John,

Where is the Envoy airlines ticketing office? Same for PSA, Expressjet and all the others. The express companies don't fly their own customers. They fly DL, AA and UA customers. It is the legacy airlines flying. How long would envoy exist if they just sold tickets to and from the hubs under their own brand against an express company flying the mainlines code (IIRC in the case of independence it was around a year or less). The Post regarding senior pilot groups is very true. The regional model only works with more new employees than old. The revenue doesn't offset the cost to operate the airplanes.

I'm sorry for the eagle guys but this isn't the fault of PSA. They like eagle pilots are flying what was negotiated by their ownership. As they get more senior the exact same thing is going to happen to them. History has shown this to be the case and the major carriers are going to rely less on express carriers going forward. Envoy ALPA should bear some of the blame. They created unrealistic expectations with their line in the sand negotiations. IMHO I believe the same fate is going to take place at expressjet soon also.