The powers that be

[PuffDriver]

are busy. Yesterday, several volunteers of the strike committee were given trip drops in about a week and a half. Couple that with the boards meeting last thursday and friday, and that points to something being afoot in Delta land.

A shotgun wedding perhaps? Time to inflate the rat.

 

[NuGuy]

are busy. Yesterday, several volunteers of the strike committee were given trip drops in about a week and a half. Couple that with the boards meeting last thursday and friday, and that points to something being afoot in Delta land.

A shotgun wedding perhaps? Time to inflate the rat.

Wow, thanks for summing up the blatantly obvious.

And, sure, start puffing up that rat....yea, that'll show 'em!

Nu

 

[GogglesPisano]

Delta and Northwest revive merger talks

By Justin Baer and Francesco Guerrera in New York
Sunday Apr 6 2008 12:45
Delta Air Lines (NYSEAL) and Northwest Airlines (NASDAQ:NWAC) , two US airlines seeking to add scale in the face of a brutal industry-wide downturn, have revived their talks to merge, people familiar with the talks said.

Record fuel costs, competition and ebbing demand has ended the US industry's modest recovery, forcing carriers to slash flight schedules, park aircraft and impose fees on passengers. In the past week, three low-cost airlines - Aloha Airgroup, ATA Airlines and SkyBus - shut down operations.

Delta and Northwest had inched close to an agreement in February. Those negotiations stalled when their pilot unions failed to find common ground on how to rank members by seniority, which determines pay, rank and aircraft flown.


Executives at Minnesota-based Northwest have since put pressure on their counterparts at Delta to proceed without the pilots' support.

Delta's board members, who convened a meeting late last week to discuss the company's options, agreed to press ahead with negotiations, the people said. Those talks are now intensifying, with the two sides set to meet again this week, they said.

Delta and Northwest declined to comment.

As part of the previous talks, the two carriers agreed to swap Northwest shares for those of Delta at little or no premium, appoint Richard Anderson, Delta's chief executive, as the combined company's chief executive and keep the headquarters in Delta's hometown of Atlanta, the people said.

They also hammered out a new, $2bn labour accord that would have given pilots pay raises and a 5 per cent equity stake in a combined company.

But by late February, the two labour groups broke off negotiations without agreement. Representatives from each union met again in March to no avail, and Delta's pilots rejected the Northwest union's proposal to seek arbitration for a solution to the seniority stalemate.

Delta's public assurances that it would not proceed with any deal that would sacrifice job security and seniority benefits, along with the pilots' impasse, appeared to thwart the two airlines' plans. The companies had sought to line up the pilots' accord to help avoid the acrimony and protracted negotiations that often slows down airlines' effort to integrate.

The industry's outlook has since darkened, forcing Delta's executives and board members to consider leaving negotiations with the pilots until after they reach an agreement to merge.

Delta and Northwest each recently announced plans to trim domestic capacity, reducing the size of their fleets, to reduce costs.

 

[Jonny Sacko]

Delta and Northwest revive merger talks



Executives at Minnesota-based Northwest have since put pressure on their counterparts at Delta to proceed without the pilots' support.

.

"Ah hell, it went just fine down the road at that American West joint, We'll get 8 mill a piece, F um!

 

[PuffDriver]

Wow, thanks for summing up the blatantly obvious.

And, sure, start puffing up that rat....yea, that'll show 'em!

Nu

Keep watching. Your new reality is coming. Without this deal, the -9s are toast. Your MEC knows it, ask them.

 

[DTW320]

Keep watching. Your new reality is coming. Without this deal, the -9s are toast. Your MEC knows it, ask them.

What? Does the "deal" alter the DAL scope clause? The NWA scope clause doesn't allow them to turn the -9's into "toast" unless a lot of 76 seaters go in the "toaster" too. Not true with the current DAL scope clause. DAL can park them all and still operate 200 RJ's with up to 70 seats, including 30 with 76 seats.

 

[jester757]

So they get the merger and millions in their pockets. DAL gets the nines just in time to park them (under the DAL scope clause) and then us junior guys (both NWA and DAL) can get furloughed together, hand in hand. Now that is what I call unity. Now I see why DAL guys want this deal so bad...NOT.

 

[NuGuy]

What? Does the "deal" alter the DAL scope clause? The NWA scope clause doesn't allow them to turn the -9's into "toast" unless a lot of 76 seaters go in the "toaster" too. Not true with the current DAL scope clause. DAL can park them all and still operate 200 RJ's with up to 70 seats, including 30 with 76 seats.

Very true...as it stands, both Mesaba and Compass are going to have to curtail their 76 seat deliveries.

If the deal does happen, and the new "DAL" decides to park the -9s, then it will be the new PWA that is at fault. You can't hold the NWA guys accountable for that, as our current book prevents it.

Nu

 

[General Lee]

So they get the merger and millions in their pockets. DAL gets the nines just in time to park them (under the DAL scope clause) and then us junior guys (both NWA and DAL) can get furloughed together, hand in hand. Now that is what I call unity. Now I see why DAL guys want this deal so bad...NOT.

That is why we would like to know what the immediate plans are for the DC9s. We all know they will be the first to go. If we have a joint contract though, I can only hope that we do keep the more strict scope clause (NWA's), and everything else keep from our contract. We shall see, but you hit the nail on the head about some of the worries we have over at DL.

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[General Lee]

Very true...as it stands, both Mesaba and Compass are going to have to curtail their 76 seat deliveries.

If the deal does happen, and the new "DAL" decides to park the -9s, then it will be the new PWA that is at fault. You can't hold the NWA guys accountable for that, as our current book prevents it.

Nu

I think you are right, and I hope our MECs did get that straight. If we do lose pilots, it will be because somebody negotiated them away. If Anderson or someone high up took away the "no furlough clause" for the current newhires (we already have one for TBKANE and up that includes economic reasons including high oil prices), then I would hope they would just say no deal, and let the contracts remain and cause a headache for Anderson and Co. Hey, Moak bragged he could stop a deal from happening. He has no excuse then.


Bye Bye--General Lee