Anderson to align capacity with demand

[General Lee]

Yep, damn those idiots for honoring their pension obligations. Gas bill is higher.......wait, we got the most fuel efficient fleet out there. How those DC-9's and MD-88 doing? Sure we'll cut capacity again, but if we're short staffed, what impact is that going to be. Delta has over 12,000 pilots. So a ten percent cut with pilots equals????

The ten percent cut was already figured in with our last displacement bid. We actually displaced people and never filled in some of the lost spots. And the MD88 is a lot cheaper than your new planes since the leases were cut in BK, and the DC9s are owned outright. All we do is pay for the gas on those birds, and we are hedged a lot better than you for the rest of 09. Your hedges are embarassing. You know that too. But, I am glad you are short staffed, it may help a lot when your airline announces route cuts in July.

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[contrail67]

I can tell you it wasn't. This economy is killing us. I agree that we will see some sort of job loss out of this. Not much probably about what you guys at CAL have. (ALL IMHO)

The economy is killing everyone...anyone that thinks they will not be caught up in this, only shows ignorance. And everyone thought UAL was being too aggressive when they announced cut backs 1 year ago.

 

[jetjockey#1]

I keep hearing you guys talk about furloughs, but, wait a minute, don't we have a no furlough clause that can only be voided through force manure.. Seriously, a slow economy would qualify? I thought an act of war, 9-11, or an act of god, a tornado trashing 60 airplanes were the qualifiers. I am not sure the company could furlough just because the economy ain't happening.

If I remember correctly back in 02-03 they furloughed too many guys using 9-11, and they were forced to bring them back, actually pay them to stay home. I would think there would be a grievance if furloughs are announced, and the company would have to prove that they either furlough the lowest paid 10% of the pilot group, or we will be back in bk again. So, just relax it may happen, but right now it's very complicated from a logistic standpoint. Hey non-dal pilots, mind your own store, I know most of you wish you were here, but you're not, so go to your company's thread and post your comments over there, where somebody might care to read them, over here you are wasting computer memory

 

[michael707767]

I keep hearing you guys talk about furloughs, but, wait a minute, don't we have a no furlough clause that can only be voided through force manure..

Nope. No furloughs can result from the merger. With the economy I don't think the company would have any problem proving it's not from the merger. Also if they furlough, the company has to pull six seats out of all the 76 seat jets. Can't remember if it's any furlough at all or if there is a certain number that triggers that one. At any rate, I stand by what I said earlier. If a furlough happens, Moak will give the company relief from taking the seats out. I have zero doubt on that one.

 

[jetflier]

Wow. The NYC ER category will be cleaned out for awhile, and there are some indefinite suspensions of a few flights in ATL and CVG. Could there be furloughs? Again, it was said they needed about 2 years for it to be financially smart, and a lot of the flights are coming back in the Spring. We shall see. Not good. It will be a slow Fall and Winter for sure.


Bye Bye--General Lee

You know General,......I don't see too many Northwest Airlines flights on that list! balances out the cut in the 747-200 freighters in ANK.

 

[ACL65PILOT]

IF furloughs happen i dont think it will happen pre-soc because of the logistics and complexity that comes with it. So at the earliest i would guess January and thats after they attempt lowering maxes, offer SLIPs, and we see a couple more rounds of PIRPs. We'll see

It can happen if they do a joint AE prior to SOC and then furlough from the bottom of the AE list. It puts everyone in position so no one would get knocked out of order.
It is very doable.

Michael707767. For the 07 and 08 hires they only have to take out 6 seats in about 26 jets. IE the ones in the 76 seat scope settlement
If a 01 hire goes it is six seats in every 76 seat jet and the number of 76 seat jets goes down to something like 55. (not sure of that number)

I do not see them getting to a 01 hire. They will either delay SOC to furlough, or they will take the 470 or so that are 07/08 hires on the bottom of the combined list.
IMHO I do not see that many going.

 

[EWR_FO]

Your hedges are embarassing.

More embarrassing than losing billions?

 

[avrodriver]

Oh lord....here we go.

 

[BILL LUMBERG]

I have to throw in the towel and admit that furloughs are coming. Further, I will lay good money that there is no way Lee Moak will make the company pull those extra six seats out of the RJ90s when the furloughs happen.

