Originally Posted by
gojo
Why would Delta encourage Pinnacle to buy Colgan? If anything they probably discourged it since they like to have all their regionals completly under their thumb. Don't forget, selling Mesaba to pinnacle was to their advantage. They have a cheap contract for many years to come.
Delta wasn't even part of the equation yet. Being allowed to set up other operations and fly other codes was part of the "deal" in December 2006 with NWA after getting bent over on the ASA with no cost increase while NWA was in its sham bankruptcy purging organized labor in preparation for the merger with Delta.
The Colgan family had been looking to sell for years and Pinnacle got a nonunion carrier to whipsaw and abuse. The lack of a new contract for the 9E pilots provided the cash flow to finance the Q400 airframes - hence their opinion that their hard work and abuse was spent on the advancement of another pilot group.
You know, the group that voted down a union the first time.
