. Comparatively, American and Continental/United should be around 500 per year.

There is a flowdown to Compass and Mesaba in the left seat if there ever was a furlough again, but we just had an early out retirement (unexpected, management thought initially maybe 40-50 Captains would take the offer, and instead 130 Captains and 35 or so FOs took the offer) so we are not fat on pilots. Delta always has extra pilots in the Fall, and not enough in the Spring and Summer. With large retirement numbers coming down the pike, very doubtful that there would be any furloughs, but rather hiring sometime next year. Those flowdowns to Compass/Mesaba would obviously be expensive, and that was the main reason DL did not furlough during the 2007/2008 recession period, which could have made sense back then I guess. Also, this year will have a year over year profit, and this Q3 is expected to be a large profit. Gas also is way down compared to what was expected (in the $130 a barrel range for Brent Crude, now in the $112 range), and fuel surcharges have kept steady. SWA actually just went along with a fare increase.



Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[Andy]

GL, can you do me favor and PM me your contractual furlough protections? Including all actions that kick in according to your contract? I'd like to push for some of those added to the CAL/UAL JCBA.

 

[General Lee]

On Your Six,

How many have you got below you? Just sayin babe... There is always that strip club over in East Point. ... They like fat chicks there from what I heard. Furloughed again...Bummer....

GODSPEED!!!

No talk of furlough thanks to the expensive flow down to Compass and Mesaba. I have heard that a furlough would have to last over 2 years to make it worth the cost of getting a type rating for the furlough, bumping the E175 Capt to FO, etc. And to top it off, management has stated they expected a PROFIT for the year, and a big Q3. As earlier stated, in Q2 DL supposedly paid down $700 million in debt alone, and $2 billion was paid down last year alone. Not bad.........but you would like to scare OYS if you could. Don't worry OY6, things are looking good still..... just no 100 seat aircraft order yet.


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[General Lee]

GL, can you do me favor and PM me your contractual furlough protections? Including all actions that kick in according to your contract? I'd like to push for some of those added to the CAL/UAL JCBA.

You're getting a PM....


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[BentOver]

Why does Delta need a President/CEO, executive team or any other leadership..they've got GL!!!


Shouldn't Delta be taking over the world by now? I thought that's what was predicted a few years ago?

 

[On Your Six]

Why does Delta need a President/CEO, executive team or any other leadership..they've got GL!!!


Shouldn't Delta be taking over the world by now? I thought that's what was predicted a few years ago?

I think you are right about GL. He's got my vote.

Here is a synopsis of the June Quarter results, September outlook, and onward looking, originally posted on another Website by another poster(BB), who copied those from the conference call.



June quarter notes:

• Revenue premium results in 636 million operating profit despite 1 Bn increase in fuel costs. Revenue has outpaced fuel price increase!
• Reduced to 13.8Bn debt
• 8 ½% return on invested capital

September Quarter looking better than expected:

• Operating margin between 9 and 11% (2% better than forecast)
• Fuel coming in slightly lower than expected
• Strong bookings with yield improvement (12% to 15% increase in revenue)
• Capacity down 1% Y2Y (elsewhere stated as down 3%)

Going forward:

• Managing for high fuel prices
• Managing non fuel costs, must get costs back to 2010 costs
• Winter flying down 5% Y2Y, especially in markets where revenues do not cover fuel prices
• Flying 20% fewer seats in the winter than the summer
• Done making money in the summer and losing money in the winter
• Good at selling to business. Not as good at selling to customers. Working offerings like economy comfort which has been selling very well. Thinking about using the product domestically as well. Putting WiFi in RJ’s & Lie Flat seats. Very excited about the new JFK terminal which will be the core of “mainline.”
• Delta.com & Res sales is 50% of sales. Better if we can sell direct
• 10-12% down over the Atlantic. Decreasing everywhere but Latin America. Shrinking smaller hubs, especially Memphis.
• $450 million in hedge benefits on fuel cost increases
• Capacity reductions ARE causing non fuel costs to RISE.

Fleet renewal:

• 737-900 15% to 20% reduction in fuel costs per seat and much lower maintenance costs compared to the 757. 757 flying will be reduced. Cash flow positive and accretive from a P&L basis. Thanked Boeing & Airbus for their work on the competition and look forward to talking to them in the “out years.”
• Very comfortable with fleet. Put to rest any thought that we are in the market for another aircraft order. Reason … watching Capital Expenditure. No orders in the next couple of years.
• Expect to get to 10 Bn debt level in 2013. That will save us $500,000,000 a year.

Q&A

• Paying down debt before stock buy back
• NWA merger credited with business sales strength
• US Domestic is our main market with 50 to 60% of our business. Much of our international business is sold in the US. Emirates and Air Asia are not direct competitors, but they do pressure margins. We are investing in Aero Mexico and feel being partnered well allows us to compete.
• Part of our RASM growth was the excise tax suspension
• Very pleased to be an investor with a seat at the table with Aero Mexico. We can bring our skill sets into the emerging marketplace in Mexico and Brazil and we will benefit from lower labor costs. We are looking at other internal markets, especially in South America

Good stuff!


Godspeed!



OYS

 

[On Your Six]

On Your Six,

How many have you got below you? Just sayin babe... There is always that strip club over in East Point. ... They like fat chicks there from what I heard. Furloughed again...Bummer....

GODSPEED!!!

I think I'll be just fine, thanks anyway. When did you go to the East Point strip club? Back in the 50s, when you were training on the DC6 at Eastern?


Godspeed!


OYS

 

[Sacha]

OYS,

What kind of aircraft will you be First Officer on at Compass? Enjoy your Akron overnights...

Good Stuff.....GODSPEED!!!

P.S. Your career is a disaster.

 

[On Your Six]

No talk of furlough thanks to the expensive flow down to Compass and Mesaba. I have heard that a furlough would have to last over 2 years to make it worth the cost of getting a type rating for the furlough, bumping the E175 Capt to FO, etc. And to top it off, management has stated they expected a PROFIT for the year, and a big Q3. As earlier stated, in Q2 DL supposedly paid down $700 million in debt alone, and $2 billion was paid down last year alone. Not bad.........but you would like to scare OYS if you could. Don't worry OY6, things are looking good still..... just no 100 seat aircraft order yet.


Bye Bye---General Lee

Lee,

I'm not worried. That flowdown obviously helps, and profits and paying down debt doesn't hurt either.

Godspeed Lee!


OYS

 

[On Your Six]

OYS,

What kind of aircraft will you be First Officer on at Compass? Enjoy your Akron overnights...

Good Stuff.....GODSPEED!!!

Maybe I'll make it to Grand Rapids, and see you on the 717 there too. I'll buy you the first beer!


Godspeed!


OYS

 

[Fubijaakr]

Maybe Delta is buying a bunch of 717's.

You might have a point....

 

[ACL65PILOT]

717 or the deal with one of these manufactures is done and no further discussions are needed.

 

[Freebrd]

geez those two putzs crack me up, replying to each other now and right after the other