1st of 4 NW a/c will have new livery by 12/13/08

[Kev3188]

Lets see if you can take off your union-blinders for a second and comprehend this from a business point of view !

Business A can only paint 110 aircraft in a years time, because of facility and man-power limitations , but Company A needs 220 aircraft painted this year.................so Company A hires Company B to paint 110 aircraft !

Did that help you ? :blink:

It has nothing to do with union blinders, and everything to do with fiscal responsibility/efficiency.

Okay, from "a business point of view," if a company has the facility (facilities) to handle the extra work, and is both offering OT and hiring guys to do it, then why continue to pay a 3rd party to do so? Why not funnel that OT money into straight time for new employees? Why no keep the moeny paid out to other outfits, and redirect internally? I understand that they now have ~ 300 more planes to do; there'll be plenty of work to keep the crews going full throttle for a long time. Every effort should be made to paint as many of those in house as possible.

Going forward, there should be almost no reason for anything to be farmed out. Anything done by contractors now should be done by DL AMT's either on the line or in the hubs. Bigger stations like SEA should see the return of DL AMT's instead of Swissport or the like. Stations that currently have DL AMT's should be absorbing the NW work (which, IIRC, is the plan).The company has both more oversight, and more accountability from it's own workers. You should agree with me on that at least?

 

[Kev3188]

Now we are even. 1 for 1.

Now that the Earth is no longer spinning off of it's axis, we can get back to our usual diametrically opposed opinions.

Not sure about EPA regs ,In bays 11+12 they can strip,sand,paint an AC in 3-5 days the maint. involved with paint is usualy rudder and/or aileron removal/reinstall ,static wicks,windshield wipers ,and regular checks.
Most of the maint. can be done outside of the paint bays.
Bay 10 is a paint bay seldom used for paint but is used for large AC (777).

Our painters are awesome and can knock it out in no time.

Good info, thanks!

 

[Dignity]

The 747 is finished. Anyone see the pictures? It looks really nice.
Not sure how to post a picture on here.

I viewed the one photograph available...I have to admit the aircraft is going to be stunning.

 

[BABABOOY]

I viewed the one photograph available...I have to admit the aircraft is going to be stunning.

And I look forward to working it in the (not so distant) future with you!

 

[LukeAisleWalker]

The 747 is finished. Anyone see the pictures? It looks really nice.
Not sure how to post a picture on here.

I've seen the airliner.net pics which were posted here already--of the plane being painted in the hangar. Is there another pic?

 

[Dignity]

And I look forward to working it in the (not so distant) future with you!

You just made my day.

Thank you.

 

[Kev3188]

I've seen the airliner.net pics which were posted here already--of the plane being painted in the hangar. Is there another pic?

Those are the only ones I've seen as well...

For those that may have missed the earlier link, click here.

 

[Dignity]

Those are the only ones I've seen as well...

There is one photo via Radar(its another hangar photo).

 

[DalMD88]

It has nothing to do with union blinders, and everything to do with fiscal responsibility/efficiency.

Okay, from "a business point of view," if a company has the facility (facilities) to handle the extra work, and is both offering OT and hiring guys to do it, then why continue to pay a 3rd party to do so? Why not funnel that OT money into straight time for new employees? Why no keep the moeny paid out to other outfits, and redirect internally? I understand that they now have ~ 300 more planes to do; there'll be plenty of work to keep the crews going full throttle for a long time. Every effort should be made to paint as many of those in house as possible.

Going forward, there should be almost no reason for anything to be farmed out. Anything done by contractors now should be done by DL AMT's either on the line or in the hubs. Bigger stations like SEA should see the return of DL AMT's instead of Swissport or the like. Stations that currently have DL AMT's should be absorbing the NW work (which, IIRC, is the plan).The company has both more oversight, and more accountability from it's own workers. You should agree with me on that at least?

