Grinstein talks about DCI in Q&A

[General Lee]

Medeco,


I don't post here to get your respect. I call it like I see it. It is all my opinion, and I know I could be wrong from time to time. But, what I say does have some truth in it---and a lot of you guys don't want to acknowledge it either. I believe we need pay cuts here at Delta--and we need more overall cost cutting. But, I also can see that the RJ is not our only answer---and we have over done it thanks to Fred GREED. Now, we don't have the capacity to carry all of the passengers that "are back", and we have too many RJs that are clogging up the system and can't bring in the required revenue for our hubs. (like the Summertime weight problems--making the 50 seater a 45 seater) I don't blame everything on DCI and the RJs--there are clearly other problems (like our pay--which is being addressed)---like higher aircraft lease rates and airport lease rates that are also going to be fixed. I don't try to pretend that I know everything and how to fix it--but there are some problems that are just obvious--like our over dependence on RJs right now---when fares are decreasing at the same time. Not good.

As far as ideas of my own---We need larger aircraft (100 seaters probably) to compete directly with the LCCs--instead of 50 and 70 seaters. Those could be financed after we give back huge pay cuts. Look, Spirit financed a huge amount of Airbuses (Airbi) with $150 million from an investment group. USAir bought a bunch of RJs (why?) in Chap 11. Then we also need a rolling hub in ATL and CVG (something Grinstein has proposed) to allow more productivity of our airplanes. A lot of our planes sit around and are not as productive as other airlines' planes. (Song has increased utilization--up 2-3 hours per day) And, we need to stop relying on RJs and use them as they were intended---as feeder flights( hub feed and maybe some point to point), new route finders( to eventually give new routes to mainline if successful), and flights to cities with NO LCC competition.(to maximize fares and revenue) I am sure there are many more ways to cut costs and bring this around. Also, don't sell your fuel hedges during a Middle East crisis.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[comrcap]

Sell Comair?

The day Delta starts selling profitable enterprises you can start looking for the exits. And if Comair/ASA can't fill their aircraft seats, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what's happening at mainline.

 

[General Lee]

comrcap,

You can still sell Comair and ASA and still have 10 year agreements (like Skywest). Then, you can also transfer a bunch of our debt away also. I am not saying this would happen, but it could--and Medflyer correctly pointed out that this probably would not happen any time soon due to the fact that DCI isn't worth as much now as it might be later on. I would rather see a staple and have all of us on the same team fighting for a better Delta. But, I don't know if that would happen.

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[chperplt]

I would rather see a staple and have all of us on the same team fighting for a better Delta.

You want to see a staple so you can have the bottom thousand or two of our list get a nice long vacation and get your buddies back to work... right?

The last couple times I've been on a mainline jumpseat this idea has been mentioned.

 

[General Lee]

Wrong. I have also said on this forum that I would want a fence established to protect any junior DCI pilots. I don't think anyone should be furloughed---and I have fought to try to help our own furloughs. But, I have a feeling that any negotiations will include some sort of J4J or "MDA style" scheme. If Grinstein wants pay cuts-- he will have to give something in return---and since we are the only ones targeted right now---we will get something in return for huge pay cuts. That is the way it is--and the RJDC can't do anything about NEW AIRCRAFT orders. We can negotiate for new 70 seaters at Mainline--or anything else in exchange for pay cuts. A staple with protections for the junior DCI pilots might be the best deal going.....


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[chperplt]

I'm all for J4J or anything else of that nature that gets your guys back. There are a lot of your fellow pilots that want the staple to flush the bottom DCI guys out however.. It's been said to me on a few occasions by them..

 

[sleepy]

General,

CH11 makes much more sense than dealing with DALPA. You guys are the last major airline guys left standing, and GG wants to destroy you. Why should he bother giving you anything when the US bankruptcy Court will take most of what you have for him and give you nothing in return.

This is about more than the here and now. In CH11 GG can set your PWA back 20 years. That will have a lasting effect on the whole airline industry (and DALs bottom line) for years to come.

Why get a 30% pay cut when he can get a 60% pay cut? What would your pilots do about it? Quit? Where will you go? JB, SWA, AirTran?

What happens at DCI is the least of your worries General. You have bigger problems than who will fly a few 50 or 70 seat jets. It does make a nice diversion for your pilots to worry that the DCI pilots are stealing their jobs. You can spend hours on the ALPA boards arguing with RJDC people about the state of the profession and who owns the flying (the shareholder IMHO). What you should worry about is that JB, AirTran, and SWA are stealing your best customers, and they won't be coming back. Just wait until JB starts flying to Europe. Ouch!

 

[comrcap]

Staple This Bonehead

Title says it all

 

[sleepy]

Title says it all

You won't be stapleing me anywhere numbnuts. I'm outta the "portfolio" in a few more weeks.

 

[wms]

I'm all for J4J or anything else of that nature that gets your guys back. There are a lot of your fellow pilots that want the staple to flush the bottom DCI guys out however.. It's been said to me on a few occasions by them..

I don't know about CA, but at ASA our contract gives protection in the event of a buy-out, sell-out or merger. Barring being sold-out by ALPA, a seniority merger could not result in furloughs at DCI. Besides, we would have to vote on a seniority merger and would not support it without protections.