Whats the future of the Delta Shuttle? DCA-BOS is already CRJ right? I mite be hearing that the DCA-LGA will go to another Shuttle.
They still use MD-88's and CRJ's for DCA-BOS. I heard from 3 sources at Delta that all DC-9's will be parked within the first two years post merger. They are old and expensive to operate. It's a shame, I thought it would kinda be funny to see an old DC9 in new Delta paint!Whats the future of the Delta Shuttle? DCA-BOS is already CRJ right? I mite be hearing that the DCA-LGA will go to another Shuttle.
Rumor has it that the RJs and -88s will be pulled off the shuttle and DC-9s will fly it instead. This frees up the -88s to fly in other markets, and the businessmen just don't like the RJs.
I heard from 3 sources at Delta that all DC-9's will be parked within the first two years post merger. They are old and expensive to operate.
What equipment refurbishment in the DC-9's? You ever sat up front on one of those dinosaurs?
What equipment refurbishment in the DC-9's? You ever sat up front on one of those dinosaurs?
{Also of slight interest is that Richard Anderson was in charge at Northwest Airlines when they decided to have the DC-9 fleet undergo a massive refurbishment to equip those planes to fly at least another decade and possibly 15 more years. That was only a few years ago now.}
I think their refurbishment was a long time ago...I googled and found it was 1995:
"Northwest has over 100 various DC-9s in its fleet, with an average age of about 35 years, making the Northwest fleet the oldest amongst the world's top 60 airlines. This DC-9 fleet was extensively refurbished in 1995, with new interiors and other upgrades, to extend their service life to 2010".
OK, so if they had to justify spending the 100K last time, what will they do when they have to spend 75K to 100K to paint the DC9's? It cost 55K just to paint one CRJ200 (price paid on each Comair CRJ, as per the maintenance department), so a DC9 has to be more.30-40 times and took the groundschool.
Back when they did it, one of the big questions was, would it make sense to outfit the airplane with RVSM altimetry? I believe the figure was something like 100K per airplane (and they had about 170 of them at the time) and so it would not be something that you'd want to do and then send to the desert a few months later. No replacement aircraft was that near, so the decision was of course to put RVSM in but not RNAV. That is the next big deadline approaching, that it probably won't make the cut for this time around.
Punch in DCA-LGA in March+
So...what do you think now about us adding 10 checkairmen as well as the latest Delta CHQ rumor of a new base down in STT (St. Thomas)? I guess we'd compete directly with Eagle down there...should be interesting.
OK, so if they had to justify spending the 100K last time, what will they do when they have to spend 75K to 100K to paint the DC9's? It cost 55K just to paint one CRJ200 (price paid on each Comair CRJ, as per the maintenance department), so a DC9 has to be more.
The three sources were: 1. a maintenance supervisor at NWA 2. A NWA DC9 Captain 3. A Delta Captain that was part of the merger meetings
Not sure if anyone knows what they are talking about, but I did hear it three times, and a pattern is showing here.