Originally Posted by
higney85
Nothing but liquidity.
Delta gets to play the RFP game to keep carrier costs in check with competition. Finance 101. We need liquidity and DL needs a pawn. Hello -900's now owned by DL and $100M in the PNCL coffer to run the operation before DL's contractual rate increase.
Chicken, meet egg.
The only problem with this is Delta and other mainline carriers have been moving away from buying aircraft for regional affiliates due to the negative effect it has on their balance sheets and debt ratio. The move lately has been to have the regional carriers finance the aircraft. The desire to control the aircraft is diminished by the increase in finance rates on aircraft due to the increased debt burden.