Originally Posted by
forgot to bid
Are we really supposed to believe having 7 airlines with overlapping everything plus a guaranteed profit and costing us in so many ways, many unexpected, is more affordable than a $57 increase per hour in pilot cost or a 2/10ths of 1 cent increase in CASM for a CRJ-900 or E175?
What is that? $32M a year on the entire 76 seat fleet? A 1.5% loss of a near $2B profit before you count synergies?
Seems as if it would make financial sense to combine DCI's together with DAL? Or at the least take the most profitable flying and combine it (all 70+ seaters to mainline)? No staple, no merger, just take the planes and hire for them.
Although its a pet project here on APC, I don't think there's any chance that Delta will ever "combine DCIs together with DAL". For a multitude of reasons.
Given that reality, the reason they have "7 airlines with overlapping everything" is the Comair strike. That disastrous strike was handled so horribly (on both sides) and so incredibly costly that management vowed "never again". They will never allow a single connection carrier pilot group to get that tight of a stranglehold over a hub. That strike led directly to the slow death of Comair and the slow death of CVG as a hub.
That's the real legacy of the RJDC boys and their captive MEC at Comair.