mke9499

http://www.blogsouthwest.com/one-last-airtran-flight/

rsteinmetz70112

Sad to see them go.

United_727

I miss the Cirtus 717's in ROC . Especially the special colored ones . I have only 'caught' 1 DL 717 here .

kettle1

Is that 717 going to DL?

traveller001

Dup post

traveller001

Yes all are. Airfleets.net apparently lags a bit reporting those used for flights and those registered. 69/88 are apparently in service. Probably more with the lag since they list 8 on order. I doubt DL rejected any since they are reportedly shopping for more on the used market.

http://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/D...ir%20Lines.htm

Frankly I'm amazed that almost all of the aircraft that flew for FL on 28 Dec have already been transferred or in process. Prior to that it wasn't that many. N717JL that flew FL1 the very last Airtran flight was operating for DL in June.

What's interesting is I haven't seen any mention of accounting for the storage or conversion cost. There probably was something in filings. I doubt it was written off last year (but it was a big year and probably could have) and more likely against the length of the leases on individual aircraft for the life of the leases now sub-leased. Training crews could have been accounted for this year or last with the shutdown. Either way it's soon going to be a plus having the 717s flying again.

3Cforme

The accounting charges were announced shortly after the sublease to DL was announced. IIRC, WN paid $140 million to convert the 88 717s to DL specs and have them go away.

Planespotters.net shows 54 717s in DL service before the last 717 flew for AirTran on 28 Dec 14. Inductions had been made had a very steady rate.

http://www.planespotters.net/Product...pe=717&sort=dd

kettle1

Did DL buy the AC or are they leasing them from WN?

rsteinmetz70112

T
As far as I know all of the 717s were leased and the leases were coming up over the next few years. That said the cost of converting them to Delta was largely baked into the acquisition, since they would have been converted to Southwest standards in any event.

Still it's a sad end to an inovative and unique airline.

traveller001

I understand that. But how they accounted for the cost over what lifetime. It could have been at shutdown of FL (dragging down profit in 2014) meaning the leases to DL might be all profit (or loss) in the future. Some of them are listed as being leased directly from WN. Others as just leased and some appear to be owned by DL. Paying cash to settle high lease costs isn't unheard of.

3Cforme

Some of the charges occurred well before 2014. See this from July 2012.

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/a...tas-liking.ece

I expect you could do a deep-dive on the SEC filings and still not find the level of specificity you say you seek.

rsteinmetz70112

I believe the conversion costs were accounted for in the cost of acquiring Airtran. The initial announcement was that the 717s would be converted to Southwest livery and configuration. So somewhere in the acquisition costs right next to the positive "synergy" the hard costs of repainting the planes would be included. The cost of converting to Delta interiors and livery was probably pretty much the same cost. The sublease probably pays for the lease cost so Southwest giving the planes to Delta at cost was probably figured to be pretty much a wash.

traveller001

Storage costs etc. Those too may have been written off with the shutdown but could conceivably be tied to each aircraft and written off over the term of the leases.

Boeing gave them a $40M credit against future orders as a gift for them not being returned. Since all were not leased by Boeing maybe some other incentives were offered?

rsteinmetz70112

If I understand correctly the only storage costs would have been for the 30 something aircraft left after December 28 until the last aircraft was ferried for conversion, which apparently just happened. then aircraft would have been pulled out of storage on a regular basis for conversion. I don't know how much it costs to park and airplane but the cost would likely have been for 15-18 airplanes for 6 months plus some ferry costs. Prior to the final flight December 28 aircraft were taken out of service then almost immediately flown to the facility where they were converted before delivered to Delta at the rate of 3 a month.