Originally Posted by
Will
Once Delta owns PCL they are going to pump money into them and PCL is going to buy VX. Which will increase Delta's presence on the West Coast all while keeping labor costs down since they will be PCL employees not Delta employees. You laugh but it could happen.
That's really not an implausible scenario. Delta has shown that of the big 3 (Delta, AMR, and UAL) they have the strongest drive to control their own destiny. They're aggressively forcing their contracted lift into cheaper contracts, they bought an oil refinery, and they're all about picking up 2nd hand aircraft (MD-90s and 717s) at very cheap prices. Meanwhile: AMR's top brass is worried about the payout they're going to receive in the merger, and UAL has the largest regional fleet of 50 seat boat anchors. I wouldn't put it past Delta to pick up VX, keep them on a seperate certificate, and use them to beat down the DAL pilot group 5-10 years down the road. VX isn't doing great. Branson will take the first reasonable offer that comes his way.