Redtail ATL-NRT?

[IB6 UB9]

Quid Pro Quo. NWA senior Captain told me a possible summer start date with 400's flying ATL - NRT. DAL gets what? General? Not flaming, but from a reliable source that has this info. Is this due to the fact that that DAL doesn't have the range, and if so, what is the trade-off? Also heard ATL - AMS with a blue tail...

Sounds like we need to join the alliance.

 

[Oakum_Boy]

Delta pilots don't have the ba!!s to go after the outsourcing that hurts them most. Instead of fighting for 747-400 flying out of ATL, they've been busy beating up on the RJ pilots. It's easier to pick on the little guy--

 

[MedFlyer]

In some ways it makes sense. Demand on the ATL-NRT route is quickly going to exceed what DL can supply offering only 1x777 a day. Last month, LF on DL's ATL-NRT was 82.6%. Since DL can not add any more NRT flights, the best bet would be to upgrade the metal. NW has the big metal (744's). However, we've heard this rumor about 100 times since NW and DL first hooked up, so I'll believe it when I see it.

The move would also free up DL to shift the 777's back to Europe or dump the 777's altogether (a move DL has considered).

I wouldn't be surprised to see KLM serve ATL either. They have served ATL in the past and with the entry into SkyTeam, the demand between two major SkyTeam hubs can fill more than DL's one flight.

Of course, all of these moves (if they were to happen) will just tick off the DL pilots and make any concessions less likely. Maybe Grinstein knows concessions won't happen, so he'll just take away all the big metal flights...concession in another form.

 

[Heavy Set]

I asked a Delta buddy of mine about the possibility of NW flying ATL-NRT and he said as a part of the NW/CO codeshare, Delta agreed not to allow anyone other than Delta to fly ATL-NRT, ATL-HNL or LAX-HNL. You gotta love the restrictiveness of this contract. As Leo once said so famously, "A contract is a contract..."

So, NW will NOT be flying the ATL-NRT route any time soon. That is probably a good reason to keep the 777s.