CAL delaying some airplane deliveries, still plans on growth though

[General Lee]

NEW YORK, June 13 (Reuters) - Continental Airlines Inc. (CAL.N: Quote, Profile , Research) plans to delay the delivery of six new Boeing jets by a year to 2010 and is mulling unloading some older planes, its chief financial officer said on Wednesday.Continental had planned to accept delivery of 30 new Boeing 737 planes in 2009, but now plans to defer delivery of six of those planes, said Jeff Misner, speaking at a Merrill Lynch conference.The No. 4 U.S. carrier also may seek to place five to 15 older 737s with other carriers, but is still targeting 5 percent to 7 percent annual capacity growth, Misner added.The fleet adjustments come with U.S. airlines facing slackening demand as the U.S. economy slows, which is putting pressure on air fares."It is a competitive marketplace in terms of pricing," said Misner, echoing comments by other U.S. carriers.

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[LearLove]

contract talks comming up..........

 

[MECH]

Continental announced this over two years. They would like to terminate the lease on 15 737-300 and 737-500. Continental is getting 18 737-800 and 12 737-900ER in 2008. We are also now getting 24 737-800 and 900 in 2009. We also are accepting the first deliveries of the 787, in 2009. We now will get 6 737 in 2010.

Continental can barely hire enough new pilots and other personal. To fly our current schedule. Continental has hired over 1200 pilots in the last 2 years. With retirements and growth it looks like that should continue through 2010.

 

[Palomino]

and a severe shortage on pilot staffing.

they run things very tight here and it makes for an inflexible business plan. looks like they are trying to change things with their hiring revamp this summer (normally summer hiring downturn) and the delayed airframes.

we'll see. i didn't see how we could take 30 planes next year when we can barely cover what we have right now. i think they finally realized how critical the staffing levels are around here.

 

[EMBpilot]

contract talks comming up..........

Yeap! I keep reminding myself - "Got to have a little thicker skin for blah, blah like this"

 

[catIIIc]

We already knew that 15 737's could go away next year now the company confirmed it. So what, we will be getting 30 737's next year and 24 in 09. This is just to apease Wall Street because our stock has taken a beating.

If anything this will start merger rumors again, I read UAL is still looking to merge.

This is all smoke and mirrors to keep our minds off the large second quarter profit we will post and Contract 08. With our showing at the shareholders meeting they had to try to keep us in check.

 

[Yuppyguppy]

mergers will happen in the next 2-3 years...betcha. Not becuz we will want it but to compete with the int'l carriers in europe and asia.

 

[jonjuan]

NEW YORK, June 13 (Reuters) - Continental Airlines Inc. (CAL.N: Quote, Profile , Research) plans to delay the delivery of six new Boeing jets by a year to 2010 and is mulling unloading some older planes, its chief financial officer said on Wednesday.Continental had planned to accept delivery of 30 new Boeing 737 planes in 2009, but now plans to defer delivery of six of those planes, said Jeff Misner, speaking at a Merrill Lynch conference.The No. 4 U.S. carrier also may seek to place five to 15 older 737s with other carriers, but is still targeting 5 percent to 7 percent annual capacity growth, Misner added.The fleet adjustments come with U.S. airlines facing slackening demand as the U.S. economy slows, which is putting pressure on air fares."It is a competitive marketplace in terms of pricing," said Misner, echoing comments by other U.S. carriers.

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Bye Bye--General Lee

Hey Lee, have you had a chance to have lunch with Paris Hilton in the slammer?

 

[General Lee]

Hey Lee, have you had a chance to have lunch with Paris Hilton in the slammer?

Yeah, she looked at me naked and said "that's hot."


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[AA717driver]

Were you both getting a wax or just you? TC

 

[acbarney]

CO increases 737 order by four aircraft to optimize its flexible fleet plan
CO today announced it is fine-tuning its flexible fleet plan as part of its continuing efforts to emphasize fuel efficiency, environmental benefits and fleet optimization.
As part of a recent agreement with Boeing, CO ordered four additional 737 Next Generations for delivery in 2010 and moved six 737NG deliveries from 2009 to 2010. CO now has a total of 64 Boeing 737s and 25 Boeing 787s on order. CO also has options for another 92 Boeing aircraft.
Additionally, CO is exploring the possibility of selling between five and 15 of its 737-500s. These aircraft are suboptimal in today’s high-demand, low-yield domestic environment.

