Jetrader - Winter 2018 - 14

The industry has done well over the last
five years and maybe more. And it's very
well positioned to continue that performance
going forward.
performance going forward. I think we
all have very different models than we
would have had 10 years ago, and they're
far more robust. At Delta, we continue to
perform well and set the bar for the rest
of the industry. Fuel prices are always a
headwind, and they are at the moment,
but we continue to see very strong performance in our unit revenues.
Jetrader: That being said, are there
warning signs on the horizon that
concern you?
GW: Our industry continues to be a very
competitive industry, and it's global in
its reach. There are certain international
regions that are experiencing consolidation, and there are always economic and
currency pressures out there at a regional
level. But our industry is constantly evolving, so for Delta we're well positioned. We
have a diversified network with strong
international partners, and we're much less
exposed to those types of fluctuations,

but as I mentioned earlier fuel prices are
always a concern, so that's something we
are hyper aware of.
Jetrader: Speaking of potential warning
signs, many carriers are talking about the
prospect of a potential pilot shortage in
the near future. How is Delta addressing
this concern, and are there regions where
this is more of a concern than others?
GW: The future pilot retirement trends,
coupled with the international airline
growth trends and the regulatory experience requirements, have raised concerns
about the potential of future pilot shortages. Fortunately, Delta is positioned to
be a carrier of choice for pilots on a major
airline - certainly in the United States.
But nevertheless, we've worked to be proactive by ensuring that we have a strong
pipeline of qualified pilots well into the
future. To put it in perspective, during the
next decade, we're projecting to hire more
than 8,000 pilots at Delta as more than half

14 The official publication of the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading

of our current pilot workforce reaches the
mandatory retirement age of 65. To help
meet that need, we've launched the Delta
Propel Pilot Career Path Program, which
we refer to as the Propel Program. This
program has three primary areas of focus:
college, the company and the community.
That three-pronged approach is a fantastic
supplement to our current pilot-recruiting
structure, and it also supports future aviators and current Delta employees who have
a passion for aviation and a strong interest
in becoming a pilot at Delta.
Jetrader: To talk a bit about the planes
that those pilots will be flying, Delta has
been buying used MD-90s and MD-95s
for domestic use and somewhat recently
ordered a batch of CSeries and Airbus
aircraft, just to name a few acquisitions.
Can you talk a little bit about Delta's
fleet-planning philosophy and how you
expect to see that implemented during
the next decade or so?
GW: The merger between Delta and
Northwest created a disparate fleet mix as
a merged airline, so our philosophy during
that period and even prior to that period
was that of an opportunistic buyer of used
aircraft driven by the capital constraints
that we had from the recent bankruptcies.
Jetrader - Winter 2018

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