Sounds like someone does alot more than post public information.
Here are the articles for you:
Delta Looks To Fill Narrowbody Gap By 2010
Apr 24, 2007
By Lori Ranson/Aviation Daily
Delta hasn't begun a campaign to fill the gap between its
76-seat regional jets and 142-seat MD-80s, but its business
plan calls for
25 small-gauge narrowbodies by 2010.
The carrier is taking on 15 124-seat Boeing 737-700s, but
Chief Operating Officer Jim Whitehurst recently said those
aircraft are targeted for
very specific performance-limited
airports, citing Vail, Mexico City and some islands in the
Caribbean, where the carrier currently has to fly 757s and
would like to have fewer seats or operate additional
frequencies.
The 737-700s slated for the targeted markets aren't viewed
as small-gauge, narrowbody aircraft. Whitehurst explained
that for markets such as Atlanta-Knoxville or -Buffalo,
Delta does have a gap between 76-seats and 142-seats, and
"we will look at all the alternatives out there to close
that gap."
Delta will also likely need to make a widebody replacement
decision within 12 months. Whitehurst pointed out the
airline probably won't need new aircraft until 2011 or 2012
-- the point Delta where will have exhausted its move of
widebody aircraft from domestic to international service. At
that time, Delta will need replacement of some of its older
767s, as well as additional growth.
Whitehurst noted one big benefit of the 787 -- an aircraft
Delta knows a lot about -- is not only economic gains from
replacing older planes but the 787's longer range.
Delta's ambitions soar again
Just out of Chapter 11, the carrier is spiffing up and expanding flights.
By Peter Pae, Times Staff Writer
May 7, 2007
When Delta Air Lines Inc. went into a financial tailspin a few years ago, its longtime slogan "We love to fly, and it shows" became the butt of jokes as passengers encountered grungy cabins, gaping flight delays and grumpy attendants.
Rather than loving to fly, "the employees seemed stressed and frustrated," said David Urode, a Delta frequent flier. "I was constantly asking … if there was another airline I could fly."
Not anymore.
Emerging from 19 months of bankruptcy protection, Delta is inching back up, leaner and more focused, with airplanes that have been scrubbed clean and a re-energized workforce that is roping back customers like Urode.
Emboldened with a restructured balance sheet and a new look, Delta is about to expand again and
has set its sights mainly on Los Angeles International Airport, where it once was the largest carrier but had slipped to fourth in recent years.
This week Delta is expected to announce that it will increase the number of flights out of LAX by 50% from 62 departures a day to 99, making the airport one of the busiest for the Atlanta-based carrier.
That's good news for travelers in Southern California because the move would intensify competition at LAX and could keep the lid on airfares, analysts say. UAL Corp.'s United Air Lines, AMR Corp.'s American Airlines and Southwest Airlines Co. are now the largest carriers at LAX.
"There's no doubt Delta is going to affect fares there," said Ray Neidl, airline analyst at New York-based Calyon Securities Inc.
United Airlines, the largest carrier at LAX, acknowledged last month that fares were likely to be held down in California because of the competition.
While Delta heats up the competition for domestic passengers, its expansion plans could have the biggest effect on international travel.
At LAX, 90% of the international flights are operated by foreign carriers that have been raising fares as demand has surged.
Delta is planning a significant increase at LAX, particularly to destinations in Latin America and Asia. In all, Delta sees international flights accounting for 40% of its flights, up from 30% today and 20% two years ago.
"We've decided to make L.A. our second Latin America gateway," said James Whitehurst, Delta's chief operating officer and one of the top internal candidates for the airline's chief executive post.
Delta is also eyeing the Asia market, Whitehurst said, adding that the carrier has "almost nothing in the Pacific."
"That's a major hole in our network, so we see a lot of opportunities there," he said.
Passengers will notice the difference inside the planes as well, said Joanne Smith, Delta senior vice president for in-flight services. "We are to create a better on-board experience," she said. The airline will equip all long-haul planes with in-seat TVs, bring back meal service and install lie-flat seats in first class.
