Howard Hughes
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2007
- Posts
- 134
Unless things have dramatically changed at Mother Delta for bottom feeder pilots (read: junior guys), I don't know how you can make that statement. When I was an ATL M88B back in 2005, 4-5 legs a day was pretty normal for us. We were in and out of ATL all day and night. While we may have had 45-55 min turns, they were eaten up by pulling into A-1, and going out on D-35 in ATL. Those BHM and JAN layovers were really great too.
BTW, what is the Kracker Kremlin telling new-hires for length of time to upgrade to the left seat? This hasn't been talked about very much by you, or the General.
I think its fair to say things have changed since you were last at Delta. They have done a top to bottom analysis and improved and continue to improve many areas of the operation. Could an MD-88 pilot still have a bad schedule? You bet! Overall though from what I know the trend is a positive one. To my knowledge on the last bid, which was a small one, there were 120 openings in ATL for MD88 F.O. alone so there is considerable movement. New hires are still getting the 76. A guy can move up the ranks pretty quickly now if he is willing to stay on the most junior equipment (MD88) or he can go to the 2 leg days on the 757/767 in a reasonable amount of time.
Regarding upgrade, if this age 65 rule goes into effect, and every indication seems to be that it will, a person hired today at Delta and SWA would probably upgrade about the same time. The Delta guy may even upgrade faster if Delta grows to fill the 3000 pilot deficit left after massive retirements post BK. Even if this regrowth is minimal, it's clear Delta is aggressively pursuing international growth, which will cause movement. Every indication is that SWA will slow aircraft deliveries due to a saturated domestic market. Just my opinion and YMMV.