The USA Today article places more leverage on the lessors and union votes. The company must cut its costs to be able to compete in this day and age.
Could the airline cut its fleet to 165, absolutely, but it would make the route network extremely inefficient with excess facilities.
However, without all stakeholder cost reduction participation, either voluntary or court-ordered, the airline could be forced to get rid of some Boeing jets.
There are two other possibilities as well. The company has asked for the aircraft leases to be rejected in the future, with no end date. This could allow the company to incrementally return aircraft and simplify its fleet by taking Airbus deliveries to obtain a single fleet type.
Finally, Northwest CEO Richard Anderson is said to be obsessed with obtaining the PHL & CLT hubs, as well as the Shuttle. If something happens negative with the union’s votes and the DIP financing and ATSB loan is not obtained, this move could pave the way for fragmentation.
Therefore, to keep the airline intact, there needs to be voluntary accords obtained from the IAM-M and CWA or their contract thrown out on September 23, or on September 26 at the DIP financing hearing we could see other offers emerge for the company, which could be very unlabor friendly.
It could be people like Northwest, Carl Icahn, Marvin Davis or others.
Chip