It will be shutdown. 5, 6, 7 years? Who knows. Nothing in this industry lasts forever. Delta is currently dumping hundreds of millions of dollars into Pinnacle. That seems like a lot of money to put into something only to gain control and shut it down. There are FAR cheaper ways of making Pinnacle go away; including denying the necessary DIP financing to keep operations running. IF the TA passes, and it may, there are binding service agreements that include but are not limited to 40 additional CRJ-900s.

Time will tell how this concessionary agreement affects the industry as a whole. But I do believe that adding pressure to shrink regionals and grow the majors is a step in the right direction. Expect other regionals to reduce capacity with similar bridge agreements with their mainline partners. This is the new model.