Delta PERP out

[FBN0223]

Just flew with another soon-to-be retired B757 Captain SPN-NRT. God bless him. Quite a few Delta-S guys over in NRT these days. Good bunch of guys.

 

[SpauldingSmails]

Free beers for PERPS! Especially from a Compass guy!

 

[NuGuy]

That was mine too, and would have fallen out of my chair if 300 pulled the trigger.

The irony of the situation is that it's all the really cool guys...the ones you don't mind seeing stick around, taking the deal and splitting.

All the d-bags that no one can stand flying with are the ones that are sticking around for another 3 years.

Correlation? You decide....

Nu

 

[Speedtape]

ACL,

I see your point. However, I would be worried that the company would come back and say, "We tried to mitigate furloughs, but we didn't get the participation we needed in the form of the PRIP plan, so WARN letters will be going out next month."

Hopefully they would go to Round 2 if they didn't get the numbers they wanted. I think that the whole Compass backflow dilema is extremely cost negative for Delta and there would be more incentive for the company to get the highly senior out first.

Here's a question and maybe we will have to cross this bridge when the final numbers come out. At what point does the union have to start giving things up in the form of quid pro quo to mitigate furloughs? (LM stated in his Chairman's letter than no quid pro quo exists with the LOA in its current form) Does this happen when/if we don't get the numbers we need on the first round, or do we wait and see how badly the company needs to retire guys from the top?

This is right out of the playbook. It makes MGMT look good to the troops, by at least attempting to promote a PERP to mitigate furloughs. There will be no round 2 or sweetening of the pot. It follows the same pattern as when Grinstein went before the Congressional hearing trying to "save the pensions." It's all a drill, with a known outcome, however, the effort will help keep the Pilot group onboard. Furloughs are the next initiative.

There has been a honey moon dance going on throughout the merger process to appease employees, politicians, and the investment community through the transition. Once a single certificate is achieved, the clock will strike mid-night and the dance will be over. Survival mode is now the reality.

Part of the objective of the merger of these two companies was the ability to combine, to pare down, and to create a new entity that maximizes the efficiencies of the two companies, particularly in a down economy. The Merger and the ability to benefit from an extreme make-over gives the new Company a unique advantage in this economic environment. It should place the Company in a superior position for survival in the industry. In addition, when a turn around in the economy happens, at least another couple of years, the new Company will be well positioned to capitalize. Unfortunately, parking airplanes and crews are part of the interim process.

 

[lakemead1]

Wow! that was well written, but do you have anything to back all that up with?

 

[Diesel-9]

Does anyone remember during the last PERP if all the requests were granted? And if there are too many in one category, like the A-320, that not all will be honored. Think alot of A-320 Green Book guys might be going. They didn't have large excess payouts coming at Age 60. Hopefully many 757 guys go too, so I (ME ME ME ME ME) can move up. Afraid to see the good guys leaving.

 

[vprMatrix]

ATLANTA (AP) -- Union officials say 215 Delta Air Lines pilots have agreed to retire as part of a company incentive program designed to reduce the number of pilots to cut costs.

Pilots with at least 10 years of service as of the end of this year and whose age and years of service added together equal at least 55 were eligible to participate by Wednesday's deadline. Those who agreed to retire can revoke their decision if they do so by July 31. Of the more than 12,000 pilots at Delta, some 9,400 were eligible to participate.

The Atlanta-based company has not said how many pilots it hoped to cut.

Delta has cut capacity as the economy has weakened and demand for air travel has declined.

 

[Superpilot92]

Does anyone remember during the last PERP if all the requests were granted? And if there are too many in one category, like the A-320, that not all will be honored. Think alot of A-320 Green Book guys might be going. They didn't have large excess payouts coming at Age 60. Hopefully many 757 guys go too, so I (ME ME ME ME ME) can move up. Afraid to see the good guys leaving.