 

[CALnTX]

i think we at CAL all know this is more due to the insufficient pilot staffing at the airline more than anything else........we can't even cover our current flying this summer let alone next year when the growth and retirements really kick in...not worried

 

[Ex737Driver]

Hiring will never keep up. Even with the retirement of 14 737-300's next year, we will still have a net gain of 16 aircraft. We are short this year and only took delivery of two 777's. Now the game gets real interesting.

 

[737Longhorn]

The use of word's like "plans to" and "may seek" tells me that this is the beginning of negotiations posturing. Misner's comments are vague and noncommital at best. Get used to reading $hit like this for the next couple of years.

 

[Truckdriver]

i think we at CAL all know this is more due to the insufficient pilot staffing at the airline more than anything else........we can't even cover our current flying this summer let alone next year when the growth and retirements really kick in...not worried

I seriously doubt they would defer aircraft deliveries because they can't staff the airline. Moving aircraft they were planning on getting in 2009 to 2010 has nothing to do with staffing. It wouldn't be hard to hire enough people to staff those airplanes if they needed to. The staffing issues at CAL are the result of them running the airline as lean as possible to keep costs down. The deferring of aircraft is most likely due to the forecast drop in domestic demand over the next few years.

 

[ToThePain]

I seriously doubt they would defer aircraft deliveries because they can't staff the airline. Moving aircraft they were planning on getting in 2009 to 2010 has nothing to do with staffing. It wouldn't be hard to hire enough people to staff those airplanes if they needed to. The staffing issues at CAL are the result of them running the airline as lean as possible to keep costs down. The deferring of aircraft is most likely due to the forecast drop in domestic demand over the next few years.

You may be correct but talking to the ground school instructors the maximum amount of pilots they can put through is about 64/month. Considering they are ramping up training again in July instead of waiting till September tells me that they know they are in trouble staffing wise. They have looked at using other training facilities but the availability and costs are prohibitive. I do believe that they have deferred deliveries in large part due to pilot shortage. Adding one B777 means you need to add something like 17 people and they added two. I don't know the exact numbers that need hiring for every B737 added but as it stands now they have not kept up with retirements and now are adding to the fleet. There is a very good possibility that 2005 hires will pick up Captain in the August bid.

 

[Ex737Driver]

Actually they are using other training facilities but still not keeping thier head above water. IAH, DFW, MIA, SEA, HOU, and occasionally ATL.

 

[Truckdriver]

You may be correct but talking to the ground school instructors the maximum amount of pilots they can put through is about 64/month. Considering they are ramping up training again in July instead of waiting till September tells me that they know they are in trouble staffing wise. They have looked at using other training facilities but the availability and costs are prohibitive. I do believe that they have deferred deliveries in large part due to pilot shortage. Adding one B777 means you need to add something like 17 people and they added two. I don't know the exact numbers that need hiring for every B737 added but as it stands now they have not kept up with retirements and now are adding to the fleet. There is a very good possibility that 2005 hires will pick up Captain in the August bid.

I'll agree with you for the most part. The fact that they reduce training below the max of 64 (if that is indeed the max) tells me that they are only training what they need to train to cover the flying. I don't think CAL is cancelling flying due to a lack of crews. If they were, then they would be training 64 per month every month which they aren't. The fact that they would have two summers to train 64 per month before those aircraft they deferred would even show up tells me that this was not at all about staffing. The staffing issue at CAL is they plan on people flying 90+ hours per month and using junior assignment to cover open trips. When PBS gives you a 90 hour line and everyone is getting JA'd, it makes it seem like they are significantly understaffed. I kinda think that is the staffing model over there right now.

 

[EWR_FO]

I'll agree with you for the most part. The fact that they reduce training below the max of 64 (if that is indeed the max) tells me that they are only training what they need to train to cover the flying. I don't think CAL is cancelling flying due to a lack of crews. If they were, then they would be training 64 per month every month which they aren't. The fact that they would have two summers to train 64 per month before those aircraft they deferred would even show up tells me that this was not at all about staffing. The staffing issue at CAL is they plan on people flying 90+ hours per month and using junior assignment to cover open trips. When PBS gives you a 90 hour line and everyone is getting JA'd, it makes it seem like they are significantly understaffed. I kinda think that is the staffing model over there right now.

Not sure where you are getting your information but PBS doesn't "give" you a 90 hour line unless you are in Guam. You can't "plan on" people flying 90+ hours per month because they would all time out before the end of the year. I think the training pipeline is very close to 64 people per month due to all the movement on the last bid, new hire classes just exacerbate it.