I agree....Moak will let them keep the seats in saying revenue and a stronger company will get those pilots back.....which is a crock of $hit.

If furloughs don't happen before SOC, then plan on it immediately after...

 

[BILL LUMBERG]

It can happen if they do a joint AE prior to SOC and then furlough from the bottom of the AE list. It puts everyone in position so no one would get knocked out of order.
It is very doable.

Michael707767. For the 07 and 08 hires they only have to take out 6 seats in about 26 jets. IE the ones in the 76 seat scope settlement
If a 01 hire goes it is six seats in every 76 seat jet and the number of 76 seat jets goes down to something like 55. (not sure of that number)

I do not see them getting to a 01 hire. They will either delay SOC to furlough, or they will take the 470 or so that are 07/08 hires on the bottom of the combined list.
IMHO I do not see that many going.

ACL,

Excuse me for not paying attention, but I was under the impression that if the airline furloughs anybody ALL 76 seaters lose chairs.

Correct me if I'm wrong.....I hope I'm not for our 07 08 people.

 

[jonjuan]

It can happen if they do a joint AE prior to SOC and then furlough from the bottom of the AE list. It puts everyone in position so no one would get knocked out of order.
It is very doable.

Michael707767. For the 07 and 08 hires they only have to take out 6 seats in about 26 jets. IE the ones in the 76 seat scope settlement
If a 01 hire goes it is six seats in every 76 seat jet and the number of 76 seat jets goes down to something like 55. (not sure of that number)

But, wouldn't they specifically be looking to reduce capacity on the "inefficient" RJs especially with oil potentially going to 80+?

 

[General Lee]

You know General,......I don't see too many Northwest Airlines flights on that list! balances out the cut in the 747-200 freighters in ANK.

They will right size the routes, though. They have put A330s into ATL for the Summer becuase those planes were the right size for bigger Summer loads. That doesn't mean they will stick around. In a bad economy, the 767ER and 757ERs might be better fits for a lot of routes this Fall and Winter. ATL to FCO, AMS, and LGW (all A330 stuff now) used to be 76ERs. You also know that at least 5 744s will be parked, right? I think both sides will get hit, again.

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[General Lee]

More embarrassing than losing billions?

Which is what might happen to you coming up here thanks to bad hedges. Just wait until you merge with United, and you will see what type of losses occur during mergers.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[~~~^~~~]

These same guys said there was NO WAY Delta could go BK after 9-11. They had such a strong cash position, and all that!

I know you were flaming... but there is a lot of truth to the statement.

The difference this time around is that Delta reacts much more quickly to market conditions. Delta's management is much more operationally focused and unlike Delta's old management (and United's current management) is less focused on harvard'esque case studies by 28 year old MBA's who had never been in airline ops. Now Delta is being run by 50 somethings with a lot of PIC time in the equipment.

I think Delta always has to be on guard for creeping arrogance. Yes, we are the biggest. Yes, we are well positioned, BUT we are at the mercy of each and every customer we serve. We need their business.

 

[BID]

Which is what might happen to you coming up here thanks to bad hedges. Just wait until you merge with United, and you will see what type of losses occur during mergers.


Bye Bye--General Lee

Who told you we were merging with United? Oh wait that is your educated guess! Hey we might have some bad fuel hedges, but we have some new fuel efficient aircraft. As much as I want to fly a DC-9, we have none.

Our CEO has stated that if Delta gets stronger, they will take another look at consolidation. Is Delta getting stronger? Is Delta a threat to our NYC operation? I don't think so. BTW, although there might be many similarities between Dela and Continental, our INTL market IS different. There was a great article in the Wall Street Journal years ago about this. Our PVG flights are holding up very well, its a shame the US gov't gave this route to UAL and then Delta. We could of used it years ago.

This does not mean CAL will not decide on further capacity cuts. I hope we do not. When the business traveler comes back it will be quick and we must be ready. Tough choices.

But in the end, I hope we do not see any furloughs at Delta, I have many friends there. I also don't want to see any 70 seat RJs. ugh! Just don't be telling us that CAL is in worse shape than Delta because we are not.