I dont think they will deny any. It was written into the PIRP that the company could hang on to people that they felt they needed to keep for X amount of time. (dont remember the time frame but it was a set of months) that gives them the ability to train as needed.

ATLANTA (AP) -- Union officials say 215 Delta Air Lines pilots have agreed to retire as part of a company incentive program designed to reduce the number of pilots to cut costs.

Pilots with at least 10 years of service as of the end of this year and whose age and years of service added together equal at least 55 were eligible to participate by Wednesday's deadline. Those who agreed to retire can revoke their decision if they do so by July 31. Of the more than 12,000 pilots at Delta, some 9,400 were eligible to participate.

The Atlanta-based company has not said how many pilots it hoped to cut.

Delta has cut capacity as the economy has weakened and demand for air travel has declined.

thats great news thanks

 

[Speedtape]

Wow! that was well written, but do you have anything to back all that up with?

Hang on! You will have all the facts that you need shortly.

 

[Superpilot92]

Hang on! You will have all the facts that you need shortly.

So did they give you a crystal ball when you started with ASA or did you purchase that on your own?

 

[ACL65PILOT]

No he is actually very well spoken and fairly well connected.

I know that there is some very bad info out there. I am just not sure of the validity of it. It comes from a good source, but not one that knows everything that is going on. Picture will change here shortly.

 

[propdog]

I know that there is some very bad info out there. I am just not sure of the validity of it. It comes from a good source, but not one that knows everything that is going on. Picture will change here shortly.

So is the good news (ref: July 15th "announcement") going to be replaced by some bad news now?

 

[ACL65PILOT]

Nope, that is not what I was saying. I am saying that there is some bad news out there. As has been stated they cannot take furloughs off the table. He is connected and I know where this bad news came from. My next statement is that not everyone was privy to the other "good" information, hence his statement that the bad news will be on its way shortly.

The news that was leaked to come out, was not necessarily planned for the 15th. If you know DAL we will be happy to see it by the end of summer. Most are saying the end of the month, but the fact is that the deal is almost done, and it will be good for the pilots of Delta Air Line, Inc.
Does this mean that we will not furlough, NO!!!!!

I still think that long term DAL will shrink and we will see around a 11K pilot group. For you of those that are counting, that is about 1000 less than we will have after all of those retire. I do not think that they will furlough to get to this, if in fact that is their desire.

There are a few forks in the road ahead. If we choose one path, it will mean shrinking, but if we choose the other, it will be mean growth and hiring. Which one Delta chooses, all depends on the next 18 months and which players are left.
There is growth out there, but making that growth possible depends on who continues to limp along with a mortal wound.

As stated no furlough plans are immanent. Next fall maybe if we do not see any kind of recovery. The added benefit is that if the contractual layers remain, the penalties for the company furloughing make it very difficult to do so for under three if not four years. The dead break even with out cositng out the loss of six seats in each 76 seat jet is 22 months. If you add that to it, that number goes up greatly, as those seats make more money for DAL than what they pay each of those pilots. Hence the decision not to furlough.

 

[propdog]

Thank you for the detailed response. You are right. With the industry about to shake itself out, we'll all have to wait to see where this road leads. I wonder if Larry stepped down at CAL to make way for a merger?!

 

[Superpilot92]

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/delta-gets-an-outperform-rating-at-raymond-james

Delta gets an outperform rating at Raymond JamesExplore related topics
Airlines Delta Air Lines Inc Story

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Brokerage firm Raymond James initiated coverage of Delta Air Lines Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!dal/quotes/nls/dal (DAL 6.09, -0.03, -0.50%) on Friday with an outperform rating, citing the company's recent merger with Northwest, its equity and a potential industry-wide recovery next year. "We are now 20 months into the current recession, and fuel prices, while volatile, remain substantially lower year-over-year," the firm said in a note. "We are inclined to be positive on airline stocks with sufficient liquidity, with an eye toward recovery in 2010." Raymond James gave Delta stock a 12-month target price of $8. Shares of Delta last traded at $6.08, down a fraction