Delta's 727 phase-out saves money amid union issues

By James Pilcher
Cincinnati Enquirer

CINCINNATI — Once the best-selling commercial airliner of all time, the Boeing 727 is now the plane that airlines can't get rid of fast enough.

In January, Delta announced it would retire its entire 727 fleet by spring 2003, accelerating the program for the plane by two years. Other airlines are doing the same thing. American Airlines retired its last 727 in April. United has rid itself of the plane, and Northwest is also phasing its 727s out. Of the 1,831 planes originally manufactured over 20 years, 1,200 are in active service, with 300 or so being used as cargo planes.

Delta has retired 11 planes this year, going from 47 at the end of 2001 to 36 currently. It had more than 50 before the Sept. 11 attacks, which caused the entire industry to ground planes and cut capacity.

When announcing it would speed up the retirement, Delta said it would save $30 million this year alone. The airline has not provided specifics on how much will be saved long term, saying only it will be several million dollars annually.

The retirement will also mean the noisiest plane in the fleet is going away.

"I know people on the ground are happy, and from a noise standpoint, we're happy, too," said Tim Canoll, a Delta 727 pilot based in Atlanta. "It's really noisy in the cockpit."

It wasn't always that way. The 727 was a breakthrough for mainline jet travel, serving small and large airports and short-, medium- and long-haul routes with equal aplomb.

"It enabled more airlines to extend into more airports that had shorter runways, and that in turn allowed the industry to really expand," Boeing spokesman Dick Schleh said.

But there are always newer, more efficient aircraft.

That's why the plane is going the way of the Boeing 707 and the Lockheed L-1011. The 727's three engines use more fuel; the three-person cockpit creates higher labor costs; and the age of the fleet means higher maintenance costs.

But there are some drawbacks, including a logjam in the pilot-training program, as well as the fact that some jobs are eliminated two years ahead of time while other pilots are facing pay cuts. All of this is causing some minor friction with the pilot union.

"It's really becoming a choke point right now," said Buergey, chairman of Delta's branch of the Air Line Pilots Association. "We knew it was coming, but it is still causing us to lose some jobs prematurely."