Delta Still Playing Catch-Up

[Deleted by Moderator]

Delta Still Playing Catch-Up

By Ted Reed
TheStreet.com Staff Reporter
3/7/2006 7:28 AM EST
Click here for more stories by Ted Reed


And then there was one.

Now that Northwest Airlines (NWACQ:OTC BB - commentary - research - Cramer's Take) has reached a tentative contract agreement with its pilots, just one of the six legacy airlines remains stymied in its efforts to reduce pilot costs and restructure -- Delta Air Lines (DALRQ: OTC BB - commentary - research - Cramer's Take).

It might have a tougher time than any of its peers.

At the moment, Atlanta-based Delta and its pilots await the March 13 start of meetings by a three-member arbitration panel, which will determine whether the country's third-largest airline has the right to impose new contract terms. The two sides agreed to the panel's creation as an alternative to having a bankruptcy court judge make the decision.

Delta is seeking $305 million in annual cuts, while the union is offering about $140 million. In recent weeks, the numbers have been inching closer, and negotiations are continuing. Although four legacy carriers have threatened to impose new contracts on their workers, none has done so.

Last Friday, for instance, the threat of a pilots' strike brought Northwest and its pilots together. On the same day, Delta CEO Gerald Grinstein told reporters gathered at a public event that "Delta is cooked" and will not survive if the pilots strike, the Associated Press reported.

Trailing the Herd
So far, UAL (UAUA:Nasdaq - commentary - research - Cramer's Take) unit United Airlines and the old US Airways have won labor settlements from all of their major unions in bankruptcy court. Northwest has won tentative settlements, which now await ratification by union members, from three major unions. The fourth union led 4,400 mechanics out on a strike last summer that resulted in job losses for most of them.

Continental Airlines (CAL:NYSE - commentary - research - Cramer's Take) and AMR (AMR:NYSE - commentary - research - Cramer's Take) unit American Airlines have followed a different course of avoiding bankruptcy, seeking consensual cost-saving arrangements with their unions and somehow managing to preserve their expensive pension plans.

Delta has been the slowest to get things done.

Delta Still Playing Catch Up

I found this tidbit on the 2nd page of that link very intersting

Delta faces other problems. In particular, its revenue per available seat mile of 9.33 cents is the lowest of any major carrier.

I am eager to read a response from WT pertaining to how this could be considering that all things Delta are so rosy. Makes absolutely no sense. Could it be that liquidation is around the corner exactly what he predicted for UAL?

 

[WNrforlife]

Delta - What a bunch of losers!!!!

 

[WorldTraveler]

WNclone,
do you have that sentence programmed into your computer? You obviously not only cannot carry on a conversation but you apparently also cannot use different words. Do me a favor and at least add some color or font changes so I know you actually are alive - at least physically.

Mod,
It's no secret that DL has a revenue disadvantage relative to the rest of the industry - due in no small measure to their previous focus on connecting traffic, esp. to Florida. I'm glad to be the one to inform you (apparently for the 1st time) that DL's transformation plan is based on removing capacity from the domestic system and moving it to new int'l routes. Based on the results released so far, DL is making big improvements and doing it rather quickly. A sure sign of a winner.

 

[Deleted by Moderator]

I want what you are drinking. Your airline is drowning and you sitting there drinking koolaid. (How many of those destinations have begun?)

 

[Flufdriver]

...a winner? WT, where do you buy this "Kool-Aid" Sounds like they are RUNNING away from domestic where they CAN'T compete. In my eyes Delta is the SLOWEST carrier to react to the situation at hand. They thought it would NEVER happen the us! I remember when they where ask what their "fix" was and they said when US goes out of business and that DIDN'T happen. That's a smart business plan. Hey, maybe your cost structure is way out of line for todays enviroment! Your right...they are a real winner!! Keep drinking WT!

 

[jbguppy]

WNclone,
do you have that sentence programmed into your computer? You obviously not only cannot carry on a conversation but you apparently also cannot use different words. Do me a favor and at least add some color or font changes so I know you actually are alive - at least physically.

Mod,
It's no secret that DL has a revenue disadvantage relative to the rest of the industry - due in no small measure to their previous focus on connecting traffic, esp. to Florida. I'm glad to be the one to inform you (apparently for the 1st time) that DL's transformation plan is based on removing capacity from the domestic system and moving it to new int'l routes. Based on the results released so far, DL is making big improvements and doing it rather quickly. A sure sign of a winner.

You are indeed delirious with love for DAL. The revenue problem is a direct result of simplifares, which destroyed DAL's hopes of avoiding bankruptcy.

As far as DAL getting it done quickly, the part of the title of the article that you missed reading is "playing catch up".

You are so foolish in your blind cheerleading of DAL, just continue to fiddle on the deck....

The pilots at DAL seem to get it, you can't continue to just pile your wage givebacks into an account for an inept management team to squander with foolish revenue moves and schedule changes. Their picketing in several locations surely sends the message that they mean business.

You can continue to cheer, and identify them as " a sure ..winner". The results they are displaying and the article that started this thread show you to be blindly uninformed...

JBG

 

[WNrforlife]

WNclone,
do you have that sentence programmed into your computer? You obviously not only cannot carry on a conversation but you apparently also cannot use different words. Do me a favor and at least add some color or font changes so I know you actually are alive - at least physically.

Sure WT, I can certainly add some color to my language.
How does [deleted by mod] suit you? - is that colorful enough for you?

 

[Vikedog64]

Sure WT, I can certainly add some color to my language.
How does [deleted by mod] suit you? - is that colorful enough for you?

Can anyone, including the moderator silence this 5 year old?? :blink:

 

[Paul]

Move this back onto Delta's situation. Leave out your derogatory comments, as they add nothing to the topic at hand. Thank you.