Spoilers

I don't know about ASA getting more aircraft, but you might be on to something with ASA getting re-named to Atlantic Southeast. Word is ASA will get re-branded on May 21.

There is also rumors of DL hiring close to 300 pilots by the Fall.

CptRyn

If that turns out to be true, then it's a little scary about what the prophet has predicted for the future of Comair....perhaps that too is true.

skywatch

I heard a rumor that QANTAS is doing away with their name and going with Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited from now on. Any truth to that?

NoStep

EXACTLY!!
Why a company chooses a longer name (USAir to USAirways) doesn't make sense. (Northwest Orient to Northwest probably saved them some money)

ASA getting 100 a/c? Did they place an order? Aren't DCI's capped on -900's, with a little room on -700's? Maybe one of our resident gurus knows the #'s.

Congrats to the returning furloughees! Hope you won't be at the bottom of the seniority heap for too long.

CptRyn

Well their new paint for United doesn't say ASA...

INAV8OR

Hi everybody, this is Steve Dickson with a special Flight Operations update for Tuesday, May 4th.

Today I'd like to announce that later this year we'll begin hiring pilots after the summer schedule ramps down in late August. Right now we anticipate we'll need an additional 240 pilots based on forecasted retirements along with a planned increase in pilot block hours, so that we are adequately staffed for the summer 2011 schedule.

As you know, last year was difficult for the entire airline industry. With the economic downturn came a reduction in our flying. This reduction resulted in Flight Ops being somewhat overstaffed during the shoulder months, but we made the decision not to furlough. That decision allowed us to stay well positioned so that with any economic improvement, anticipation of potential pilot retirements, and long lead times required for pilot hiring we would still be able to support increased flying. These are the types of commitments that we made throughout the company during the recession and we appreciate your flexibility as work through this as we did everything possible to avoid furloughs.

Now that we see an improving economy, the network plan for late 2010 flying has changed, resulting in an increase in the amount of widebody flying instead of the previous reduction that resulted in the bid posted at the end of last year and awarded just after SOC. The updated Network plan for late 2010 flying now calls for posting additional positions in widebody aircraft, rather than the push down to narrowbodies we saw in that bid. We anticipate posting the next Advance Entitlement/Surplus bid in the next few days which will position us for flying this revised network schedule.

So in preparation for the summer of 2011, which believe it or not, from a staffing perspective, is right around the corner, we've conducted a thorough analysis over the last several weeks to determine total pilots needed for the amount of block hours we expect to fly over the next 15 months. With this announcement of hiring comes the opportunity for furlough bypass pilots to return to Delta and for other pilots who desire employment with us, the opportunity to join our ranks.

If you know a pilot who you think would be a great candidate for us to consider, make sure you tell him or her to go online to airlineapps.com and fill out an application. Additional information on hiring requirements is available on the Flight Ops pilot selection web page as well as on delta.com. You will be hearing more details about the next AE/Surplus bid in the next few days so stay tuned.

Well, that's it for today. As always, thanks for everything you're doing on the line every day for our passengers and for each other. Please fly safe, thanks for calling in and I'll talk to you again on Friday

mosquito

Great news!

The other Forums states that ASA or Atlantic Southeast will merge or buy with Compass.

Lighteningspeed

ASA can't merge with Compass unless it buys Compass. ASA is owned by SkyWest and Compass is a DAL WO, so in order for ASA ro merge with Compass, SkyWest would have to buy Compass from DAL and then merge it with ASA, if this RUMOR is true. Compass flowthru will remain intact for Compass pilots, according to many.

Lowlevel

"Buy with"? What does that mean?
Delta owns Compass...so, if anyone bought ASA, it would be Delta. And why would Compass be interested in a CRJ operation?

Great to see Delta maybe hiring. Attention all you OH captains, please apply soon...make way for someone to move up in this place!

Lighteningspeed

If DAL starts to hire, those on furlough bypass gets the first chance to fill up the 240 slots then it would be 20 from Compass and 9 from Mesaba per month. It wouldn't take long for DAl to fill up 240 new slots, unfortunately. Nonetheless, it is a good news if DAL actually hires this summer.