The heady talk is in sharp contrast to just two years ago, when grim-faced executives announced that Delta could no longer pay back its loans and declared bankruptcy, joining the likes of United and Northwest in seeking protection from creditors in court.
The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks had grounded air travel and pushed the so-called legacy airlines, already ailing from overcapacity and increased competition from new low-cost carriers, over the financial precipice.
Delta slashed 6,000 jobs and cut billions of dollars in wages and benefits. At the same time, it eliminated unprofitable routes and reshuffled its fleet, flying larger wide-body planes on longer international routes and smaller, single-aisle aircraft on shorter domestic flights.
Though cuts caused an angry backlash from rank and file at other airlines, Delta has weathered the restructuring unfettered by labor strife. Tensions are escalating at American, for instance, but Delta's relations with employees are fairly smooth.
Last week, at the airline's LAX terminal, hundreds of Delta flight attendants, ground-crew members and ticketing agents cheered and threw confetti as Delta executives got off an airplane that had been dedicated to the airline's retiring chairman, Gerald Grinstein.
LAX was the last stop in a "barnstorming" trip by Delta executives to celebrate the airline's coming out of Chapter 11. Brian Cohen, a Delta frequent flier and moderator of an Internet chat room dedicated to complaints about the airline, said that for the Delta employees the painful pay cuts were somewhat mitigated by executives' also taking a huge hit.
For instance, Grinstein cut his salary in half during the carrier's bankruptcy proceedings, to $338,000 a year, making it among the lowest for any major U.S. corporation.
Moreover, the employees became "galvanized" by the unsuccessful hostile takeover bid by US Airways Group Inc. last fall. "They fell in line when they realized that things could be worse if US Air took over," Cohen said.
Thomas Campion, a customer service agent for Delta at LAX, said he lost about $40,000 in wages and benefits because of the bankruptcy. But still he said employee morale was high.
Company executives "shared the pain, and that helps," he said.
Neidl put it another way: "You're just glad to have a job after going through the ringer of bankruptcy."
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Delta Returns to Trading
With Strong Balance Sheet
By
THOMAS G. DONLAN
May 13, 2007
Pilots often say that any landing you walk away from is a good landing. By that standard,
Delta Air Lines made a good landing into bankruptcy in 2005, for the company walked away from the wreckage and spread its wings for a new take-off this month.
Not so the old shareholders, who were wiped out. The 400 million new shares that opened for trading on the New York Stock Exchange May 3 were issued to former Delta unsecured creditors, employees, managers and the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.
Trading under the old ticker symbol, DAL, the shares finished last week at about $19. Over the next two quarters, however, the company should do well enough to justify a price closer to $25. Looking further ahead, two Morgan Stanley analysts may well be right when they say "buy on material weakness," and project a share price of $27 to $29.
Delta shed about $13 billion of debt and lease obligations, 6,000 people and 82 planes during its bankruptcy-law proceedings. It now has one of the stronger balance sheets in the industry. And it is looking to grow primarily on international routes, which can be more profitable than domestic business. Moreover, there's a general uptrend in the airline industry and summer is always its best period.
But Delta and all airlines are risky investments, highly vulnerable to slumps, terrorism, fuel-price increases and overcapacity. They face intense competition on key routes. They do well in good times and atrociously in bad times.
Delta's operating losses hit $3.3 billion in 2004 and $2 billion in 2005, before an operating profit of $58 million in 2006. For 2007, Delta projects a pretax profit of about $800 million -- about $2 a new share, meaning the shares are trading for about 10 times 2007 earnings.
Thomas G. Donlan is a staff writer at Barron's magazine, available online at www.barrons.com.
We also know that Grinstein will step down, and CFO Bastian recently stated that we are deciding what to do with NYC and JFK ops, and we may spend $1 billion on improvements.
Bye Bye--General Lee
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