Bill Lumberg

BINGO. And this ratio stuff. The ratio will continue to get smaller anyways as the 50 seaters are parked. Let that happen first.

rahc

we know the ratio of our flying vs. 50 seat AC will continue in our favor due to economics.......

what I'd like to see is the ratio of our flying vs. the 76 & 70 seat AC start to favor our direction.

Basically I want DCI to go away.

I also call any 76 seater a DC9-10. We kill our profession by letting these AC being outsourced. We kill the future Delta pilots by shortening the longevity (due to lack of jobs at mainline). The payrate of a 76 seater should be DC9 pay. That is what it is replacing. DCI will never match that rate.

More Bacon

Exactly. The company is making plenty of money and the future is bright. We need to capitalize NOW.

DALPA would have us believe we can have either some form of scope, or significant pay raises, but not both. I call bullsh!t.

Look at the company's profit/outlook. There are NO EXCUSES.

hoserpilot

Not sure if this has been posted here yet.


AerSale buying 25 of Saudi Arabian’s MD-90s

AerSale buying 25 of Saudi Arabian

AerSale has paid a substantial, undisclosed deposit to acquire 25 of Saudi Arabian Airlines' Boeing MD-90s, according to a source close to the situation.

The Florida-based lessor completed the acquisition of the first MD-90 aircraft (MSN 53506) only yesterday. Saudi will be delivering a further two aircraft later in the month.

AerSale is financing the transaction internally through an all-equity purchase, the source says.

Saudi is selling 24 of the 27 MD-90s it retired from service between 2009 and 2011, as well as one MD-90 it is actively flying as a VIP aircraft for the Saudi royal family, the source notes.

The Middle Eastern carrier will be delivering three aircraft a month to AerSale, culminating in the delivery of the VIP aircraft sometime next year.

Despite Delta Air Lines buying up a slew of MD-90s from China Eastern in 2010, industry sources say Saudi's MD-90 fleet will be more difficult to lease out to airlines. This is due to the harsher flying conditions they have endured, as well as their modified flight decks.

"They [Saudi's MD-90s] are not a standard fit as they have MD-11 style flight decks, making them less desirable in the market," one of the sources notes.

AerSale is nevertheless optimistic about leasing some of the MD-90s to other airlines, while others will be sent for part-out, the first source reveals.

The exact proportion to be leased out will be decided upon following a thorough inspection by AerSale, but the aim is to keep as many aircraft as possible in the sky. "They are still young, built between 1998 and 2000, and have [International Aero Engines] V2500 engines, which is the same engine that Airbus uses," the source says.

AerSale's desire to keep the MD-90s flying bodes well for the future of the aircraft, which has become something of a dying breed. Only 59 of the MD-90s still in existence are currently in service, according to Flightglobal's Ascend Online database, with the remaining 49 in storage. In addition to Delta's fleet of 34 MD-90s in service and 18 in storage, Japan Airlines has a further 12 in service and one in storage.

It is understood that Saudi took the decision to phase out the MD-90s in anticipation of its upcoming deliveries of Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft. Last year, Airbus delivered three A320s, seven A321s and one A330 to the airline, and a further seven deliveries have been scheduled for 2012, according to Ascend Online.

forgot to bid

Good point, DC9-10 = EJet and Cramped Jet 900.

So there's a bumper sticker for you: "DC-9 Size? Then At Mainline It Flies."

or

"It Ain't Fine To Outsource the Nine."

FrankCobretti

I suggest that it isn't all about the W2. Nontaxable income, such as an increased 401(k) contribution, is income all the same.

Bucking Bar

Contract 2000 was sold as a vast improvement to Delta Air Lines scope. It imposed block hour limits, ratios (production balances) of flying with DCI, mandatory downsizing of DCI, stage length restriction, aircraft size restrictions, route restrictions, and restrictions on DCI flying for other airlines (like Republic, SkyWest and GoJets do)

What follows will try to copy ALPA's air safety protocols. We will work together to evaluate what was the purpose of the design, if it worked as intended, if it failed, why it failed and how to prevent failure in the future.

Since "production balance" with DCI is a common theme which has been brought back to the discussion by our MEC Chair and in other official communications, let us begin our evaluation there.

Production Balances are a numbers game. Lets grab the Flight Data Recorder and compare the numbers to the specifications as engineered in Contract 2000. Below, the first column is the benchmark ratified in Contract 2000. The next column is the actual number later conceded by ALPA and the third column is the time stamp and source document.

Year - Contract 2000 / Concession / Concession Date & Contractual Reference
2001 - baseline DCI was < 34%
2002 - 34% / 44 to 48% / Reset Agreement - LOA 29
2003 - 36% / 44 to 48% / see above
2004 - 37% / 50% / Restructuring Agreement - LOA 46
2005 - 37% / Removed

What is interesting to note is that when Contract 2000 was ratified a large number of Regional Jets had already been ordered (over 500). There was a minimum 18 month lead time on major sub-components. To accommodate this kind of DCI growth the mainline fleet would have had to have grown from a 2001 total of just over 600 mainline jets to nearly 1,400, which with a RJ fleet nearing 700 would have made Delta and it's two DCI subsidiaries the operator of around 2,100 airplanes. Or in other words, from the onset Contract 2000 relied on Delta growing to approximately the size of Delta, Northwest, American and Alaska combined*, by 2005. It was pure economic nonsense. Contract 2000 scope was doomed from the beginning. ALPA had not done its homework. Every RJ ordered or optioned arrived on schedule. Scope limits were renegotiated in the nick of time, every time. The failure began almost immediately.

• Did the system perform as it was engineered to perform - NO
• Did the system protect the pilots it was designed to protect - NO, they were furloughed
• What failed - While there were multiple component failures, this investigation was narrowly tasked with the "production balance" mechanism as employed in Contract 2000
• Do other contracts / systems rely on this component - YES
• Is this an immediate safety of flight item - YES
• Recommendations - It was observed that as the mainline job protection mechanism's failed, opportunistic structures were rapidly employed to fill the breach. While their redundancy adds weight to the design it is clear these structures were capable of carrying the load, even under the extreme stress of bankruptcy. Consolidation of these structures would provide the needed assurances of safety while alleviating the penalties of redundant structural components and overhead.

* Circa Q1 2012

Elliot

FTB,

How about we make "bag/bumper stickers for all the DCI guys that reads:

"The NINE aint MINE!"

GJ

FrankCobretti

Steven Pearlstein: Two can play the airline bankruptcy game - The Washington Post


"For years now, Corporate America has viewed the bankruptcy court as a blunt instrument by which failed executives and directors can shift the burden of their mistakes onto shareholders, employees and suppliers. The auto industry bailout orchestrated by the Obama administration posed the first challenge to that assumption. Now the unions at American airlines have taken another step in curbing this flagrant corporate abuse and restoring the rule of law."

FmrFreightDog

So you're saying that whole, "It never rains in southern California" thing is true??