I wish that was all going to be the case, but not all the future work will be done inhouse. Most Line MTC will be done inhouse. Stations that currently have DL MTC will stay. Stations like SEA, BOS, DCA that are current NW contract stations and DL MTC will see the work absorbed into DL soon. Some of the smaller contract stations will stay contract. There isn't enough work at those stations at this time to justify to expense of a station.

Now for major maintenance, it sounds like what is currently in house will stay and the Heavy Check work that is contract will stay that way. These checks are too manpower intensive. We would have to work for free to be able to compete on cost with AeroMexico or HACO. We also gave up the hangars (DFW,TPA,DTNC) needed to do this work. The work form those facilities is now all done at ATL TOC. The genie that sends our work to other countries is out of the bottle. He isn't going back in.

It also doesn't make sence to bring back the older aircraft work. Take the MD88/90/DC9 fleet for example. That combined fleet would need 4 bays dedicated to it 24/7/365. Staffing would be around 150 per bay maybe a little less. These airplanes will most likely only see one more heavy check in their DL life. So six years later you have 4 bays with 600 mechanics that need work. The newer fleets don't need as much work so you lay them off. Now compound that with the 757/767 fleet. Some of those will get more than one more heavy check while they are with DL, but again within six or seven years you won't need that much manpower or real estate.

 

[1Conehead]

Why do we do others heavy checks (RAM) but not our own?

 

[Kev3188]

I wish that was all going to be the case, but not all the future work will be done inhouse. Most Line MTC will be done inhouse. Stations that currently have DL MTC will stay. Stations like SEA, BOS, DCA that are current NW contract stations and DL MTC will see the work absorbed into DL soon. Some of the smaller contract stations will stay contract. There isn't enough work at those stations at this time to justify to expense of a station.

This sort of what I was driving at. I'd also like to see some of the (now) bigger cities reopened to DL AMT's, but that isn't likely. I know we've discussed PDX as an example of this previously.

Now for major maintenance, it sounds like what is currently in house will stay and the Heavy Check work that is contract will stay that way. These checks are too manpower intensive. We would have to work for free to be able to compete on cost with AeroMexico or HACO. We also gave up the hangars (DFW,TPA,DTNC) needed to do this work. The work form those facilities is now all done at ATL TOC. The genie that sends our work to other countries is out of the bottle. He isn't going back in.

He might not be going all the way back in, but can't we at least stuff a leg or 2 back in?

Seriously, what about some of the hangar space NW brings to the table? I realize D checks are probably out, but outsourcing without maximizing all facilities & manpower to it's fullest is awful.

Note: I pretty sure we see eye to eye on all of this, even if I'm not making myself clear.

It also doesn't make sence to bring back the older aircraft work. Take the MD88/90/DC9 fleet for example. That combined fleet would need 4 bays dedicated to it 24/7/365. Staffing would be around 150 per bay maybe a little less. These airplanes will most likely only see one more heavy check in their DL life. So six years later you have 4 bays with 600 mechanics that need work. The newer fleets don't need as much work so you lay them off. Now compound that with the 757/767 fleet. Some of those will get more than one more heavy check while they are with DL, but again within six or seven years you won't need that much manpower or real estate.

Interesting. Older A/C aside, isn't there enough work with the combined fleet to keep most tracks running consistently?

 

[BABABOOY]

I've seen the airliner.net pics which were posted here already--of the plane being painted in the hangar. Is there another pic?

The picture that was sent to me is different than the one on Delta net.
It doesn't have any paper on it.

 

[Royal Ambassador]

http://blogs.wsj.com/middleseat/2008/12/12...-job/trackback/

http://blog.delta.com/2008/12/12/breaking-...747-400-livery/

 

[BABABOOY]

http://blogs.wsj.com/middleseat/2008/12/12...-job/trackback/

http://blog.delta.com/2008/12/12/breaking-...747-400-livery/

Thats the picture....thanks! I understand there are more pictures of the A/C leaving VCV, however I haven't seen them yet.

In the next few days are the DC9, and A321. Not interested in the 757...(I think we will know how that will look lol)
Anyone know when the first A332/333 will be scheduled?

 

[Kev3188]

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