It's unlikely that SKW would bid anything at at loss baring very unusual circumstances. They could afford to park 200's rather than fly them at a loss, depending on what made more sense.

They can probably outbid mesa due to the massive economy-of-scale advantage. Also rumored that mesa has big maintenance bills coming on engines that they would have to amortize into a short-term contract, jacking the price. Also possible the Airways is finally just making good on it's threats to boot mesa...easy to do with the 200's, but harder with the 900's since OJ owns them and there's no excess inventory in the desert that SKW could acquire on short notice. Those 900's (and the fact that there aren't any surplus laying around in the desert) are the only thing keeping mesa alive.