 

[Palomino]

Not sure where you are getting your information but PBS doesn't "give" you a 90 hour line unless you are in Guam. You can't "plan on" people flying 90+ hours per month because they would all time out before the end of the year. I think the training pipeline is very close to 64 people per month due to all the movement on the last bid, new hire classes just exacerbate it.

funny...i routinely get an 88+hr line from PBS and trade it down aggressively. down to 80 hrs for the month and still trying to drop.

i have no interest in 90 hrs every month. but that's just me. i like to be rested and enjoy life away from work.

 

[EWR_FO]

funny...i routinely get an 88+hr line from PBS and trade it down aggressively. down to 80 hrs for the month and still trying to drop.

i have no interest in 90 hrs every month. but that's just me. i like to be rested and enjoy life away from work.

The only "90" I saw in the high line value column was in Guam, maybe I misread it.

 

[cal73cap]

The company just offered vacation fly throughs during part of June. They are so short. Also interviewing for 737 Check Airmen positions.

 

[Hutchman]

Not sure where you are getting your information but PBS doesn't "give" you a 90 hour line unless you are in Guam. You can't "plan on" people flying 90+ hours per month because they would all time out before the end of the year. I think the training pipeline is very close to 64 people per month due to all the movement on the last bid, new hire classes just exacerbate it.

If you are in the bottom 49% IAH 737 fo you get over 89 hours. You have no say in it. The last 4 months I have recived 89.5+ hours. Maybe the average is less than that, but try to tell that to the bottom half of the pilots and they may disagree with you.

 

[ToThePain]

If you are in the bottom 49% IAH 737 fo you get over 89 hours. You have no say in it. The last 4 months I have recived 89.5+ hours. Maybe the average is less than that, but try to tell that to the bottom half of the pilots and they may disagree with you.

I have to back you up on this one, before I went 777 they were giving me between 88-92 hous a month on the PBS line (and that was with 3 days military) and I was at 57% seniorty.

 

[Palomino]

If you are in the bottom 49% IAH 737 fo you get over 89 hours. You have no say in it. The last 4 months I have recived 89.5+ hours. Maybe the average is less than that, but try to tell that to the bottom half of the pilots and they may disagree with you.

yep. that's precisely how it goes. you get splatted and work like a mule with no say in the matter.

THANKS PBS!

 

[EWR_FO]

If you are in the bottom 49% IAH 737 fo you get over 89 hours. You have no say in it. The last 4 months I have recived 89.5+ hours. Maybe the average is less than that, but try to tell that to the bottom half of the pilots and they may disagree with you.

I stand corrected, I was wrong. I didn't think it could give you a line higher than the "high" credit range. I voted "no" and will continue to do so until this abortion is gone.

 

[Hutchman]

I stand corrected, I was wrong. I didn't think it could give you a line higher than the "high" credit range. I voted "no" and will continue to do so until this abortion is gone.

The cap can be "flexed" up or down. This month the cap was flexed up to 89.5 hours. The company wanted to flex up to 91.5 hours for July, the union said no. I am curious to see if the splat will be less than 50% for July. No staffing, no problem! PBS will take care of it!

 

[EMBpilot]

Where will the next year's 30 737's go? Which base will see most growth?
Thx

 

[acbarney]

Where will the next year's 30 737's go? Which base will see most growth?
Thx

18 of the 737's are -900ER, those are basically replacements for 757-200 domestic aircraft. My guess is you will see a number of "new" 757 transatlantic services announced (some new cities, some increased freq to existing cities.) These will all go to the EWR756 base, as IAH does no transatlantic on the 757 (they do occasionally "fill in" for a month or two when EWR runs out of pilots). I think the IAH 756 base will shrink, the EWR 756 base will grow, and the 737's will probably go mostly to IAH. We will know for sure when the Aug system bid is posted.

 

[flatspin7]

It wouldnt shock me to see some noticeable growth in CLE in the next year or so. I was there the other day and a gate supervisor mentioned to me that they have already seen a slight ramp up in flying there is now a 7:00pm bank that they havent had since 9-11. I dont know if the growth would be in the CLE pilot base or just route more EWR and IAH crews through there.

It would make sense to me to see CAL run more of their east-west connections through CLE avioding the EWR bottle neck. It seemed that the terminal there is a little under utilized there and they could easily handle more departures with current facilities.