Delta to mothball MD-11's cut routes...

[Guest]

Delta Says More Job Cuts Needed The Associated Press ^ | OCTOBER 15, 2002 | RUSS BYNUMDelta Air Lines reported a wider quarterly loss Tuesday and said more job cuts are on the way as the airline continues to struggle following last year's terrorist attacks.The nation's third-largest airline also said it will continue to slash its flight schedule, defer delivery of all new airplanes and mothball its fleet of large MD-11 aircraft used for long-range flights.``We do not see a near-term improvement,'' Michelle Burns, Delta's chief financial officer, told analysts in a conference call. ``We are very cautious and tough-minded about the remainder of this year and into 2003. We have a daunting road ahead.''The Atlanta-based carrier's third quarter loss of $326 million, or $2.67 per share, came during the peak summer travel season and compares with a loss of $259 million, or $2.13 per share, during the year-ago quarter.Excluding one-time costs, the net loss in the most recent quarter was $212 million or $1.75 per share, narrower than the $1.84 per share loss forecast by analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.In afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange, shares of the airline rose $1.30, or 17 percent, to $8.80.``It's still pretty disappointing,'' said Garrett Chase, an airline analyst for Lehman Brothers. ``But there's nothing here to make you feel any worse.''Delta Chairman and CEO Leo F. Mullin told analysts to expect deeper job cuts than the company predicted last month. Delta has already slashed 13,000 jobs

[ejoiner 21]

Im not surprised. Two reasons. 1. Delta never really established a footprint in the Asian markets where they used the MD11. The MD11 took over from the L1011. Its a great airplane and I have flown on DL MD-11's from Korea and Japan to Atlanta. Its my understanding that Delta may give up their Japanese routes since they are not profitable. Now that DL is a skyteam member, I assume their pro rata load factors are better via Korean Air flights.2. Delta is a Boeing customer...big time. Used to be a Douglas customer. The MD11 is dead to Boeing. They killed it shortly after buying MD because it cut into 7X7 sales. I dont know this...but I sure wouldnt be surprised...if boeing made a deal to replace those MD11's with a B7X7 with a discount.The MD11 has been one of Deltas better international airplanes. They dont operate the B747 and dont operate any airbeese. This leaves their only international jets as the B777 and the B767. The B767 SUCKS in the Delta high pax configuration,which is like sleeping in a phone booth. (I've done 10 hours in a B767 from Zurich to ATL...it blows..and thats in first class.)As an aside, what makes this worse is the hierarchy of crew assignments at Delta. If you fly intl with Delta, you ARE going to get your mother-in-law for a Flight Attendent. every 25 year fat heffer Flight Attendent with a bad attitude will be on your plane. (Frankly, same with United, only they will have a AFA shop steward pin on.) This is one excellent reason to fly airlines like Virgin, Cathay Pacific or Singapore, where such seniority ranks dont exist and your flight attendent is likely to be both beautiful and 25 years old... :-)(yeah, Im sexist, but Im also a 100K a year frequent flyer...deal with it.)Eric

[Guest]

Absolutely spot on with the flight attendants analysis. Add Thai, Dragonair and JAL alongside Virgin, Singapore etc. BTW Singapore airlines is consistently vote best airline in the world.I flew domestically in the US recently and felt that passengers were a major inconvenience to the old bats who formed the flight crew. Never again. Paul Gardner

[KevinAu 441]

>>I flew domestically in the US recently and felt that >passengers were a major inconvenience to the old bats who >formed the flight crew. Never again. >>Paul Gardner Even the FAA agrees that passengers are both an inconvenience and threat to aircraft security....[http://www.theonion.com/onion3838/faa_passenger_ban.html]

[B777ER 2,492]

The MD11 is a waste for DL as on the ATL-NRT route anyway. From what I read, they have to leave with 34 seats empty due to weight/fuel/distance calculations. I also don't see Delta giving up there last route to Asia (ATL-NRT) and the only non-stop route from the southeast US to Asia. Like someone said before, it is a lot easier dropping ATL-BOI and restarting it later than an international route. If DL dropped the ATL-NRT route, how long do you think a open US-Japan route would last before NW,UA or AA grabbed it up?