Delta's recalling

[General Lee]

I am also glad to hear about the returning furloughs, but I do not forget about the others. I hope things continue to get better for everyone, and I hope the rest of the furloughs return as soon as possible. There is no doubt that the 230 early retirements and 50 normal retirements helped a lot, and I know that we have a challenging three or four months ahead for revenue pick up, but I am confident that we will continue to see more pilots return. I also think this was somewhat of a gesture by managment to see if that would appease us, since they are looking for paycuts. I bet we will eventually take a 15% paycut, but with conditions set out by Dalpa. Those 250 furloughs shouldn't have been furloughed in the first place, and it is good to see that they are coming back. I won't be really happy until TBKANE is back, and we then start hiring ASA and Chataqua pilots.

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[Eagleflip]

Congrats to all! That's SH for the Delta guys!

Now let's hope that the remaining 11,000+ (industry wide) return in a resonable time.

 

[General Lee]

No doubt Eagleflip.

 

[G4G5]

Todays NY Times reports that Delta will increase capacity by 12% by the end of 2003.

 

[General Lee]

Back to Pre-War levels, apparently. They are looking forward to a really good Spring, a pretty good Winter, and an interesting Fall. It is too bad they parked most of the MD-11s before the Summer this year, we could have used them to Europe.

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[skykid]

From Gen Lee:

"I also think this was somewhat of a gesture by managment to see if that would appease us, since they are looking for paycuts."

That is an interesting observation - I thought the same thing almost imediately after hearing the news. I also think Delta mgt must be very excited about winter 2003 and 2004 revenue prospects. Whatever the reason for bringing pilots back, it is good. These are the jobs the industry needs! Lastly, if that many pilots retired early, fantastic! How many left years early and how many left months early?

 

[General Lee]

Skykid,

I know plenty left that were age 52 and 53---and not because they flew with me! I think those guys left for varying reasons---mostly because they probably had the full 25 years needed for FULL retirement benefits, and the Gatt rate difference was close to $100,000 difference in their lump sum if they left in Novemeber for example.... Some of the guys I talked to wanted to do other things with their lives, and a big chunk of money along with $5,000 a month for the rest of their lives wasn't bad either. (That monthly amount was larger for guys who stayed in longer) I am sure some of them might have been scared off by recent events and some probably thought we were facing paycuts eventually. Regardless, I am happy about the upward movement this has created and happy about some of the furloughs returning. Hopefully the others will return shortly also.

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[~~~^~~~]

General Lee :

Great news! Any feel, or prognostication, on more early retirements? Any news as to what Delta is going to do to increase capacity (aka aircraft orders for delivery 2005 to 2009?)

Does it mean anything that only 40 something of these pilots are "assigned?" Eight aircraft should require about 100 pilots. What is the other pilots going to be doing?

Do you think this recall was just an admission that Delta management felt ALPA's grievance had legs?

~~~^~~~

 

[General Lee]

Fins,

You may be right about some of that. I think they thought they were going to lose that grievance, and maybe they wanted to show us that it was the "right thing to do", as our VP of flt ops said on his code-a phone message. They probably want us to "do the right thing" also with respect to pay cuts, which I still think will eventually happen.

I heard from the ATL CPO that the first 45 will go to the 737-200 in ATL, and the next 50 will also be trained, probably on the 737-200 and 737-300G(NYC Shuttle), but then the others will be Non qualified until they are needed. (A lot of our current pilots want that deal....) The retirements obviously had a huge impact on this. Just think about it---about 250 Captains retire in one month, most on one day.(We usually have 250 retirements in one year) These Captains were on big equipment, that take 6 weeks for schooling and sims. I believe 32 777 Capts will leave on Sept 1st, out of 61. The company says it really isn't too worried about that because they were going to send 2 of our 777s out of service to get the crew rest facilities installed for Tokyo service in Jan of 2004. That will give them time for that fleet---but another 29 or so 767-400 Captains in ATL were leaving Sept 1st also, and 25 or so in LA for the Hawaii flying. This really is huge, and it will present a large training nightmare for the company, since a lot of the sim instructors are out on the line filling in for the retiring Captains. This hopefully will result in a lot of upgrades, and the increase of 12% of our flying helps too. I believe you were right about them bringing back some 737-200's, but they have to get some maintenence first.

As far as new airplanes or orders, I really don't know. I have heard that they are currently narrowing it down to two types, and that a decision will be made soon. I would think that your flying would increase too along with ours if the percentages are based on that. I don't know about anymore CR7's for you, but something might be worked out eventually. I personally don't mind whether or not you get more of those CR7's, as long as our furloughs get back and we start to grow with some 100 seaters. Hopefully we all have a pretty good Fall, a great Winter, and a really great Spring. Let's hope nothing terrorist related happens.

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[~~~^~~~]

General:

Thanks for the reply. I too hope that all the furloughees get recalled soon. The problems we have are much easier politically to solve during periods of growth. The movement in your seniority list, is, in a word - wonderful!

Regards,
~~~^~~~

 

[General Lee]

Fins,

Hopefully we all can grow and get financially stable---and then the growth issues between our groups maybe will not be such an issue. I hope you retain or get back to your CR7 left seat quickly.

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[Helos2Galaxy]

We had 281 retirements September 1. Many left early due to their lump sum retirement erroding due to the GATT rate; it goes up an dtheir lump sum payout goes down.

Force Majeur 2 Victim

 

[General Lee]

Helos,

I am glad you are coming back.

 

[HA25]

Retirements are a factor in recalls yes... but the fact that DAL is recalling this early in the economic recovery, and this far out from the Holiday and Summer '04 travel season is a great statement on their performance... I hope AMR and UAL can follow suit.