acl65pilot

NRT is going back tot he 744. That really leaves JND and DXB. DXB just went to a 24 hr layo.

I too find it hard to fathom them closing the 777 base in ATL, but I am not the one that started the discussion. I heard what Scambo heard, and from different people. It is more about diversifying our flying and moving things out of the ATL basket from what I was told. It has to do with the way the City of Atlanta played with the renegotiation of our leases, or so the story goes.

From what I could gather, and I did not ask too many questions, it was not going to be immediate. For that reason alone, I bet ti never happens. From what I hear there will be more seats pulled on the next bid. The 777 is doing MSP-NRT and similar markets. Its not that they are parking anything, they are just moving stuff around to maximize its benefit.

As for DTW and LAX from ATL on the 777, those are position flights. Once they get most of the MTC up and running in DTW on the 777, those two flights may not be needed.

The back end of that rumor was more interesting to me anyway. Go search what Scambo posted. That is the part that got me to respond, not that it was leaving ATL, it was what the long term plans were. (Long meaning five years)

I also took this as a purposeful leak. One that is to get out to certain people or organizations, not pilots, but airlines and airport boards. Its a message.

tsquare

Prediction: When the fences come down... 747 to ATL... 777 to DTW. JMHO.. no inside information was used in this prediction.

Dash8widget

Just as a heads up - I also finished my college on the 12+ year program and I can say that it was a MAJOR topic of discussion during my DL interview. Not finishing school in the traditional manner was a big red flag but I was prepared to talk about it - which was a good thing since a good chunk on the interview time was spent discussing it. I did have some things going for me though - I finished school strong (graduated with honors), and had advanced far at my regional airline (chief check airman, APD, etc.) and I think those things were able to offset my unusual collage path.

Congrats on finally getting it done and good luck!

Herkflyr

Correct! Only our Pacific Theater qual requires entry only.

What he may have been thinking of was when we flew redeyes from JFK-BOG.

Then, flight ops policies were even if the crew was qualified, that there would be a third pilot for the JFK-BOG leg only due to the terrain, challenging arrival, etc all after a 5 hour redeye (a good idea I might add). Then, for awhile there was a bit of an underhanded "grease my skids" where LCAs and AQFOs were the only ones getting this deal (thus the deviate from DH go right back to ATL on the morning BOG-ATL flight scenario).

But these were not quals at all--just flight ops policies. ALPA quickly said, "uh, this should be available for all pilots, not just Flight Standards guys" so a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) was written up and these were actually put into the bid package.

Now we don't fly JFK-BOG all-nighters anyway so it is all a moot point.

But that was always a different animal from the inital BOG checkout which requires both an entry and exit from LCA/AQFO.

acl65pilot

I agree that more time will move to DTW from ATL when the fences come down. I also bet we see the 787-900 about that time too.

NERD

Prepare for incoming T. As a former North guy I miss standardization of SOPA/SMAC, but think the South's way of international (TOE) and SAQ is hands down better. NWA did very little international training. IE: Check out on the whale I had OE to Asia but none to Europe because the whale did not go there at that time. I get a charter there and the capt. is a known f'up and had I not studied up our international section, picked the brains of other capts that had flown the DC10, and had a S/O that had flown the C5 over there, we would have had to fill out at least a half dozen ASR's. Northwest just assumed that everyone or at least someone on the crew had been to these different theaters.

Schwanker

Do you know the size of the UPS seniority list? I would say 300 is quite significant. Just my observation.

NERD

You beat me to it. Once in ATL I predict that DALPA will want a higher payrate for the whale vs. the 777.

BigGuns

I heard that Delta wants to pick up ORD to FCO from Alitalia and couple more cities after ORD CDG ends this spring, they want to use the vacant BJ gate, but the city of Chicago wants a "low cost" carrier in that gate.

newKnow

Don't worry, porpilot. The furlough talk usually pops up here on APC every 6-8 weeks or so, for no real reason.

Normally, someone predicts either:

1.) The price of oil shooting up,
2.) A stock market crash, or
3.) Both, as the reason for our impending cuts.

The thing that should give you comfort is that no pilot in the history of aviation has ever accurately predicted:

1.) What will happen with the stock market
2.) The future price of anything, or
3.) His or her company's intention to furlough.

I say you should just ignore all the talk of doom and gloom and assume that some are a little grumpy because their field goal kicker missed a kick, their presidential candidate underperformed in Iowa, or both, and carry on.