Originally Posted by Free Bird

I know, oil is at $200.00 a barrel right now, we're all scr3wd. Wait a minute...................that was last summer

Originally Posted by acl65pilot

I just read the AWST article on that from Day 1 at the Paris Airshow too! I think it is great. Awesome jet, and in light of AF447 they may be thinking that composites are not quite to where they need to be. Who knows.

I love the 777. Not that you need to Fix that wing. It is about as close to perfect as you can get. I would love to see what they are really going to do to it.

Originally Posted by NuGuy

Heyas,

There actually were never any separate domestic or international categories at NWA, at least since I've been here.

There have been aircraft that did predominantly one or the other, but it was never a separate bid category. Even back in the days of the DC-10, you could bid international and domestic trips in the same month. "Avoid international" or "avoid domestic" were bid commands that most used if they wanted one or the other.

Most NWA guys will give you a blank stare if you ask them about what they think about this. To most of us, the separation seems kind of a goofy way to artificially restrict bidding flexibility for people or to puff up one's ego ("I'm on the ER"). It's probably the same way the fDAL guys think about our separate block/reserve categories, which, IMHO, has far more utility for pilots' QoL.

The 757 "grew" into international flying over time. You can literally go from a domestic trip, to a European trip to a NRT Interport trip in the same month, if the trips are small enough. We keep Europe plates in our bags, but you get a fresh set of Pacific plates each time you go out to NRT, so you don't have to lug them around all the time. Overall, it's just not a big deal.

The two systems are a product of the respective pilot groups. If you want to keep the two separate to drive up staffing requirements, I'm all for that. OTOH, I'm a commuter, and I really LIKE knowing I'll have a block(line) every month, and would prefer getting displaced to something else rather than go to reserve.

After SOC, there are a LOT of things that are going to change (again). I suspect that in the next PWA, there are going to be changes on that end, as well. Hopefully, there'll be a nice cross-pollination by then.

Nu

Originally Posted by forgot to bid

I'm curious to hear more, I bet Delta's interested.

Does anyone in DAL management mention the 748? I'd love to see that thing too but whatever they're doing to the 777 might prevent us from ever needing a 748.

Originally Posted by 80ktsClamp

I agree, NuGuy. I would much prefer that we have combined international/domestic categories- although the only issue is fewer rsvs which would displace more people in the combination. I sure would enjoy being able to do both domestic and international in the same month.

Ironically, 50% of the ATL ER's bid pack this month was domestic flying.

Originally Posted by Bucking Bar

I put down the law around my house - I don't care if AirTran has a $49 fare, Spirit $35, or Jet America $9. We are a Delta family. The way I see it, unless she can save $75,000 a year, the benefits of my employment outweighs saving a few bucks here and there. Besides, for some strange reason every time she flew AirTran another passenger, or employee, would try to pick her up. She's cute, friendly and not always aware that some folks can't simply engage in polite conversation on a low cost carrier. Delta does seem to have a better overall level of customer.

Originally Posted by Aviation Week

Citing the global recession, rising oil prices and the impact of the swine flu on demand in Mexico and Asia, Delta said it will increase its capacity cuts for international routes this fall to 15%** -- five points higher than it announced three months ago (DAILY, March 11).

Delta also is increasing its domestic capacity cut as of September by one to two points, for a decline of 6%, which will result in a 10% cut in Delta's systemwide capacity. But it is the international service -- and transatlantic services in particular -- that is taking the brunt of the cutback by the world's largest airline.

The airline's transatlantic capacity will be cut by 20% because that market has shown the most weakness, Delta President Ed Bastian said in a presentation to the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch Global Transportation Conference. Also, Bastian said the "core base" of Delta's international capacity actually is being cut by 20% when 2009 service additions, such as Detroit-Shanghai, Salt Lake City-Tokyo and Los Angeles-Sydney, that add some capacity in its international markets are taken into consideration.

Routes falling victim to the capacity cutbacks, in what Delta is calling a service "suspension," include Atlanta-Seoul, Atlanta-Shanghai, Cincinnati-Frankfurt, Cincinnati-London Gatwick and New York Kennedy-Edinburgh. Delta also will be reducing weekly frequencies from Atlanta and Detroit to Mexico City, and postponing some previously planned seasonal service between non-hub cities and Mexican beach destinations. The airline also plans to use smaller aircraft in some markets, Bastian said.

In a memo to employees, Bastian and CEO Richard Anderson said the additional capacity reductions mean the airline must again reassess staffing needs. But they said they hope to again be able to use voluntary early-out programs to avoid involuntary furloughs of frontline employees.

Delta said it is making the bigger cutbacks in part because revenue is not showing any signs of recovery. It had expected some demand recovery in June, if only because that's what typically happens as the summer travel season kicks in, but "the reality is [that] we still haven't seen that," largely because business travel still has not come back, Bastian said.

The airline also expects to take a $125 million to $150 million hit in the second quarter from a swine flu-induced drop in demand -- but that's not primarily due to a decline in Mexico traffic. Bastian said the bigger impact for Delta has been on point-of-sale bookings in Asia, to which the flu has spread and where the memory of SARS and avian flu is still fresh. Delta's Pacific load factor dropped 12.1 points year-over-year in May as a 31.6% decline in traffic outpaced its 20.5% cut in capacity (DAILY, June 9).

Bastian said bookings there have started to pick up over the past two weeks, so the airline believes the impact is starting to recede. Whether his optimism is well-founded, however, may be tested by the World Health Organization's decision June 11 to declare swine flu -- or H1N1 as health officials prefer to call it -- a "pandemic" because of its worldwide spread.

The flu has not been particularly deadly and the WHO is not recommending any travel restrictions. But there could be a psychological impact and, also on June 11, authorities in Hong Kong ordered the closure of all elementary schools, kindergartens and day care centers in the city after 12 students were found to be infected with the virus, CNN reported.

In any case, the global recession and the current swine flu impact on travel demand in Asia are contributing to Delta's new projection of a 20% decline in passenger unit revenue and 16% decline in total unit revenue for the second quarter. The airline also is now predicting an operating margin of zero to 2% in the quarter, excluding special items, revised downward from its April guidance of 4% to 6%.

Originally Posted by forgot to bid

You do that.

I can't decide whether I should study the LSAT, MCATS, GMAT or HVAC. Just can't decide.