crazypilot

thanks for the info. guys

... yeah if we needed them and pulled them all back to the line that would be some serious hiring!!!

buzzpat

LMAO. True that.

acl65pilot

Far from dead.....

First salvo:

Delta chief blasts DOT for slot swap decision
Delta chief says government should take a more hands-off approach to dealing with airlines

ATLANTA (AP) -- The chief of the world's biggest airline says the U.S. government shouldn't be in the business of picking winners and losers in the airline industry.

Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson says the Transportation Department made a bad decision this week to allow Delta and US Airways to swap takeoff and landing slots at New York and Washington airports only if they sell some of the slots to protect competition.

He told employees in a recorded message Friday that Delta will work to change the decision, but he said again that if it stands in its current form, the deal with US Airways likely won't go forward.

"Our industry needs to be deregulated," Anderson said.

He added that the DOT shouldn't be a "handicapper or picker of who wins or loses in the marketplace."

The airlines are seeking more bang for the buck in congested areas where slot access is limited. The carriers want to serve destinations where they believe they can be more profitable than on routes where they have been cutting service.

A slot is an interval of time during which an airline can takeoff or land its aircraft at an airport. Slots, especially at peak times of day and in busy corridors like the Northeast, are valuable to airlines.

US Airways agreed in August to transfer 125 operating slot pairs to Delta at LaGuardia Airport in New York. In exchange, Delta agreed to transfer 42 operating slot pairs to US Airways at Reagan National Airport in Washington.

The DOT said Tuesday it has tentatively allowed the transaction to proceed as long as the airlines sell some of their slot interests to carriers with no or limited service at the two airports.

The approval requires the airlines to sell 14 pairs of slot interests at National and 20 pairs at LaGuardia.

The airlines say that would negate a significant portion of the proposed economic benefits they would achieve through the swap. They also say that as hub and spoke carriers, the divestiture would negatively impact travelers. That's because, they say, the decision would result in the loss of opportunity for the country's smaller- and medium-sized communities that would have benefited from new service as a result of the transaction.

But the DOT is concerned about maintaining competition at the busy airports. And it believes US Airways will be too dominant at National Airport and Delta will be too dominant at LaGuardia Airport if they don't sell some of their slots.

shiznit

Ok, I was tying in more than you were to the "whole process" of being rerouted, not necessarily the "scheduling only" aspect. I see what you are saying now, the things I mentioned are by-products to reroute, not necessarily the reroute itself.

What would you do to improve the reroute "process", if given the magic wand? You obviously have lots of past experience in this PWA and past rules at DAL.

shiznit

"They also want them so the can be more profitable." (emphasis mine)

How about profitable? They have to be profitable first in order to be "more profitable".

slowplay

You're number is low if you include all the DC-9 and 747-200 series airframes. While this number changes regularly, there are 4 767ER, 16 757-200, and 7 767-300 domestic stored that could be considered economically viable with good oil prices and consumer demand. Many of those airframes are 20-25 years old, however, so they are relative maintenance hogs with have older engines and electronics.

Bucking Bar

... and the airlines are right. Part of the reason the politicians pushed for RJ service was to get jet routes to "under served" parts of the Country. Senators and Congressmen liked their direct flights.

Now, the DOT is basically ensuring Jet Blue gets access to DCA and Southwest increases LGA service. Now where do we think Blue and Southwest are going to go? To small "under served" communities, or simply overlap the biggest US Air and Delta markets that already have service?

It would be hard to make the case that Delta and US Air are gouging customers when each are charging less than the costs of doing business last year. But politicians don't seem to care about objective facts - in fact, check out the yelling at Savannah, you'd think fares were increased by $1,000:



Southwest and AirTran are seen as saviors, regardless of whether that's the truth, or not. Southwest pulled out of Savannah because Savannah wasn't generating enough revenue. How would these politicians like to have NO air service? Jacksonville isn't that far a drive and has a lot lower facility charges.

... and that is where the DOT is going with this. Communities which will lose their precious RJ service need to get on the phone with their Reps, otherwise competition between DCA / JFK and LGA / MCO will just get another section or two a day with the load factors diminished by a similar amount.

Southwest isn't a low cost carrier any more. Small and Medium cities will lose direct New York access (and New York might lose some tourist bucks) so that fares are maybe $5 cheaper to MCO ? Bad decision by the DOT, IMHO.

acl65pilot

I do not think he was including those jets. Many of the 9's are being taken apart for scrap. At least there were last time in was at Pineal. Many of the 742's are in the same state.

Slow, something I have not checked on that maybe you could answer. Are they still going ahead with the planned parking of the entire 767-300 fleet. I know it was planned, but we know how that changes.

slowplay

Sorry, can't answer. It would be a good question for the network/flight ops guys were you to e-mail them.

capncrunch

Commuting is not a choice for some. Peoples families and their spouses jobs do not move like management moves aircraft and doles out displacements. Yanking the kids out of school and finding a new job for the wife is not easily done.