Didn't see this posted yet:

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/fligh...a-pilots_N.htm

Delta and Northwest will not be able to fly as one carrier under the Delta name until Delta obtains a single operating certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration, which it hopes to have by the end of next year. According to the panel ruling, a "fence" will be imposed for five years from the implementation date of the single operating certificate.

The restriction means that during that period, no pre-merger Northwest pilot may be awarded or displaced to a vacancy on a Boeing 777 aircraft or category and no pre-merger Delta pilot may be awarded or displaced to a Boeing 787 or Boeing 747 vacancy.

Will there be any NW 787s?

5 years seems plenty of time to retire some NW airframes. Figure by then, then DC9s and 757s could be retired, and perhaps even the 747s? The 319/320/330s seem to have plenty of time left in them?

Is there any contract wording to stop DL from ending all new NW pilot hires, and all new NW airframe deliveries, moving everything over to DL? If all the NW 787 deliveries are converted to DL 777s or 787s, and all new NW hires are stopped, and all NW attrition is backfilled by NW old-hires, doesn't that limit the pool of pilots that have to be intergrated at the end of the 5 years?

Steve B