I drove a Delta pilot to the airport today

[14Accent]

A customer of ours that happens to be a senior Delta pilot dropped off his "local" car for a check-up today, and I had the privilege of giving him a ride to MSP to catch his outbound to Portland.

We didn't get into a ton of details, but had a great chat on our ~15 minute drive. I let him know I was a bit of an AV nerd, asked him what equipment he flew (737-7/8/900's), and how the times were treating him. He replied by telling me that last week he did a 6-segment run over two days, and over the entirety of the 6 segments he didn't carry enough passenger's to fill one 737. His MSP-PDX flight today had 36 souls on board.

Even more strange, when I pulled into the arrivals area at MSP, at 3pm on a Friday, there was exactly ONE car waiting. One. It was almost surreal.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Omega Man scenarios.

 

[GSCJR]

There were about 30 people on my flight from YYZ to FLL three weeks ago. About the same amount on my return flight two weeks ago.

 

[WagonWheel]

The terms of the airline stimulus require them to still operate flights. In normal times they would cancel the flight with such low loads.

 

[Lapham3]

Years ago very few flights were full and lighter loads were pretty normal=not a very profitable model. More recent loading has made more financial sense, but the post 9-11 terminal people crushes has had me avoiding flying for many years. 50 years ago during 4 years of military service I never once had a problem boarding with my military standby ticket and nobody ever spit at me in uniform or an anti war comment at MSP! Maybe the highway construction in the MSP area is happening at a good time.

 

[E365]

~25 passengers on a 150-200 seat airplane isn't uncommon right now. And that includes concentrating people from the numerous cancelled flights.

The major airports are like ghost towns inside the terminals. I'd estimate about 75% of businesses in the airports are shut down. And not just clothing stores, even many food options are closed.

I just looked up some United routes today.
ORD-SFO. 4 of 6 flights canceled
EWR-Orlando. 4 of 4 flights canceled
SFO-LAX. 5 of 7 flights canceled
DEN-SEA. 2 of 2 canceled

AirTeamImages.com has some crazy photos from Delta plane storage in Victorville, CA

https://www.airteamimages.com/airbus-a321__delta-air-lines_356374_large.html

 

[bbhero]

Part of the circumstance.

 

[bachman]

Reminds me of something I'd just seen recently but didn't fully read. It was timely and related to unloaded or lightly-loaded aircraft and how the physics of that relates to center of gravity and over-the-wheels weight distribution, how the aircraft handles etc...

 

[talest]

Buy airline stocks while they are low!

 

[Gasbuggy]

Hope you wore a mask.

 

[Sierra048]

My son flies 757/767's for Delta. Same thing happening to his flights as well.

 

[Mr Nice]

Luckily the airlines will receive help. They are too important to fail.

 

[bbhero]

We are all going to fail before too long.. .

 

[CincyDavid]

I was on Allegiant's website the other day...need to get to my house in FL to let the alarm guy in to set up the cameras, etc. The flight from CVG-PDG had EVERY seat available, and this was only 7 days prior to the flight. Astounding.

I have to admit, the pic of the DL birds lined up is impressive. Sad situation but impressive nonetheless.

 

[Cujet]

The cargo pilots are fairly busy.

 

[ecotourist]

It's not just airlines. BC ferry service (one of the largest in the world) just laid off 1400 staff. Traffic is down about 80%.

 

[mightymousetech]

Originally Posted by talest
Buy airline stocks while they are low!


They are going to get much lower still.

 

[CT8]

Originally Posted by Cujet
The cargo pilots are fairly busy.

My opinion and it is probably worth little but air freight is really important. more important that passenger travel.

 

[WagonWheel]

I can't remember the last time I read an article about the MAX-8/9 return to service plan.

 

[Hall]

Originally Posted by Cujet
The cargo pilots are fairly busy.

My DHL "spot quote" rates have increased 2.5-3x over what they were ~2 months ago. They are also adding a "because we can" surcharge for shipments out of China and HK (doesn't apply to me though). I contacted my rep and he said China is back in business, full strength, and their planes are full, i.e. laws of supply and demand have kicked in. They are also having to pay other cargo carriers to haul cargo for them.