Originally Posted by
Bloodhound
I don't want to speak for everyone but I think what they're saying is our contract didn't undercut anyone. Obviously, if the XJT price to DAL is lower than ASA's it's undercutting ASA. However, with Mesa and GoJets and CHQ, their contracts/pay are lower which (among other factors) enables their management to undercut everyone. The XJT pay is higher than ASA's CRJ-200 pay which means XJT management found other ways to make our operation cheaper.
In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter how we were able to attain a cheaper price than ASA. ASA pilots are still out of some flying and they're fighting a long, uphill battle for their contract - all of which sucks.
Is it possible that its not JUST about price? If that were the case, we would have all be absorbed my Mesa long ago and Mesa would be the only regional airline going. I think we may be seeing the turnaround where carriers realize that cutting costs at any cost is not the answer. CAL got a mess on their hands when they tried to find someone cheaper than XJT, both operationally and from a customer service standpoint. Hopefully they learned something from the CHQ fiasco (probably not), but only time will tell. I think Saab may be on to something with the 170s though. Lets hope the CAL pilots hold firm on their scope. Yeah, it sucks when one pilot group sees growth at the expense of another but thats the gig folks. Its not "SkyWest's flying" or "ASA's flying" or "XJT's flying". Delta markets the routes, sells the seats, takes the risk and collects the money (or eats the loss). Its Delta's flying, simple as that.