Originally Posted by
Banshee365
It just so happens that the 50 seat issue is happening in the Delta world rather than the United world. Don't think for a minute United is exempt from this and expect United to follow Delta's footsteps. It's easy to sit on your "secure" high horse and talk trash about our Delta flying but we've been operating mostly nothing but Delta for over 30 years so the games that go on are not new to us. If the 50 seat possibilities were on the United side you wouldn't be smiling so much over there would you?
Not to mention, nothing says ASA is going to lose a bunch of Delta airframes. In fact, signs point to us being the biggest benefactor of the DL TA among the regionals, which won't even start affecting the RJs until late next year, and at that point it won't be more of a trickle than flood of RJ retirements.
CHQ and CMR 50-seaters are coming off lease in the next couple years, so there's ~40 or so airframes gone without any 76-seater swaps. There are 16 Pinnacle 900s to place somewhere before the additional 76-seaters are even ordered. And SKYW, with its cash reserves, superior credit and leverage with both Bombardier and Embraer, is in a position to (and recent media reports suggest they will) place a sizable order for RJs in the near future. These could be a large chunk of the 102 76-seaters that Delta will be adding to the fleet over the next five to six years. (Which would benefit Delta, as they're trying to keep their debt load <$10B. Keeping a large RJ order off their own books would work toward that end.)
Delta basically controls Pinnacle, so there's a big question mark as as to whether their 200's will even get swapped out for larger airframes, or on a favorable ratio if they do. Who else would get those new 900's? GoJetz? No, considering their lack of leverage, operational performance, etc etc. Mesa? Delta got burned there a couple times already. RAH? Nope.
Not saying things will be sunshine and lollipops at ASA, but all this fear-mongering by the XJT side about the Delta TA is completely unwarranted. No one knows how the Delta TA stuff will play out. It could be a disaster, it could be a huge boon. So, chill the fu(k out and wait and see. There's no reason to harpoon a TA just because of fear-mongering by a few. And there won't be any sacrificing of the most junior XJT pilots (who, by the way, were hired by ASA post merger and therefore are junior to all ASA pilots) to furloughs. It's amazing to see the fear and misinformation coming out of the pmXJT side.