DELTA may recall

[aspire]

NEW YORK, April 29 (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines (NYSEAL - News) may have to rehire 1,060 pilots laid off after the September 11, 2001 attacks at a cost of more than $100 million annually, the Wall Street Journal said on Thursday.



The move comes as a result of an arbitration panel ruling that furloughed pilots could return to their jobs should the airline see its passenger numbers return to the level Delta had before the disaster, the Journal said.

The No. 3 U.S. airline this week told its airline pilots union that the carrier had reached passenger levels that could trigger the rehiring from December 2003 through March 2004, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Delta just barely reached the volumes that would trigger a pilot recall, the Journal said, and the pilots' union and airline may ask the panel that decided the rule for clarification on the data, the Journal said.

The pilot rehiring would cost the airline about $115 million in annual wages, excluding benefits, the Journal said.

A Delta spokesman acknowledged giving the data to the pilots' union, the Journal said, but declined to discuss the data.

A Delta representative could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters.




Just wanted to break the news first!!

 

[jobear]

Great news for those furlouged, but could DAL afford this?
Luck to all

Jobear

 

[spanky2]

From a DALPA Email hot off the press:

ALPA has reviewed the latest RPM data under the Force Majeure grievance and has concluded that the RPM trigger for setting a furlough recall schedule has been met. We have informed Flight Operations management and have requested a response. We will inform the pilot group as soon as we have heard from the Company.

Let the rumors fly, such as:

Mtg cnx'd the mtg yesterday to discuss the response

VP of OPS supposedly said that since this Feb 04 had a leap day that the data was being reviewed

BLAH BLAH BLAH

 

[Launchpad]

Great news for those furlouged, but could DAL afford this?
Luck to all


Not really, but they can't afford new uniforms, JFK terminal overhaul's or to ignore the 15% we've offered them either.

We'll see what happens.

 

[sandman2122]

Aren't the 200 +- guys that returned to Delta after the Iraq war in a "pay only" status - not retrained or flying?

If Delta is so fat with pilots I imagine it's going to be difficult to bring the 1060 back to a "pay only" status as well, unless management can get them into RJ's....or another alternative.

 

[spanky2]

The 250 pilots that made up the FM II group were all recalled by Dec 03. Of the 250, about 70-75 are still unassigned / getting paid but not trained. A grievance was filed by ALPA that has not been resolved...still.

The 1060 pilots are part of FM I group, tied to the RPM trigger issue at hand.

 

[NYRANGERS]

There are many things Delta can do to mitigate the cost of 1060 pilots returning. This ruling just means they (Delta management) will have to do something.

Since ASA is begining to hire, Delta could merge ASA into Delta and recall to a mixture of mainline and ASA aircraft. Spin off Comair to raise some needed cash (obviously at a loss) and proceed from there.

Delta may need to ease up on their all or nothing concession stance. Negotiate a pay cut (that the union is already willing to give) and secure financing for some 100 seat jets. Delta admitted thier mistake after 9/11, of taking too much capacity out and allowing the LCC's to fill the void. Hitting the pre 9/11 trigger means that pax are comming back (albeit at reduced fares), the trend shows continuous return of the pax and hotels are experiencing an upsurge of business bookings.

Delta needs to make a concessionary deal with us, honor our contract and once we have an agreement, give productivity....and compete with a better product than we had.

I am sure there are many more ideas that the "Haavad grads" can come up with to work within our contract and make Delta the airline it once was.

Just some ideas,

NYR

 

[On Your Six]

Encouraging but I know that DAL management would instead prefer productivity increases... I hope this doesn't push DAL more into bankruptcy (seems like Grinstein is heading that way) in order to fight the arbitration ruling and amend the contract... DAL parked 20-30 airplanes I believe (including the MD-11s that they are STILL paying $15K PER DAY apiece for).

Encouraging sign but still a dicey situation.

 

[Boeingman]

I hope this doesn't push DAL more into bankruptcy (seems like Grinstein is heading that way) in order to fight the arbitration ruling and amend the contract

Which is almost exactly what Lorenzo did in 83. This is going to be interesting.

 

[NYRANGERS]

If Grinstein is trying to take Delta to Chap 11. Then before he goes to jail expect him to recall all 1060 pilots at once and pay us 727c pay at around $117 an hour at 70 hours (after all this would hasten our losses). If this happens, maybe some of you are correct in your assumptions.

On the other side, a recall of around 60 a month will take over a year and allow Delta some time. The May pay raise coming up is almost equal to the ammount it would cost Delta annually to recall all 1060 pilots at once. If management would talk to our union, I am sure there are many things that could be worked out.

All this Chap 11 talk is premature.

NYR

 

[Boeingman]

If Grinstein is trying to take Delta to Chap 11. Then before he goes to jail ..............................

