More 777 for DAL

[General Lee]

Is that 6 total additional deliveries this year, or 6 more triples? I thought between more triples, 737NG's and used 757's that the total delivery additions would exceed 6 for the rest of the year?

We got 2 LRs already this year, and get another on Dec 31st (so it is this year technically), and then 5 more before Mar 31st of 09, including 3 on March 31st itself. We get 6 737-700s this year (starting in June I think), with a current total order of 10 total. Richard Anderson stated in his "town hall" meeting after he got hired as CEO that we would get 20-25 737-700s total. We are almost done getting the 17 757ERs from AA (ex TWA planes built in the late 90s).


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[IXLR8]

45 777LRs total by 2015? Isn't that when the first 787 will take flight? 2015?

Bye Bye--General Lee

Typical GL response...how did I know?..

 

[johnsonrod]

Time for Delta to kick some NWA a$$ in the Pacific. Of course, it might take some time to get some bilateral rights and slots... Whatever happened to the Pacific routes flown out of PDX on the MD11?

 

[ACL65PILOT]

We still have them, we are not utilizing them. To my knowledge they have not been sold.

 

[Papa Woody]

There is a lot of digging that you can do, but it does look like the larger numbers that were brought up here a few months ago by myself and a few others are proving true.
At 16-19 crews per airframe this is indeed good news for us.

Yes....at least some Delta pilots will be earning average SWA pay.

The rest?

 

[~~~^~~~]

I would assume that it could be a way to pressure NWA to a deal,....

ACL, thank you for your post.

I would disagree that this pressures NWA in any way. Management had already agreed on the stock swap & business successorship plans. The NWA pilots do not believe anything from any source - so this likely will not have any effect on them.

The 777LR makes Narita a "nice to have" and not a necessity as Delta simply flys over hubs with a more efficient aircraft and better service.

Delta can win in the market.

 

[JohnQ]

ACL, thank you for your post.

I would disagree that this pressures NWA in any way. Management had already agreed on the stock swap & business successorship plans. The NWA pilots do not believe anything from any source - so they can not look far enough down the road to see the threat.

The 777LR makes Narita a "nice to have" and not a necessity as Delta simply flys over their hub with more efficient aircraft and better service.

Delta can win in the market.

Don't count your chickens too soon. Hey, I'm DAL and hope that everything comes true just the way your optimistic post implies. But...

1. I won't believe a word of the "45 777s ordered" until I see the formal press release.

2. I won't believe we are actually flying the planes until they are painted in DAL colors flying paying pax.

3. NWA's NRT hub isn't just "nice to have." They have 5th freedom rights and perhaps more importantly, long-established corporate accounts, sales presences, and business relationships in Asia that will take us decades to build, even if we had 100 777s. Additionally, NWA has some of the smartest network guys in the industry, and they are the best at keeping the "cockroaches" (LCCs) out of their hubs. This from one of the former CAL (read, very bright) network guys now working for us.

That is why the merger COULD have been such a great thing.

 

[jrcpilot]

Time for Delta to kick some NWA a$$ in the Pacific. Of course, it might take some time to get some bilateral rights and slots... Whatever happened to the Pacific routes flown out of PDX on the MD11?

According to Network Management Director we have rights that can be exercised from Pan Am acquisition on some routes and others will have to be negotiated through the political and bilateral process.

 

[~~~^~~~]

John Q, you make excellent points. You are right about NWA's network and revenue folks. But, I do not see how this pressures NWA management in any way. For one thing, we will likely share code as we do now.

Delta has a lot of Pacific route authority unused that they got with Pan Am.

Delta can get new hires with good attitudes without longevity, or pay more for DTW and his pals while getting a obsolete, inefficient and disparate fleet. It is less expensive to grow internally.

 

[IronCityBlue]

John Q, you make excellent points. You are right about NWA's network and revenue folks. But, I do not see how this pressures NWA management in any way. For one thing, we will likely share code as we do now.

Delta has a lot of Pacific route authority unused that they got with Pan Am.

Delta can get new hires with good attitudes without longevity, or pay more for DTW and his pals while getting a obsolete, inefficient and disparate fleet. It is less expensive to grow internally.

While I agree with that in theory, I wonder about the Pan Am routes over the Pacific. Are they specific city pairs or how does that work? When Delta applied to get ATL-Shanghai it was far from automatic, and didn't a previous attempt at a China route get denied a year or two ago?

If its true that Delta can build up a meaningful Pacific presence on their own, that completely negates any reason to take on a massive merger and culture clash like an NWA merger would result in, especially when you consider the fleet type they would take on in the process.