satchip

Why not? We have an economic argument that bringing the outsourced subcontracted flying back to mainline is a net gain for the company. That is the only way we are going to get it back is by convincing the board there is a ROI. Anderson is a brand control type of guy. DCI is ruining the brand. The public is turning against the RJ because of comfort and safety. We could be the first legacy to run our own "big plane, little plane" add ala SWA.

And if it takes a strike, so be it.

DAL4EVER

And DCI growing to 60% of the domestic system meant nothing? Work rules had a part but they didn't result in a 30% gain in efficiency.

formerdal

Sailing

I know you like to make this statement as i've seen you post it in the past. While I don't dispute our block hours may be the same, the number of mainline flights has decreased by about 50% since 8/2000.

A quick look in the OCC website shows mainline operations scheduled in Aug, 2000 were 82657. In Dec 2008 total mainline operations 47752. A 42% decrease.

At a minimum a large part of the flying DCI is doing used to be on mainline equipment.

forgot to bid

I also remember vaguely something about the DIJA, just using it as an indicator here, going from mid 7000 range in early 2003 to a high of 14,000+ by the fall of 2007 but oil went from a low of $11 in mid 1998 to a high of $147 in 2008, negating the ability of the airline industry to enjoy the bull market in the mid 2000s. Basically, we're an industry that wallows in the financial gutter and I don't see that changing, my bet is the next time the economy hits an upswing then so will oil.

Add to the misery for mainline operations the attacks in 2001 (that came via hijacked airliners no less) causing for a time there to have aircraft that were flat out empty, three pilot aircraft becoming obsolete and add a dash of scope issues along with small turbofan technology maturing on a variant of the Challenger 600 business jet and EMB-120 turboprop.

Hence, mainline lost jobs and regionals gained jobs but as we know the size of the regionals might be short lived as oil is too high for them to be viable and legacy costs are kicking in. The question is what next? Shrink DCI, we see that possibly coming and ACL has mentioned Comair being in the crosshairs but what if DCI shrinks? Do we necessarily get the flying back and see an increase in our size?
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On a different subject, I took a glance at the 747-400 manuals on DLNET and I've got to say I like NWA manuals better, especially VOL II. Color. Man, I love color. Hope thats how they actually come to you.

Satchip, if the manuals have color then I don't have color them myself! What was Spurriers joke when we had a fire in the library? Something about how that was sad because half the books were already colored.

Superpilot92

The NWA manuals were great. In color and made to be very easy to read and study. When i went through DC9 requal after being bumped off the bus i recieved all new DC9 manuals and they've already started to convert parts of the manuals in that they arent printing them all in color anymore. Glad i held onto may initial manuals

I'd sure hate to have to color them myself too

satchip

But the words have more than two syllables so you are in trouble!

tsquare

How does one insert a photo here?

acl65pilot

I will agree with this to some degree. I know you have stated it cost us 3000 jobs. I have looked at this and that number is a ball park. I came up with 2500 less jobs due to PBS and some changes in work rules.

I prefer to say that the early outs accounted for the change in work rules and the other individuals that were thrown on the street were due to RJ's. Add to it that DAL's block hrs grew (All not mainline) and those pilots stayed on the street. DCI exploded.

Either way the changes that scope has had since 2000 have cost pilot jobs. There is no way you can mince words with that. It is simple. If we as a pilot group change our section one to inclusive scope and have more Delta seniority listed pilots flying Delta passengers, that is a better bargaining position, and more job security for all.

I agree that if we got rid of PBS today and went to the old system they would need 3000 pilots for the combined group. I also agree that scope concessions are not the only culprit to the loss of jobs and the decay of this profession.
I know we will never get rid of PBS, and any work rule changes we have will be minimal. Scope is really where we need to spend our time to bring security back to this profession.

acl65pilot

If it comes out today that would be great. That way they will have all week to work on it once the bid period closes.

forgot to bid

Delta will cut more management jobs
By HARRY R. WEBER (AP) – 1 hour ago

ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines Inc., the world's biggest airline operator, is planning to cut more management and administrative jobs, but isn't saying how many, according to a recorded message and a memo from top executives.

Chief Executive Richard Anderson said in a recorded message to employees Thursday that Delta has seen its revenue stream decline by billions of dollars because of the weak economy and the drop-off in demand for air travel.

Atlanta-based Delta is cutting more capacity and has previously hinted that more frontline employee positions may have to be cut.
Anderson said Delta needs to be more aggressive at saving money in its administrative and management budgets.

"We will accomplish this through budget reductions, including vendors and professional services," Anderson and President Ed Bastian said in a memo Thursday to officers and directors that also was circulated internally to other employees. "Unfortunately, because of the severity of this economic downturn, we also must eliminate additional salaried positions beyond the management and administrative jobs already reduced over the last 18 months."

The executives said the planned action, though painful, will help the airline "maintain our competitive position as a strong, viable airline for our employees, shareowners and customers."

Delta, including its subsidiaries, had 82,968 full-time employees as of June 30, according to a recent regulatory filing. The total includes employees from Delta and Northwest Airlines and regional carriers Mesaba, Compass and Comair.

Last month, Delta announced a loss of $257 million for the second quarter.

Delta said the global recession, exacerbated by the impact of the swine flu virus, has caused the company's revenue to decline more than $3 billion for the first six months of the year, translating to more than $40,000 in lost revenue per employee.

"We do not expect our revenues to significantly improve through the remainder of the year," Anderson and Bastian said in their memo.

Delta plans to cut international capacity by 15 percent starting in September. Delta has also said it will reduce system capacity by 10 percent this year compared to 2008.

Capacity, as measured in available seat miles, can be reduced in a number of ways, including removing planes from the air, using smaller planes on some routes and reducing the number of frequencies to certain destinations.

Shares of Delta rose 46 cents, or 6.3 percent, to $7.75 in late morning trading Friday.

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The people who I know work in management seem to be doing 3 people's jobs by themselves. More cuts can't be good for wear and tear unless its buyout oriented I guess.