NYR

Jail? LOL, I wouldn't hold my breath on this one.

All this Chap 11 talk is premature.

From a financial perspective I'd agree. But to an outsider watching the intransigence of DAL managment and their approach to negotiations with DALALPA, it may not be.

 

[Helos2Galaxy]

I was recalled 12/1/03 and still haven't been trained. I have a tentative training slot during June.

If the company has their hands tied, why not bring the next round of 70 seat RJs to mainline and let the 1060 fly them at a negotiated rate.

 

[NYRANGERS]

Jail? LOL, I wouldn't hold my breath on this one.




From a financial perspective I'd agree. But to an outsider watching the intransigence of DAL managment and their approach to negotiations with DALALPA, it may not be.

Very good point. This will be alarming to investors and for some reason Delta is perpetuating that this cost will be $115 million starting today. This is not the case, even if they recalled everone at once it would equal about $28 million a quarter. I can understand the investors confusion over this issue, but I am surprised at how many pilots here scream Chap 11 after every news release (not saying that you are).

This may be the very thing that brings an unwilling management back to the negotiating table, and reshape our business plan. Ah, the power of the furloughed pilot, bringing unions and managment together

 

[spanky2]

Galaxy,
Are the UNA guys being assigned in reverse seniority order?

 

[skiddriver]

...Since ASA is begining to hire, Delta could merge ASA into Delta and recall to a mixture of mainline and ASA aircraft. Spin off Comair to raise some needed cash (obviously at a loss) and proceed from there...

Just some ideas,

NYR

They could recall all the furloughees and send them out across the country to upgrade US infrastructure and live in primitive labor camps, a la the depression era CCC.

They could hire Tony Soprano to whack all the furloughees, and recall them posthumously.

Or they could poll the furloughees on how they would most like to get even with the Comair pilot group, identify the most bitter, and then assign them the task of making it happen.

Just some ideas, all of them equally likely.

 

[Andy]

All the best to everyone at DAL. Your MEC has done a very skillful job of negotiating with management.
Congrats to all of the DAL furloughees; it sounds like there may be a bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

It sounds like this is only act II of a very long drama.
Management has many tools to remedy a pilot surplus, including offering early retirement packages, increasing flying, and bringing the 70 seat RJs to mainline. I'm sure that there are many, many other options that I'm not smart enough to think of.
Again, good luck to all of you at DAL; I wish that UAL's MEC had half the backbone that your pilot group is showing.

 

[Boeingman]

Very good point. This will be alarming to investors and for some reason Delta is perpetuating that this cost will be $115 million starting today. This is not the case, even if they recalled everone at once it would equal about $28 million a quarter. I can understand the investors confusion over this issue, but I am surprised at how many pilots here scream Chap 11 after every news release (not saying that you are).

This may be the very thing that brings an unwilling management back to the negotiating table, and reshape our business plan. Ah, the power of the furloughed pilot, bringing unions and managment together

Gerry is going to start the time tested tried and true same old tactics of throwing so much financial info out that not only will it bamboozel Wall Street, but confound the stockholders. This is a PR game as much as a financial brinksmanship match. Liars figure and figures lie.

I'll tell you if I was on your MEC, my answer to management would be to pound sand on any further negotiations until they realize that ALL DAL employees need to share in the burden. This includes those overpaid management types with their bloated compensation packages.

In some ways, I see some similar things forming over there that was the same with our situation at CAL in 83.

 

[NYRANGERS]

They could recall all the furloughees and send them out across the country to upgrade US infrastructure and live in primitive labor camps, a la the depression era CCC.

They could hire Tony Soprano to whack all the furloughees, and recall them posthumously.

Or they could poll the furloughees on how they would most like to get even with the Comair pilot group, identify the most bitter, and then assign them the task of making it happen.

Just some ideas, all of them equally likely.

That was funny.

With the quote from Comair management of...."they would burn the house down"...refering the reaction of Comair pilots in regards to hiring of furloughed Delta pilots at Comair......ASA is the obvious fit. Comair would (imo) get a higher price than ASA.

Like I said, there are many things Delta can do. I can think of some, lets hope they can think of many more.

On a side note.....Pre 9/11 Delta....10300 pilots.....Today around 7300 active pilots. Yet, we hit the RPM trigger. How did we do that with 3000 less pilots? Ans. we were replaced by DCI pilots. We just want our jobs back

 

[skiddriver]

Just didn't want you to think that no one was reading your posts.

I actually hope you all get recalled- now, to mainline, at you negotiated pay rate. Good luck.

 

[Hardcorr]

As of now none of the unassigned guys have been forced to take a bid. Guys are bidding for the vacanct slots. If nobody bids for the vacancies they will be assigned in inverse senority.